DEV Community: Seif Sekalala

Good job, and great advice!

Seif Sekalala — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 16:45:45 +0000

Random

Jul 7 '25

Is Self-Taught Coding Still Worth It?

#programming #ai #career #learning

Comments 7

3 min read

Hi, folkx. I encourage any novice- and experienced engineers to please pitch in. Am I wrong? Or, what are the nuances? Thanks! —SS.

Seif Sekalala — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 03:18:11 +0000

“Turtle” Software Learner-Engineers Are Software Engineers Nonetheless; and Most Software Engineers Experience “Turtle-hood”

Seif Sekalala ・ Mar 14

#devchallenge #wecoded #dei #career

“Turtle” Software Learner-Engineers Are Software Engineers Nonetheless; and Most Software Engineers Experience “Turtle-hood”

Seif Sekalala — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 03:02:05 +0000

Image / Video Caption:

The YouTube screenshot and video link of my talk, (paraphrased: …):

“Pep-talk For Turtle Coders”
———————————————————————-

Part A: “The journey of a thousand steps…”

A-1)
First, perhaps we should try to settle a question that software-engineers and engineer-aspirants debate ad-infinitum.

The Question, Modified:

“Who (should be allowed to, does—) call themselves ‘genuine’ software-engineers?”

__>> I-for-one, i.e., this author (Seif Sekalala) don’t quite know.
But there are perhaps some rules of thumb.
One: can you—-in good conscience, call yourself a professional engineer, just because you can make the code editor print “Hello world!”?

Normative answer:
NO (/sigh/really, friend?! 😂)

Am I (—Seif) an engineer?

Answer:
Barely, but yes.

Mostly though, I am a PMP-certified project manager with a wide repertoire of coding skills—-i.e. languages, source-control, wire-framing, UX-UI, and yes, the basics of databases and backend ops.

———————————————————————-

How did I learn all that cool stuff? [👆]

___>>> A-2)-i; Answer / Proof 1:
My solid assistance with building Code for Philly’s PHLASK.me app.

And in that role—-first as a PM-fellow, then a volunteer to date, I always cite Gabe Cardona as my chief mentor; my sensei, even.
🥋🙇‍♂️

___>>> A-2)-ii; Proof 2:
I have a decent GH profile, handle-name: dibleauzah.

___>>> A-2)-iii; Proof 3:
I-myself find it hard to believe what I am about to write; but it’s true:
I have learned to enjoy debugging. [👈]
YES, you read [👆*that correctly.

___>>> A-2)-iv; Proof 4:
I LOVE algorithms, but I have made peace with my phobia of those scary … (what do you call them?) the ones that weed out true engineers from pretenders.
Honest brain freeze / tip-on-tongue syndrome:
I actually can’t remember their names, and I am mindfully choosing not to ask ChatGPT to help me.

___>>> A-2)-v; Proof 5:
I am humble; a life-long learner.

One day, my love of algorithms via pencil and paper, and repos just for practicing them; one day, these traits will allow me to do well in those (mindful-mischief usage alert!) engineer applicant weed-outer thingies.

It’s intriguing, by the by:…

Even as an ML-/AI-/LLM-ops PM-engineer up-and-comer, I can’t stand Kaggle. I never get past the Iris and Titanic challenges.

————————————

Part B: “Triumphs…”?

Yes; quite a few.

B-1)
Forgive the somewhat repetitive (re-)mentioning of the GH profile.

B-2)
I have actually helped junior engineers, striving to soothe their imposter-syndrome and “not good enough” disorders.

———————————————————————-
Keep ~~Walking/~~ Hopping, Coder-San

You’re already an engineer, despite your mid-journey phase.
And granted, I can’t predict the future.

But I have a strange feeling that one day, you’ll find yourself at the 10,000+ mark and beyond one day.

Ergo: please do keep moving—-nay, hopping, “grasshoper”.
The Turtle-Dude is earnestly cheering you on.

You got this. 💪

🤦‍♂️

Seif Sekalala — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 23:26:00 +0000

PORN Stack is Born... Pay attention please!

Antonio | CEO at Litlyx.com ・ Feb 7

#discuss #webdev #javascript #beginners

Nice! Thanks for sharing, @Anmol Baranwal

Seif Sekalala — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 23:54:54 +0000

10 common backend tasks and how to automate them

Anmol Baranwal ・ Mar 24

#backend #programming #javascript #tutorial

👏

Seif Sekalala — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 05:31:29 +0000

Building for Users: The Real Purpose of Software Development

Jake Lundberg ・ Mar 12

#softwaredevelopment #softwareengineering

Great piece. Learn for real, not for “vibing”—whatever that means. But no judgement from me, ultimately. To each their own.

Seif Sekalala — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 05:28:25 +0000

🚀 The Rise of "Vibe Coders" – And Why Real Skills Matter More Than Ever

Md Asaduzzaman Atik ・ Mar 18

#ai #programming #coding #computerscience

LinkedIn “Detox” (?!) 🤔

Seif Sekalala — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 12:50:34 +0000

Hi, folks.

Just a brief post here, for two purposes:

1) To re-share this cool post [_ link: https://dev.to/evergrowingdev/7-fun-ways-to-gamify-your-learning-journey-4628 _] by @evergrowingdev ; and

2) To ask if anyone has ever felt the need to do a LinkedIn-, or other social-media “detox”?!
🤔😐

My Comment—re: Probability, In Reaction to This Article: https://dev.to/jagroop2001/learning-probability-through-a-story-377n

Seif Sekalala — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 11:19:55 +0000

https://dev.to/seif_sekalala_81e09fe6b9e/comment/2aia7

My_First(s)_!_Yay_!!!

Seif Sekalala — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:40:18 +0000

Duh?!

https://codepen.io/collection/AYpQEd

Response 1 to Mr. (/Eng.) Jnr-Hare: Introduction to Software-Development: Why and How?

Seif Sekalala — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 12:47:08 +0000

Dear Mr. (/Eng.) Jnr-Hare (AKA J-Hare [ @envitab ],

Thank you so much for your letter; I was very (pleasantly) surprised to receive and read it! After all, most engineers—especially the hares like you, tend to think of me and my kind (the turtles) as simpletons, or certainly not professionals that can—or should—be consulted! Regardless / in any case, let me try to offer you some good answers to the questions you posed in your letter.

Why Learn Programming / How to Begin / Choosing the Right Languages & Tools, etc.

**
I–Complexity and Worthiness
First, let me try to address your observation about the complexity of the software-development field, and your soul-searching about whether or not it is worth pursuing, given such complexity. And on one hand, your observation is spot-on: software-development is a complex field.

After all, any junior turtle—or even hare—might wonder: what in the world do these engineers mean by terms such as backend, DevOps, or Model-View-Controller?! Moreover, in light of both your humility and apparently very high IQ and wisdom, I am sure you’ve also considered whether it might be more lucrative to get into the world of native-apps—i.e., iOS, Android, and others, not to mention related fields like data science.

But here’s the good news for you, Mr. J-Hare. Yes, the world of software-development is complex—and it seems to get increasingly more and more complex by the day, because of Moore’s law and other factors (e.g., new advances with ML and AI). But this is also a world that:

i) Anyone can get into, as long as they are as humble and eager to learn as you are. Its entry-barriers are low, versus fields such as medicine, accounting, law, etc.
ii) After learning the basics and establishing habits of continuous practice and learning, believe it or not, Mr. J-Hare, you will find yourself at par with many senior—and/or (seemingly) “smartest”—engineers! For instance, there will be days on the job when YOU (yes, “little old” YOU, J-Hare!), will be catching and debugging issues that your supervisor (possibly a graduate of MIT or Stanford) will have missed!

II–Getting Started—Part A
And guess what, Mr. J-Hare? I have more good news for you. The fact that you’re asking these questions—yet you have a GH profile with several repos, is evidence of the fact that…(drum-rolls)...you’ve already become a software-engineer! But hold on! Before you start jumping up and down in joy, let’s first make sure that you’re really on a firm footing; i.e., with a clear overview schema of the field, expectations vis-a-vis progress and challenges, etc.

So as to help you with a quick overview of what the field of software-development entails, please take a look at diagrams such as the one below. Overall, it helpfully lists a total of five groups of languages, libraries and frameworks, and other “tools” vis-a-vis the sub-fields of i) front-end, ii) back-end, iii) databases, iv) DevOps, and v) mobile apps.

Ultimately, the world of software engineering might be conceptualized as composed of roughly (and yes, please note my emphasis on this word) three contexts: I) Front-end; II) Back-end and databases; and both these specializations might be for web- or native-apps, and III) Full-stack engineering, which combines the two major fields. I would also add DevOps into that last category.

III–Getting Started—Part B
First, learn the fundamentals. And please don’t try to learn 5 different coding languages at once! Rather, you might benefit from learning C—a basic root-level language used to build “operating systems, device drivers, protocol stacks (per Wikipedia, 2023),” and/or JavaScript, given its role as the foundation of most web-applications. I would also learn 1 or 2 “Object-Oriented Programming” languages–e.g., Python or Java. Try to also learn the basic mechanics of the field. E.g.:
1) At their most basic level (as David Malan or other instructors of Ed-X/Harvard’s CS50 ), most computers or digital machines are using binary code . This implies a number of important concepts for you to understand, including the following question: before we get to the level of software, what do we mean by hardware, firmware, CPU memory or “cache” or memory?
2) Do you understand the importance of—and are you striving to learn—algorithms and data structures , regardless of the languages or your chosen tech-roles (i.e., front-end, back-end, and especially, for full-stack purposes)?

Realistic Expectations and Challenges, and Next Steps
To close out this first letter to you, Mr. J-Hare—also in response to your queries: 1) Like Nike, “just do it”—get started; don’t be a coward! 2) However, please understand that the journey won’t be easy, neat, or linear. You’ll experience setbacks, self-doubt (/impostor syndrome), and other causes of demotivation. But remember that wise Chinese proverb, re: “a journey of a thousand miles…”. You can do this, Mr. J-Hare [ @envitab ]!

My First HackerNoon Pub! 😊

Seif Sekalala — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 04:20:39 +0000

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share this, my first HackerNoon publication. Apparently I’m learning that publishing on HackerNoon is kind of, to quote a certain politician, “a big effing deal!”(?) 😂

Is that true? If anyone knows better than me, please enlighten me! 🤣

Link:
https://rb.gy/4i8rg