DEV Community: Marcus Wood

Does your Code Pass the Jeopardy Test?

Marcus Wood — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 19:39:17 +0000

We've all heard the quote, "There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things." While naming something isn't inherently difficult, giving a name that describes the lasting intent is. I think that's ultimately what makes it so hard when you're coding because slapping a variable name on something while you're in the zone is inconsequential. You say, "I'll always remember what that means down the line" and then two months later you go back and have no idea why the variable name is bananaTrees.

This is where the Jeopardy test comes into play. Every time you declare a boolean variable phrase it in a question. Instead of an enabled flag add isEnabled. The reason is because it's the first thing that someone (or your future self) is going to ask when they read it is, "What is enabled?"

Prepend every boolean variable or property with "is"

A Brief History on Jeopardy

If you're not familiar, Jeopardy is an American game show where contestants are quizzed on various topics and they have to answer in a form of a question. This game came off the heels of the 50s quiz show rigging scandals causing ratings to plummet. So how do you keep people from rigging the shows? By giving the answers first and having the contestants guess the questions! The format of Jeopardy has changed from its early days, but answering in a phrase of a question is still around.

Take out the Guesswork

That's what so beautiful and simple about prepending any boolean variable name with intent. You're not trying to guess the answer of what the thing does because you're giving your future self the answer. This can be applied to any language, but is most important in dynamically typed langauges like JavaScript since there are no type annotations to help you along. For example, you'll often see the flag enabled declared.

// Doesn't tell us much
const enabled = false

// A little better, now we know the intent and that that the variable
// is a boolean
const isEnabled = false


// Perfect! From the name we can infer the type of the variable
// and what it's describing
const isUserEnabled = false

Most of the time you can assume that enabled or disabled will be booleans since it's fairly standard throughout languages and APIs. But let's say we're defining an email document that will be stored in a database. An example document might look like this:

const emailDocument = {
  subject: 'Welcome!',
  id: '123456',
  body: 'Hey there!',
  user: '435',
  admin: true,
  read: false,
  enabled: true,
  sent: '2020-02-03'
}

When you have the data attached, it's not too hard to determine what each property name is. However, let's take those off:

const emailDocument = {
  subject,
  id,
  body,
  user,
  admin,
  read,
  enabled,
  sent
}

Is "sent" the time it was sent or if it was sent? Is "user" the associated user or if it is intended for a user? What is "admin"? If you don't have the data available, it's impossible to determine what these properties mean. This introduces friction into what you're coding and can create bugs. Let's clean it up:

const emailDocument = {
  subject: 'Welcome!',
  id: '123456',
  body: 'Hey there!',
  fromUser: '435',
  isAdministrativeEmail: true,
  isRead: false,
  isEnabled: true,
  sentOn: '2020-02-03'
}

I know I added more than just "is", and will be writing more posts on why in the future!

Now we don't need to know the data or even consult the docs (if there are any) to infer what a property means. It is hard to name things, especially when working on large teams or creating an API. This is one small tip that I've seen pay off big in the long run and hope it helps.

5 Must Listen Web Dev Podcasts for Stallions and Code Newbies Alike

Marcus Wood — Sun, 03 Nov 2019 22:44:33 +0000

If you're a developer, let's face it - you probably don't read the docs 😅. Instead, put on one of these podcasts to learn what's happening in the web development community! This list is in no particular order.

Syntax

Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski are the hosts of this show. They both create online courses and are great at explaining complex tech in a way that's easy to understand. This is a must listen for someone learning to code because it has a little bit of everything for you to dig into.

Shop Talk

If I'm in the car this is my go to podcast because of the depth they go into on a singular topic. Ever wanted to talk about GatsbyJS for an hour straight? You got it. Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert do a great job with the show and always have interesting guests.

Javascript Jabber

A really fun podcast that focuses on the Javascript ecosystem. There's a lot of variety to the show that helps you learn different topics fast. One week could be machine learning and the next week design systems.

React Podcast

You need to listen to this podcast if you use React. The information that's on this show isn't located in the docs or the internet. I listen to this podcast a bunch because it gives me an idea of where the React ecosystem is headed. They have people from the React Core team on fairly often as well.

Snacks Daily

Wait, this isn't a web development podcast! You're right, but they talk about tech companies and startups. It's a great way to get introduced to the business side of web development in fifteen minute snacks!

What are your go to podcasts? Let us know in the comments below.

Don't Leave Your Technical Interview Without Asking These Two Questions

Marcus Wood — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Oh technical interviews, don't you love them? It's always a complete wild card in what you get. Sometimes you have to program snake on a whiteboard and other times you're asked to create a two way path finding algorithm in Google Docs. But there's always one constant - question time.

Always Ask Questions

The worst thing you can do in a technical interview is not ask questions at the end. Yes, you could bomb every question and say gibberish to try and BS your way through it (I've done both 😅), but the last impression your interviewer will have of you are the questions you ask. Not only that, but how often do you get to fire technical questions at a stranger and they answer them? Use this moment to learn! Also, not asking questions will likely make the interviewer think you're not interested in the job.

Without further ado, here they are!

What's your testing strategy?

I love this question for so many reasons. First, it levels the playing field for you as a candidate in the interview. The entire time you've been grilled and told how to do XYZ, but now you can strike back. I've never seen, worked, or heard of a dev team that's 100% happy with their testing strategy. The reason is because there's so many outside factors that play into delivering software that deadlines and budgets normally cut testing. You'll normally hear something like this, "Good question, right now we're doing doing unit tests on the backend and have some integration tests. We'd like to do a lot more testing on the client, but things are more fluid. We also have a couple end to end tests, but we still have a QA team that does a lot of the work."

It is also extremely interesting to hear how companies handle testing, and you may be surprised by how fast and loose large and reputable companies play it. This is rare information you won't find on the internet.

Most importantly, it shows that you thought about it. If you're a junior dev or bootcamp grad you've probably never written a test, but now you just jumped up relative to your peers because you asked the question.

How are you handling CI/CD?

Oh boy, this gets an interesting response every time. CI = Continuous Integration. CD = Continuous Delivery. If you're not familiar with the concepts, they are a set of practices for delivering code more frequently and reliably. For instance, when you work on a team and deploy your code you don't want everyone shooting off deployments from their local machine. CI/CD allows you automate deployments, run tests, and deploy to different infrastructure easily.

Every company handles this differently, and the big players you'll hear about a lot are Jenkins, CircleCI, Travis, and Bamboo. If this is your first job you've probably never heard of this stuff or had to set it up. Make sure to listen and follow along with how they answer. You normally get a tour of their infrastructure, what their security requirements are, and a couple fun stories if they're using Jenkins (he's fiddly).

Asking Insightful Questions Boosts Your Street Cred

As a bootcamp grad, the largest gaps I had in my first job were software engineering practices. I could "make it go" yet had no idea what I was doing. These questions show you're thinking about more than just the role you're interviewing for.

What if the company doesn't write tests and has no CI/CD you may ask? Run. Run fast and far. 🏃‍♂️

Free Resume Reviews for Devs

Marcus Wood — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 01:21:49 +0000

We're happy to announce our newest weekly series - shred it. Every week, we'll be reviewing a resume line by line, providing constructive feedback, and sharing ideas on how to make it shine. We want to show you how a recruiter or hiring manager looks at your resume to give you more insight on what to focus on. A successful job search starts with a solid resume.

The feedback we give will be the exact thoughts we have as if we're evaluating you for an interview. Any feedback is meant to constructive and help you find a job.

Who Should Apply?

Anyone is welcome to apply, but the team has only interviewed and hired from the tech and marketing industries. We'll give you feedback, just keep in mind it could be off base if you're applying for a mining engineer position because we know nothing about it. 😅

Submission Instructions

Please remove your name, address, email address, and any other personal information. We'll be sharing this on our blog that's accessible by everyone.
Keep job titles and experiences.
Choose to keep one of the following: company names or education names.
Email your resume to marcus@calderadigital.com and write Shred It in the subject line.
Let us know what kind of luck you've had with it and what kind of job you're targeting.

If your resume is chosen we'll let you know and email you the feedback before sharing it.

Let's Get to Shredding!

And no, we won't literally shred your resume (unless it's like the one I had in college in which case we might).

Beginning your Web Development Journey? Start here.

Marcus Wood — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 03:46:36 +0000

I started learning how to code four years ago. When I started, I knew that I wanted to build websites and apps. I figured I’d learn what I needed and make some cool stuff to land an entry level developer job. What I didn’t anticipate is how many tools there were to choose from, and there wasn’t much direction on where to start. Choosing a code editor, using the command line, version control, and not to mention learning the tech jargon made it hard to start.

I can’t tell you how many nights I spun my wheels in the wrong direction learning something I’ve never used. This is what I wish someone would of told me as well as a bunch of great resources to get you started.

Where to Start

There are A LOT of languages and tools you can use to build for the web. All of them have their benefits, and are maintained by tons of super smart people. While this is great for pushing the web forward, it’s confusing and overwhelming to start.

Learn HTML, CSS, and Javascript exclusively.

If know HTML, CSS, and Javascript on a deep level, you will be able to create anything on the web.

The Core Ten

Strive for ten hours of real coding each week. That means in the editor, slinging divs, and writing methods. Podcasts, tutorials, and reading blogs aren’t part of that ten. Don’t go over and definitely don’t go under. There’s a certain amount of time it takes for the concepts to sink in, so a steady pace will level up your skills faster.

Tools to Use

Next up, download VsCode to use as your code editor. After that you’ll need a terminal to run commands and do various other things so download iTerm2. Lastly, you need a browser to test your website in so grab the latest version of Google Chrome.

Getting Into the Community

The only way to catch up is to jump right in. Do the following:

Read FreeCodeCamp and Hackernoon daily
Listen to the podcasts Syntax and Shop Talk Show weekly
Hop on Twitter and follow a bunch of developers. Here’s a short list to get you started: Me (shameless plug), Dan Abramov, Kyle Mathews, Christian Nwamba, Wes Bos, Jason Miller 🦊 ⚛, Scott Tolinski, Ryan Florence

Will you understand this stuff yet? Probably not. The point is to get you introduced to it early so it’s easier to dive in later.

HTML and CSS

Time: 40 hours

HTML gives webpages structure and CSS makes them look pretty. Do not use a library like Bootstrap for styling during this part. The point is to get used to creating markup, positioning elements, and styling only using CSS. Some of my go to resources to learn for this are:

While you’re building things focus on using the Chrome DevTools. It’s important familiarize yourself with all of these things so you can deep dive into them later.

Source Control

Time: Every project you do after this point

Do not skip this! From this point forward and forever, use source control to track and manage your changes. This enables you to go back in time if you really mess things up, collaborate with other developers, and share your code online. To start you’ll need to install Git, create a Github account, and initialize a repository. Check this course out to get started:

Treehouse: Git Basics

This will likely be your first time using the command line to do computer things. It’s important to get comfortable there, and Git helps familiarize you with it initially. After you feel good about things start using SourceTree. It helps you visualize things and is friendlier to use.

Javascript

Time: 80 hours

Now it’s time to start bringing things to life and jumping into Javascript. This is the scripting language of the web and allows you to do nearly anything nowadays. You can create iOS/Android apps, backend servers, web applications, desktop applications, and even do machine learning with it. Focus all of your time on learning this language and this language alone. If you research you’ll see things like PHP, Ruby, Python, Node, Flask, React, Angular, Webpack, Jenkins, Wordpress, Rollup, Firebase, Docker, Yaml, and the list goes on. All of this stuff is great (except maybe PHP), but you need to focus on learning one thing well before branching out. You most likely won’t be doing too many web things, but that’s ok for now. Places to start:

Bring It All Together

Time: 60 hours
This is where you take everything you’ve learned so far and bring it together to build some pretty cool things. I recommend going through Wes Bos’s Javascript 30 course to get your feet wet in a variety of projects.

React

Time: 100 hours
This is the make or break step in learning modern day web development — learning your first library/framework. Most of the demand you’ll see in the job market for web developers will involve knowledge of some Javascript library or framework. Popular ones are React, Angular, Vue, Preact, and jQuery (though not as much nowadays). You’ll likely end up learning more than one, but I like learning React first because it’s going to shake up everything you’ve learned so far. Courses to check out:

CSS Time

Time: 20 hours

By this time you should have a collection of good projects and hopefully learned CSS along the way. It’s normally the first thing you learn, but the hardest to master. There’s also a bunch of different ways to style as you’ve probably seen in the courses listed above. You have CSS, SCSS, LESS, CSS-in-JS, inline-styles, PostCSS, Scoped CSS, and on top of that a bunch of different design methodologies for organizing your CSS. Don’t let any of this overwhelm you. To get caught up, read Modern CSS Explained For Dinosaurs.
Now it’s time to dive into Flexbox. This will give you the power to create layouts with ease. For learning, read How Flexbox works — explained with big, colorful, animated gifs.

More Javascript

Time: 20 hours
If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to slow it down and review what you’ve learned. Libraries, coding patterns, and best practices change all the time, but the foundation of the language does not. Learning Javascript on a deep level is the key to long term success in web development. Buy this course, go through every lesson of it, and make sure you understand these things before moving forward. break glass

Javascript: Understanding the Weird Parts

Following this guide will help you learn faster, and focus on the most important aspects of web development. If you would be interested in a free video series that follows the the structure of this guide please clap and subscribe!

Applying Online Won't Land You a Job. Here's what will.

Marcus Wood — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 20:06:00 +0000

A Background

Have you ever slid into a company's DMs to land a job? I've tried that and about everything else when it comes to getting a job. I even made my resume look like Twitter and applied there in college (sadly, no response). I've never been afraid to put in the effort when it comes to the job search, and there's always one commonality on if I get an interview or not. Did I apply online?

To this day, I have never gotten a job from applying online to a job posting. I'm not alone, only 2% of candidates are interviewed for open positions, and 80% of open jobs are never advertised.

Quick aside, look at this beauty!

When I dug this up in my Dropbox, I found it titled as Coolest Thing I Have Ever Done.pdf. How embarrassing. 😅 Okay, back to the blog!

Why Applying Online Doesn't Work

Simply put, it has the lowest barrier of entry and the most steps to get to a decision maker. Anyone with the internet can apply online and jobs are overrun with candidates from the start. Larger companies enlist the help of an ATS to cut through the resumes and find the best candidates of the bunch.

What's an ATS?

Bullhorn, a recruiting platform that offers an ATS, describes it as this, "An applicant tracking system automates an organization’s recruiting and staffing operations, and provides a central repository for candidate data—including resumes and applications. An ATS is built to help you better manage every stage in the recruiting process, from application to hire, while delivering greater overall efficiency."

automates an organization’s recruiting and staffing operations = your resume isn't being viewed by a human

No wonder my Twitter resume didn't get me a job, likely no one saw it! I'm still salty if you can't tell. So let's say your resume did make it by the ATS, what's next?

A recruiter picks up your resume and gives it a quick glance to see if you're qualified for the position. However, the recruiter likely hasn't worked in the role you're applying for and has to do the best they can. I was an IT recruiter in a past life - it's a tough gig. Nothing but respect to the recruiters out there!

If all things go well, they email it to a manager who then passes it down to a senior resource to make a call on interviewing. Then it goes all the way back up the chain. So in order to get an interview, all of these things must happen:

You apply online
ATS decides you're worthy
Recruiter reviews resume and decides to pass it to a manager
Manager looks at resume and passes it to a senior resource
Senior resource decides to interview you

And then it has to go all the way back up the chain. There are so many points of failure, and unfortunately, you've likely missed out on interviews just because your resume was lost in an inbox.

A lot of the advice you'll see on the internet encourages you to optimize your resume for ATS systems using keywords and find the right time to apply, but that's not the best way. The best way to beat the ATS is to bypass the ATS.

What Works?

As someone who's tried everything, I've had great luck by sticking to one core principle.

Increase the effort and decrease the points of failure.

So, how can you do that?

Attending Meetups

If you're looking for a job and not getting out of the house to do so, you'll be beat out by the people who are. For nearly every industry, there's a Meetup or happy hour you can attend to network and learn more about places. A couple tips for prime time meetup success:

Don't bring your resume. You're there to network, and people outside of work won't be conducting interviews.
Try to meet at least five people per meetup. Doesn't matter if there's only five people there, it's a good number because it allows you to have good conversations, but keep things moving.
Ask them questions and listen. People that are attending industry meetups love talking about what they're working on. Let them talk!

What you'll notice is nothing above has anything to do with getting a job and that's the point. You're there to meet people and evaluate where you want to work. Looking for a job doesn't mean sacrificing standards. You'll be happier for it and search for jobs less if you make the right decision at the onset.

Connect with them on LinkedIn immediately after the event and if they have a business card, take it. Now you wait. Remember, you don't want to seem desperate and that company likely needs you a lot more than you need them.

Treat the engagement like you would a Tinder match you're interested in. Talk, but not immediately.

After four days have passed shoot them a personal message and inquire if there's any openings. This is where you sell yourself so lay it on them!

Calling Companies

I know, hopping on the phone and talking to someone - but hear me out. If you call a company you want to work for most likely a receptionist is going to pick up the phone, and that's where you turn on the charm. The one gatekeeper you have to beat! Politely make small talk, say you're in the market for a job, and would love to work at said company. Ask to speak to the manager of the department you want to work in (bonus points for LinkedIn stalking and having a name). Most likely, you won't speak to anyone, but you'll get what you really came for: the manager's email.

Just like that you've knocked out ATS systems and recruiters. Even if you don't see a relevant job posted on a company's website that doesn't matter. Companies are always hiring talented people like you and remember 80% of open jobs are never advertised.

From there, write a well thought out email expressing why you're interested in the company, why you want to work there, and attach your resume. You won't always hear back, but a lot of times you will.

Show Up In Person

That's right - dress to the nines, walk through the front door, and inquire about a position. This is the ultimate increase the level of effort and decrease the points of failure because you may be interviewing that day. Only do this after calling the company and being unsuccessful that way you can say, "Well I tried calling and couldn't get in touch with anyone so I figured I'd show up."

Be on your toes and ready for anything. You could be turned away or interviewed on the spot, it's a complete wildcard. One thing is for sure though, you'll be getting an answer instead of another, "Thank your for applying" email. And when I say be on your toes I mean it. Quick story:

My father runs a small fresh produce business and is old fashioned to say the least when it comes to hiring. It's a small town and folks apply in person often. Most of the time it's grabbing an application and leaving. However, if my father is the one who greets them he'll interview on the spot, and if all things go well he'll ask if they can start immediately. Literally, walk out of the office and start working. So be ready and be excited if you go this route!

Full disclosure: I've never actually done this because I received a job before getting to this point. However, if you're looking and find the one, go get it!

Job Boards and Newsletters

Highly effective and surprisingly underused. If you're in the market for a job, plaster your resume all over the internet. You never know who will come across it or what position you'll find by having it out there. The best part about it, companies are reaching out to you. It's a completely different dynamic because now it doesn't feel like you're having to sell yourself 24/7. They came to you, and that means you have leverage.

Not only do you know they're looking for someone, but if they're calling they need someone now. These are what I call 🔥hot ones🔥 and should be treated as such. My advice for these calls is to play it cool and be friendly. Most of the time the recruiter wants to make sure you're not a crazy person and qualified for the job. If you sound cheery and talk with a smile you've got it in the bag.

Hot tip: Don't use your personal email and phone number when posting your resume on the internet. It'll get trapped in an ATS and you'll be spammed with jobs from now until eternity.

Alcamine

Shameless plug for the latest product I'm working on, Alcamine. With Alcamine, you create an @alcamine.com email address, input your preferences, and put the email on your resume and anywhere you're contacted by recruiters. We score every email that comes your way based on what you're looking for and then sprinkle in special opportunities. I built this for myself to find more freelancer gigs, and it's been so useful I turned it into a product for everyone to use!

We just opened the waitlist so please sign up if you're interested. The quicker you sign up the more likely you'll be able to get the email address of your choice.

What's Next?

When you're looking for a job, be excited about it and meet as many people as you can. You can get any job you want long as you put in the effort - just don't make your resume look like Twitter 😆.

I'm Marcus, a cable salesman turned IT recruiter turned web developer. I'm starting a weekly newsletter where I break down how to land a tech job and share all of the secrets I've learned over the years. If this article was interesting to you, please sign up: https://alcamine.com