DEV Community: Ali AbdElbagi

Soft Skill Summary - Chapter 1 - Career

Ali AbdElbagi — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 05:01:43 +0000

Chapter Contents

This chapter covers 17 key topics:

Don't Do What Others Do
Thinking About the Future: What Are Your Goals?
People Skills
Hacking Interviews
Employment Options
What Kind of Developer Are You?
Not All Companies Are the Same
Climbing the Career Ladder
How to Be a Professional
Career Freedom
Freelancing
Building Your First Product
Want to Start a Startup?
Remote Work
Fake It Till You Make It
Resumes Are Boring—Let's Improve Them
Don't be religious about technology

1. Don't Do What Everyone Else Does

Shift Your Mindset: You Are an Entrepreneur, Not Just an Employee

The biggest mistake people make is relying on a traditional employee mindset. One of the most important shifts in your career is changing how you view yourself , instead of seeing yourself merely as an employee, view yourself as an entrepreneur. You will then stop seeing your manager solely as a boss and start seeing them as a client. While it is true that you currently have only one client, this mindset enables you to:

1.Make better decisions: You learn to make choices that benefit you and foster your growth, rather than decisions that merely guarantee a false sense of job security.

2.Cultivate courage instead of helplessness and dependency: You will realize that your skills belong to you, not the organization, which drives you to leverage them in other areas.

How Do You Think Like an Entrepreneur?

1.Define your product or service:

As a software developer, your product is transforming ideas into tangible reality.

2.Specialize in a specific field:

Specialization allows you to target clients more clearly, as they are looking for someone who knows everything about a specific subject.

3.Attract clients instead of chasing them:

Stop sending your resume indiscriminately to hundreds of jobs; start building personal value through relationships and content creation.

2. Think About Your Future: What Are Your Goals?

Why do most people fail to achieve their goals?

It is essential to be aware of your goals and what you want to achieve , a lack of purpose leaves you feeling lost and without a compass. We often fail to achieve our goals due to:

1.Failing to dedicate time to actually writing down and documenting our goals.

2.Fear of commitment, which drives us to keep options open for fear of making the wrong choice.

Top-Down Goal-Setting Strategy

Instead of trying to predict every detail of the future, define your destination as follows:

1.Start with a major goal (e.g., becoming a Senior Full-Stack Developer).

2.Break it down into smaller goals, each moving you a step closer to the major goal (e.g., mastering advanced Next.js concepts, publishing a weekly technical article).

3.Work on the smaller goals to maintain motivation and a sense of continuous achievement.

Tracking Your Goals

The tracking phase is the yardstick that determines whether you are on the right path. Evaluation should be conducted periodically (at the end of each week or month) to:

1.Assess overall progress toward the goal.

2.Adjust goals and plans if necessary.

3. People Skills

The Myth of the Lone Programmer

Most developers believe their value lies solely in technical output (such as algorithms and bug fixes). In reality, however, software is built by teams and created for users to solve their problems. You might be the most skilled developer in the world, but if you are difficult to work with, your career may never even get off the ground.

Key Concepts for Interpersonal Interaction:

1.Make the other person feel important:

Do not dismiss their ideas simply to put forward your own.

2.Avoid direct criticism:

Do not merely point out errors; instead, use motivation, rewards, and praise for positive aspects.

3.Consider the desires of others:
Shift your mindset to prioritize the needs of the other party over your own.

4.Avoid futile arguments.

4. Hacking Interview: The Unconventional Strategy

Why Do Interviews Go Beyond Technical Skills?

Hiring decisions are often based on non-technical factors. The fastest and surest way to land the job is for the employer to view you as reliable, passionate, and a good team player.

The Strategy: Targeting the Job Before It’s Advertised

Instead of waiting for job postings and competing with thousands of others, take a proactive approach:

1.Identify the organization where you want to work.

2.Research the organization intelligently (the technologies they use, the challenges they face).

3.Connect with the company’s employees on social media.

4.Build relationships and rapport (ask for advice or discuss a shared technical topic rather than asking for a job outright).

The Real Secret: Personal Referrals

"Interview hacking" begins weeks before the actual interview; companies prefer hiring through employee referrals to minimize hiring risks. If you don't know anyone, think outside the box and start building those connections now.

What Happens During the Interview Itself?

Hiring is an investment decision, and no one wants to take a risk on an unqualified candidate. However, being qualified doesn't mean being a walking encyclopedia who has memorized everything. A developer who doesn't know every answer but possesses passion and the ability to research and discover solutions independently is far better than one who appears to know everything but requires constant guidance.

5. Employment Options: Explore Your Career Path

Career options vary based on your goals and risk tolerance:

1.Traditional Employee:

Pros: The easiest and most stable option, provides health insurance and paid leave.

Cons: Limited control over time or projects, and a capped income.

2.Independent Consultant (Freelancer / Contractor):

Pros: Working with multiple clients, greater flexibility and freedom, and opportunities for higher income.

Cons: Lack of steady income, the responsibility of finding clients, and the pressure of managing multiple projects simultaneously.

3.Entrepreneur:

Pros: Working entirely for yourself, absolute freedom in decision-making, and unlimited potential for financial growth.

Cons: High risk and potential for failure; requires mastering multiple skills (management, marketing, sales).

6. What Kind of Developer Are You? The Power of Specialization

The Myth of the "Generalist Developer"

Many developers shy away from deep specialization for fear of missing out on opportunities. This keeps them in the "generalist" category—knowing a little about everything but lacking depth in any specific area.

Why Does Specialization Open Closed Doors?

The Equation of Opportunity and Distinction: The more specialized you are, the fewer opportunities may appear to be available; however, your likelihood of securing those remaining opportunities becomes very high because you are the strongest candidate for them.

Moving from the periphery to the top: A specialized developer is treated as an expert rather than an ordinary employee, allowing you to command higher rates and work on more significant projects.

7. Not All Companies Are Alike: Choosing the Right Environment for Your Growth

Your happiness and professional experience are shaped by two key factors: company size and company culture.

Comparing Company Sizes:

1. Small Companies and Startups:

Pros: Direct, visible impact of your work; potential for higher long-term earnings.

Cons: Varied responsibilities beyond coding (marketing, management, support); lower stability; higher risk.

2. Mid-Sized Companies:

Pros: Greater job stability; clear roles; lower risk.

Cons: Fewer growth opportunities compared to fast-growing companies.

3. Large Companies:

Pros: Greater opportunities for career advancement and working on large-scale projects.

Cons: Difficulty getting your individual work noticed.

Software Companies vs. Companies That Hire Developers:

Software Companies (Tech-First): Software is the core product. Developers are highly valued, and methodologies like Agile are effectively implemented because leadership understands the nature of software development.

Companies That Hire Developers (Non-Tech): Software is merely a supporting tool (e.g., banks). Developers may not be valued as highly, and implementing Agile can be difficult due to traditional, top-down management structures.

8. Climbing the Career Ladder

Career growth requires a clear strategy based on four pillars:

1.Taking Responsibility: Step up to handle tasks others avoid (such as working with legacy code or onboarding new team members).

2.Increasing Visibility: Share your knowledge with the developer community and send a brief weekly report to your manager highlighting your achievements to ensure you remain on leadership's radar.

3.Investing in Self-Learning: Read books, attend courses, and stay up-to-date with the latest developments without waiting for the company to provide training.

4.Being a Problem Solver: Become the go-to person everyone turns to when technical crises arise.

9. How to Be a Professional?

• Professionalism means mastering your work and overcoming emotions and distractions to perform tasks to the highest standard.

• Habit Management: Changing bad habits and adopting good ones is the foundation of professional transformation.

• Time Management: Meticulous task planning and knowing when to say "no"—even if it costs you your job.

• Decisiveness and Continuous Improvement: Making firm decisions regarding priorities and committing to ongoing learning rather than settling for the status quo.

10. Professional Freedom: How to Quit Your Job?

The Smart Approach: The Side Project Strategy

Resigning without a well-thought-out plan leads to financial crises. A safe transition path relies on:

1.Planning and Scheduling:

Defining a side project and working on it outside your primary job hours.

2.Execution and Validation:

Monitoring the project's growth and evaluating its returns.

3.Transitioning to Full-Time:
Do not resign until the side project covers most of your basic financial needs.

Preparing for Freelancing and Time Management:

• Working for yourself requires more discipline than you might expect.

• Track your time accurately; identifying wasted hours helps boost your actual productivity.

11. Freelancing

Overcoming Obstacles:

1.The Challenge of Starting and Risk: Begin as a "side project" alongside your steady job.

2.Client Scarcity: Implement an inbound marketing strategy by publishing valuable content (articles, podcasts) so that clients come directly to you.

Pricing Strategy:

1.Move away from hourly pricing and adopt value-based pricing.

2.Do not compete on the lowest price, so as not to diminish your market value.

3.Calculate the total cost (including time spent on planning, communication, and administration).

12. Building Your First Product: From Idea to Execution

• The Developer’s Advantage: The ability to turn concepts into reality and build knowledge-based products (books, courses) alongside software.

• Audience First: Avoid the mistake of building a product and then searching for consumers. Build your audience first by consistently providing content.

• Market Testing and Pre-selling: Explain the problem and the solution; offer the product for pre-order with a discount and a money-back guarantee to validate demand before development begins.

• Start Small: Keep your day job, embrace failure as part of the cumulative learning process, and keep the product scope small to accelerate the feedback loop.

13. Want to Start a Startup?

• Defining a Startup: New companies aiming for rapid growth and expansion through innovative solutions.

• Types:

1.Venture-Backed: Aiming for extremely rapid expansion; the most common type in the tech sector.

2.Bootstrapped: Relying on its own profits; growth is slower, but the risk of failure is lower.

The "Go Big or Go Home" Philosophy and Exit Strategy:

1.Investors expect a rapidly scalable business model.

2.A clear exit strategy must be planned (whether through acquisition or an Initial Public Offering—IPO).

14. Remote Work and Survival Strategies

Challenges and Solutions:

1.Time Management and Distractions: Set a strict schedule and stick to it, just as if you were in a traditional office.

2. Self-motivation and discipline:

◦ Turn your work schedule into a daily habit.

◦ Eliminate distractions from your workspace.

◦ Use the "15-minute strategy" to get started when your passion wanes.

3.Tackling isolation: Make an effort to engage in weekly activities outside the home and integrate with local developer communities.

15. Fake It 'Til You Make It

• The misconception: It does not mean lying or claiming to possess skills you lack.

• The correct concept: Acting with confidence and professionalism, visualizing yourself as the person you aspire to be, and facing new challenges with certainty (this serves as a remedy for Imposter Syndrome).

• Practical application: Improving body language and appearance, managing your internal dialogue, and taking on challenges before feeling fully ready.

16. Resumes in the Age of AI: What Has Changed Since 2014?

The advice to hire a professional resume writer is outdated; AI, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), and the "Proof of Work" culture have changed the equation:

1.AI tools: These analyze resumes and optimize keywords for free.

2.ATS compatibility: Focus on achievements backed by numbers and tangible results rather than generic, wordy descriptions.

3.Proof of Work: Links to live projects, a portfolio, and a GitHub account have become more important than the paper resume itself. • Golden Rules: Be concise (one page), present results and figures, and provide working links.

17. Don't be religious about technology: The Trap of Tech Fanaticism

• Avoid Tech Fanaticism: Technologies are merely tools in your toolkit, not articles of faith to be zealously defended (e.g., React vs. Vue debates).

• The Risks of Fanaticism: It blinds you to better solutions, jeopardizes your career if the technology falls out of favor, and harms team harmony.

• Pragmatic Mindset: Focus on fundamental engineering principles, choose the right tool for the job, and always be ready to adapt and change.

Soft Skills Summarize Part 2

Ali AbdElbagi — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 19:46:54 +0000

Why is this book unlike any other book you've read?

The author begins the first chapter with this question, saying that most books related to software development are about software development, but this book is not like that; it is not just about software development, but about making you a good developer.

By “good” he means that you will not only be excellent at solving software problems and detecting errors, but also at developing your career path, achieving your goals, and living a better life.

He mentions a very important point, which is that this book is not about what you can do, but about you , yourself, about your career, your life, your body, your mind, and also your soul.

The author adopts an approach to software development based on the belief that if you want to become better, you need to focus on yourself as a whole, not on one or two aspects of your life.

Then he goes on to mention the seven chapters of the book, where he says:

The book begins with the career path, explaining why he chose to start with this particular topic. He justifies this by stating that developers don't manage their careers well, and mentions that this chapter will help them climb the career ladder, start an investment company, or even become entrepreneurs and create their own project. The author says he did all three of these things and will share his mistakes so you can avoid them. He will also cover important topics such as:

How to write a compelling resume
Mastering job interviews
Working remotely

In the second chapter, entitled “Marketing Yourself,” the author mentions that developers feel uncomfortable with the word “marketing,” but the author assures the reader that by the end of this chapter, your view of this word will change, and you will understand its importance. He says that this chapter will not include topics such as how to become rich in a short period or the like, but it will contain practical advice on building a personal brand for yourself, and how to become known by speaking, teaching others, or writing, and some methods that you have not considered.

In the third chapter, which is the chapter on “Learning”, which talks about the skill of self-learning, and how developers should teach themselves in the right way, he says that the teaching methods we used to take in schools and universities are deficient, because they make you get used to someone else teaching you and giving you lessons. He clarifies that he does not mean that having a teacher is wrong, but in the first place you should rely on your abilities and curiosity to get as much knowledge as possible, instead of sitting to listen to a boring lecture and taking notes.

The author will guide you through a self-learning method using 10 steps. These ten steps are his own creation, which he used in his professional life to acquire knowledge. He mentions that he used these steps to create more than 50 training courses over a two-year period. He also mentions that this chapter covers other important topics such as:

How do you find a good mentor, and how can you be a mentor to others?
Do you need traditional education or a certificate to be successful?

In the fourth chapter, which is the "Productivity" chapter, which is the thing that software developers suffer from the most, and it is the first obstacle on your path to success, and sometimes you are good at everything except overcoming procrastination, chaos and laziness.

In this chapter, the author shares a method for improving productivity, and also addresses topics such as: burnout, watching too much television, finding motivators, and working hard.

As for the fifth chapter, which is the "Financial" chapter, the author believes that this topic is ignored by many, and he says that you can be the most successful software developer in the world, but if you do not manage money well, you will end up bankrupt and sitting on the side of the road begging.

The author takes you on a world tour of economics and personal finance, telling you the basics of making financial decisions and planning your financial future. The author explains that he may not be a financial expert, but since the age of 18 he has been a real estate investor. He says that he will not go into much detail on this subject because it requires books and chapters, but he will be content with explaining the basics of managing financial income, avoiding debt, and the story of his retirement at the age of 33. He says that this is not difficult, but anyone can retire early.

In the “Fitness” chapter, which is the sixth chapter, the writer talks about losing weight, gaining muscle, and obtaining excellent physical fitness.
The writer takes you through the basics of diet and nutrition, explains how the food you eat affects your body, and how to develop a plan to lose weight, gain muscle, or both.

Finally, in the "spiritual aspect," which is the last chapter, the author focuses on helping you reprogram your brain to create positive behavior for success, and briefly touches on the emotional aspect and relationships, because most people who work in the technical field suffer in this aspect. The writer provides a selection of books, and these books are recommended by a group of successful people whom the writer has met, so that he is asked to recommend a book that everyone should read.

The chapter has ended: “Why is this book not like any other book you have read?”

Soft Skills Book Summarize Part 1

Ali AbdElbagi — Sun, 26 Jul 2026 09:52:26 +0000

Introduction

Book Title is : Soft Skills,The software developer's life manual & the author is John Z. Sonmez .
The book start with great introudction which is :

"To all developers who strive for continuous self-improvement . Who are not satisfied with good enough . Who always seek every opportunity to expand their horizons and explore the unkonown . Whose thirst for knowledge is never fully quenched . Who believe that software development means more than just writing code . Who know that failure is not the end , but merely a step in the journey . Who struggles at times, and sometimes fall , but always get back up again . Who have the will and determination to seek the harder path in life . And, most importantly, who are willing to help others along the way "

This was the introduction to the book which I will summarize -God Willing’ on series and I will publish it on My Blog and also on My LinkedIn and in dev.to

Contents of The Book :

The book contains 7 sections which are as follows :

Career
Marketing Yourself
Learning
Productivity
Financial
Fitness
Spirit

[Boost]

Ali AbdElbagi — Tue, 26 May 2026 20:32:12 +0000

Athreya aka Maneshwar

May 19

What Happens When You Run `npm run dev`

#webdev #programming #javascript #beginners

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important to read

Ali AbdElbagi — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:16:17 +0000

A. Sharif

Feb 17 '19

Notes on TypeScript: Conditional Types

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Callback props in React

Ali AbdElbagi — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 20:24:06 +0000

What are Callback Props?

Callback props are just regular props, but instead of passing data, they pass functions that handle specific events.

What’s their exact purpose?

Let’s say you have a component called A, which has a state that holds some data. Inside A, you also have another component, B, which is, for example, a Button.

Now, if you want to execute a specific function when clicking the button in B, and that function should modify the state inside A, you can use callback props.

This is essentially a way for components to communicate with each other.

Explanation of the Example

Looking at the example in the image, the idea is:

When the user clicks the Button, it triggers an action that is passed as a prop (in this case, OnClickToChangeName).

When rendering the Button inside the parent component (A), you pass a function (ChangeNameValue) to the OnClickToChangeName prop.

This function then modifies the state of A from within B when the button is clicked.

This demonstrates the benefit of callback props: allowing a child component to trigger a state update in its parent component.

I d love to hear any additional insights or corrections on this topic! This is really my baby steps in React, and I found this concept a bit tricky to understand at first.

Why Should I Learn the React Library?

Ali AbdElbagi — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 20:14:49 +0000

When learning something new, you need to research it first to get a general understanding.

If you skip this step, you'll likely feel lost and confused.

This is actually the first step that author John Z. Sonmez mentions in his book

📖 "Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual", and he calls it "Get The Big Picture."

So, when I decided to learn React, I didn’t really ask myself why I should learn it.

I just followed the Frontend Learning Path and saw React listed there.

But why should you learn React? 🤔

Here’s what makes React better than Vanilla JavaScript:

1️⃣ Reusability of Components = Cleaner & More Organized Code

With React, you can break the UI into components like buttons, cards, avatars, etc.
You write the code once and reuse it anywhere—so you don’t repeat yourself!

2️⃣ Faster UI Updates with Virtual DOM

React only updates the changed elements, not the entire DOM.
This makes UI updates much faster.
In Vanilla JS, too much DOM manipulation slows down performance.

3️⃣ Easier Data Handling with Hooks

React makes state management easier with useState Hook, while in Vanilla JS, you have to manually handle state updates.

Still not convinced? Here’s why React is worth learning:

✅ 1. React is in high demand in the job market.

✅ 2. Big companies use React—especially Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp Web, Instagram), which originally developed it.

✅ 3. Learning React opens the door to mobile app development with React Native (which I plan to learn next! 😉).

✅ 4. React is popular and has a strong ecosystem of tools and libraries.

So, do you think these are convincing reasons to learn React? 🤔💡

React #WebDevelopment #Frontend #JavaScript 🚀

Learning React Js

Ali AbdElbagi — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 14:13:57 +0000

I am going to share my React learning journey with you.

i need some advice from people who went in this path before me

i have good knowledge in HTML,CSS,JS,SASS,TAILWIND