- dzone is better than digg
- there are frameworks that accelerate or decelerate your progress
- how not to mess with code not in any version control
- to love firefox & firebug & to hate IE6
- to be thankful there are tutorials blogged for newbies
- not everyone uses OOP, and OOP is not for everything
- interface is almost useless when you can duck type
- taking a nap after lunch can gain productivity and weight
- primary goal: keep the boss happy
- coworker who looks Chinese might be Korean
Friday, August 22, 2008
10 things I learned from my first job as web dev
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6 comments:
I'd add the following:
*BEWARE OF THE INNER PLATFORM EFFECT*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner-Platform_Effect
And...
1. The more complex your solution becomes, the more you should worry that you're on the completely wrong track.
2. When estimating how long it takes you do something, take your best guess, and multiply it by 3.
3. Be on the lookout for features that add a lot of complexity to what would otherwise be a simple task. Often, your superiors strike the feature, and appreciate you pointing out that you can give them 80% of what they asked for, in half the time.
4.You can avoid most IE6 headaches by never putting putting padding or margins on an element that you've specified the width for. Instead, put the padding on a container element that is nested inside the element you applied your width to. (hope that made sense, because its important).
5. The z-index css property is a source of great evil.
6. Spend as much time learning how to do things better while at work as you can get away with.
7. Learn how to program from the code that exists in great websites, and open source projects.
I totally agree with you, a power nap after lunch keeps me productive through the day :)
Nick, for 4 you won't have that issue if you leave quirks mode (IE6 standards mode doesn't have the problem). Make sure you don't set an XML prolog (that xml line sometimes at the top of markup) and make sure you set a doctype.
#2, #6 is really true, and newbies should be affected by the hype about it. By the way I am a chinese :)
My first web dev job, ooh, that feels like 2 lifetimes ago. Only like 8 years in reality. I would say that since I left my first web dev job, I learned:
1. Read a book about it (until I learned this, I hated reading).
2. Testing is much more important than you think, overdo it.
3. Automate everything under the sun. And above it. And including the sun, if possible.
4. Learn another programming language (see #1) and bring that knowledge back.
5. Make personal connections everywhere, be friendly. Those people will end up giving you money later (directly or indirectly).
6. Get rich by being famous.
7. Be famous by blogging, doing open source projects and presenting on what I know. Page Rank and traffic matter here, so put solid, permanent content up, too.
8. ColdFusion is always the fastest way to do something, but not the best way to do everything.
9. Solve complex problems on a higher level than they were created. Stop to think about what a higher level is for each case.
10. Just dive in to that big project, even if it breaks everything in the process, the end result is often worth it.
Just thought of...
11. Practice is everything. Even with HTML, it takes a while to do it well. My 10+ years is still not enough just for that technology.
12. You can learn a lot from other developers. Look at their code. Ask them open-ended questions - "why did you do it like that?"
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