For a long time, I believed that maths and programming are strongly interconnected and that learning programming requires a strictly scientific mind — something I didn’t have.
After graduating high school, I didn’t consider applying to any science majors, as I perceived them as incomprehensible and out of my reach. Computer Science was one of those majors hidden behind a wall I thought I couldn’t pass through.
That’s why I decided to go in a different direction — I chose an International Relations major with a specialisation focused on South-East Asia. I travelled a lot, learned Chinese, and had a lot of fun, but I didn’t know what career path I should follow after.
After some research and thought, I decided to apply for MA in Computer Science. It was a bold move — I was afraid I couldn’t make it, but I wanted to challenge myself and see if I found it fascinating.
I did, and I quickly landed my first job as a frontend developer. I was constantly learning more and more, and I soon graduated and found myself where I am now.
So, did my unscientific mind cause me any problems on the way?
Let this article be the answer!
How can we build a valuable piece of software without understanding who will use it and for what purpose?
The majority of project failures in the software industry stem from the lack of such understanding. All assumptions made during the project planning, no matter how complex and insightful they are, mean nothing as long as you don’t confront them with the actual end-user needs.
How to prevent it from happening? How can you know what direction you should be going?
Find the answer to these questions in the article!
In the autumn of 2020, amid a raging pandemic, I decided to quit my job and write a book.
A couple of months before, I got into a creative writing course with an idea I wanted to develop. Writing has always been my passion, and it was an excellent opportunity to go through the process of creating an entire story from beginning to end.
It turned out that the new activity helped me not only to write my first book but also to develop as a software engineer.
How?
Read the article and discover the three areas in which creative writing has promoted my professional growth.
We’ve attended 4Developers — the biggest interdisciplinary IT festival for programmers in Poland. In this article, our software architect, Kuba, gives you an overview of the event’s most informative and captivating talks.
Each idea is worth little until it becomes a reality.
Converting an idea into a reality requires proper planning, experimentation, and discipline. You might skip some of the steps, but only a consistent, iterative process will produce positive results over time.
This framework is about data — your most potent weapon when introducing new ideas. Get inspired by a scientific process and obtain data that can guide your decisions and help you influence stakeholders.
One of the concepts popular in product management is the build-measure-learn loop presented in the Lean Startup by Eric Ries. It embodies the iterative process and talks about the best ways to experiment and learn. The framework I present in this article was inspired by that approach, among other frameworks, i.e. Design Thinking.
“How did you learn to code and to speak Japanese on your own?”
“How did you lose over 70kg all by yourself?”
“How did you quit smoking?”
I often have people ask me these questions, and I must tell you the answer to all of them is pretty straightforward — I’m just a regular person and I’m not an expert on any of these topics, I just do things.
You can also learn how to stop overthinking and start acting.
Check my proven methods and keep growing!
“Why do we use Agile?”
“What is the purpose behind it?”
You must have asked yourself these questions at least once.
Perhaps you’re among the people who think the answer is obvious — “To deliver more and quicker!”
If you are, I suggest you reconsider as this is the most common misconception about the purpose of Agile. In fact, if your answer is the above, you most likely don’t use the Agile approach at all.
At the 2021 Christmas party, I talked to many people in Evojam about values. I noticed that everyone agreed on the importance of growth. Not in the sense of size, but finding opportunities to learn. It got me thinking about how I was able to make progress last year.
Sometimes you need to know which levers to push if you want to bend a complex system to your will. The same can be said about your mind. I tend to trick myself into doing things that benefit me and the others around me.
This year’s Devoxx was my first remote conference. I got my ticket back in December when that was the only option. A lot of people from Evojam went to Kraków instead. For me, FOMO kicked in at the moment they posted the first pictures. Here I was, sitting in front of my laptop all day, 300 km away from all the excitement.
To make the most of my situation, I set out to pay undivided attention to any talk I would go to. Back in uni, the best way for me to do that was to make a lot of notes. And so I did.
This way, I ended up attending the most tech talks I have ever listened to over three consecutive days. Looking back, there are three recurring themes that I found most appealing.
In this text, I want to discuss three talks on the topic of software architecture.
Google "how often should software engineers switch jobs" and you'll find that 3 years is the sweet spot. Personally, I don't believe in such rigid rules, but most developers will eventually feel the urge to put their talent and skills to the test elsewhere.
So, what to do when you get to this point?
As a software engineer who has recently landed a new job, I'm coming with a wide range of handy tips on career moves.
