Advice for new developers

A collection of advice for new developers, especially those from a non-traditional background like mine. Based on a talk I regularly give at Flatiron School and notes from a panel of managers hiring new developers at RubyConf 2021.

Networking

• Act as though you will work with (or report to) everyone you meet. You probably will.

Resumes

• One page is plenty.
• Use measurements when possible, even if they’re course-grained. (10,000 requests per minute, $2 million budget)

Phone screens

• Most companies use these to make sure you did what your resume says you did.
• The phone screen is often the same regardless of the level of the position.
• For new developers, they are trying to see if you can do the job at all.
• Enthusiasm goes a long way.
• Demonstrate a desire to learn.
• Fail by not knowing anything about the company you’re talking to.
• Fail by talking negatively about previous jobs and colleagues.
• Fail by being a jerk to the people you talk to.

Interviewing

• Ask them how they make money.
• If you don’t understand a question, ask for clarification.
• Describe things you did, not what your team did.
• Talk about times you organized people or projects. It doesn’t have to be technical work.
• Talk about how you’ve handled ambiguity, such as figuring out the needs of a customer.
• The worst thing you can do is answer a question you don’t have the answer to.
• State your assumptions.
• Play the meta game. Ask the interviewer what they are looking for. Ask them for the rubric.

Take-homes

• Don’t be too clever. For Rails developers, do it the Rails way.
• Document steps needed to run the code you write.
• If (and when) your take-home is incomplete, explain why.
• Take-homes can have deliberate mistakes, hidden aspects, and things meant to prompt questions from you.
• Your PR description matters as much as your code.

Culture fit

• Ask them about their last vacation.
• Ask if they have Slack on their phone.
• Ask them what their retention rates are. By gender.
• Send them an email on a Friday night, and hope you don’t get a response before Monday.

Evaluating job opportunities

• Quality of experience is more significant than quantity. I got five years’ worth of experience in two years of work as a consultant.
• Options and stock in startups can be worth something but are nearly always worth nothing. They will seldom make up for the decreased salary you’ll take in exchange.
• Run, don’t walk away from jobs where you’ll be the only developer or where the only devs are new to the field as well.