DEV Community: Bartholomew Allen

Looking for Guidance on what to learn....

Bartholomew Allen — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 20:26:13 +0000

Hello, I am looking for guidance on what to do to excel myself as a Mid-Level Software Engineer. There's so much I want to learn and so many different things I want to get into but I'm looking for type of advice for how I should structure it. Down below are the list of things I want to learn which I believe will excel my career.

Docker (learning to making microservices and creating containers)
Distributed System (having a good knowledge of what it is, the architecture and how my company is using the paradigm)
Spring Boot Full-Stack Application
.NET Full-Stack Application
DevOps Technologies such as Jenkins, and OpenShift
Algorithms (More for increasing my problem solving ability and writing more efficient code)

Feeling under utilized/not challenged, how to over come?

Bartholomew Allen — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 12:34:10 +0000

I work as a Software Developer for a top 50 Fortune 500 company where I am part of a team which specializes in Dev-Ops. Lately I’ve been feelings underutilized with most of my team members always asking others for help instead of coming to me or I always get stuck with tedious work which anyone can do. Based on my job title I am considered a Junior Developer and feel like the work handed to me isn’t challenging me. I find myself bored some days and others I immerse myself with reading various technology blogs, CS sub reddit or reading my book to pass time. But I want to know if any Junior Developer has ever felt like this? How do I change? I want to be promoted to at least a mid-level developer. I will preface that I have developed bad habits in terms of producing work at a slow pace or simply being too afraid to ask questions. I’ve been working here for over a year now and I want to improve and be taken more seriously, I want to excel, I want to be that go to person. Some other areas I need to work on are better articulating my issues when they arise. I have intense impostor syndrome where I am always nervous talking to Senior developers because I believe that I am not as good as everyone else or my level of thinking isn't on par with everyone else on the team.

Looking beyond the pay (my opinion)

Bartholomew Allen — Wed, 10 Jul 2019 15:54:37 +0000

In today's day in age the rising of software engineering has become high in demand and more competitive than ever. Everyone in the Computer science space fights for jobs and others work hard to work anywhere they can for experience.

One thing I've noticed in myself and others around me is that people within the computer science realm have this notion of seeking top companies that pay a huge starting salaries and then brag to others as if it’s a competition to obtain the highest salary job out there. I don't know why but it's gotten to me a few times since most people look down on others for not getting into top companies or getting high salaries. This shifted my thinking to look into looking at companies only for the pay and not really much else. This type of thinking isn't ideal and shouldn't be for everyone else.

I was talking to a supervisor recently about how looking for the highest salary isn't always everything in a company. Looking at the impact, the company brings to the world and seeing how your software or solution could potentially impact others is a more meaningful way to assess whether or not your time with a company will be valued.

Obviously there are software companies that do low ball software developers and that's not okay but there are many companies that I've seen where the pay is substantial but the atmosphere is like having a second family. That to me has more value than having a 6 figure income right out of the gate. I am a person who works hard starting from the bottom then working my way to the top!

That being said the take away from this is to anyone who is hesitant on accepting job offers that start low you should give it a second chance, and you'll be able to value the company better and will have a better chance to grow with time and more experience. (FYI obviously not companies that low ball you but start off fairly decent lol)

What headphone(s) do you use when coding?

Bartholomew Allen — Wed, 29 May 2019 17:56:05 +0000

I am an avid user with all types of headphones! Some could say that I am a headphone junkie others could say I love to have options. Be that as it may I want to know what everyone uses for certain situations when it comes to coding or listening to music in general.

Here is my current list of headphones/earphones that I own at the moment:

Sony WH1000XM2 Bluetooth Wireless NC Headphones
- Coding/Programming work
- Long study sessions
- Deep focus work
- Reading books

Sony XB950B1 Extra Bass Wireless Headphones
- Coding/Programming work
- Web development
- intense music session
- Dubstep & Chillstep
- Any electronic music

Apple Air Pods
- Mainly use these when I am out about in school, work, or at my local library
- Also use for podcasts and Audio books

SteelSeries Arctis 7
- Gaming headset for playing the PS4
- Also sometimes use with the XBOX 360

Wired earphones
- When I forget to charge any of my bluetooth headphones
- Back up earphones for when my other headphones die

Let me know which pair of headphones you guys use on a daily basis or use for special occasions! Also I am close to buying the Bose QC 35 so badly >.< even though I don't really need them 🤣

Personal Website development advice

Bartholomew Allen — Sat, 25 May 2019 15:47:15 +0000

Alright so I have decided to re structure the original website that I created with just plain HTML/CSS and JavaScript to now use React! I want to know everyone's opinion on how I should approach this project since I haven't been able to make much progress with it from being so distracted by all the cool effects that you can do with JavaScript and CSS. I want to change my approach for how I build this instead of trying to code things out first and not write down the basics of the website or the web flow. Here are the following questions I am curious to know what everyone thinks

Is it worth keeping my adobe cloud subscription for this project?

if Yes to the previous question what are the best practices for utilizing adobe into building my personal website?

Is it worth while to take the time to mock out the design first before doing any coding? Or should I do basic web flow first before mocking up?

I love using figma but I also really want to tryout adobe XD but want to know if I should stick to figma or test the waters with adobe XD

What are good resources to use for making my website responsive?