Looking back on my time as a developer, there are a lot of things I would have avoided doing if I had as much knowledge and maturity as I did now.
Category: Career
Influential Books for programmers
I try to read a lot of books. Over the years, my 'taste' for books has been refined and some of my criteria are listed below.
10 hard-learned Lessons for aspiring programmers
I have made a couple of mistakes over the years and wanted to share those pitfalls so upcoming programmers know what to avoid and what works.
10 years of programming: Lessons Learnt
Looking back, I have learnt a couple of lessons the hard way and wanted to share some of these so that other engineers know what to avoid.
The Effective Programmer – 3 tips to maximize impact
Effectiveness, (noun) : the degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result; success.
Maximizing Value: Learning to do less
I have always been concerned with maximizing efficiency for a long time; before, it meant learning everything I could in the shortest time possible. To me then, 'done' meant completing a book or series of videos and this blinded me from verifying acquired knowledge. So I mostly went from one book to another without challenging … Continue reading Maximizing Value: Learning to do less
Becoming a Professional Programmer
1. Deliver when you commit It is extremely bad for your reputation to fail to meet up to your words; if you can't deliver, please say no or find an alternative way out. How would you feel if an artisan disappoints you for no good reason? I bet you'll probably never do business with them again. … Continue reading Becoming a Professional Programmer
Staying Up-to-date : Newsletters and Resources
A collection of resources for staying up-to-date in the industry
Job Hunting 101 for Students
Yes, I am still continuing with my posts on Grad School, research and all-of-that. The big question for most of us towards the end of school is 'Whats next?', a lot of us want to get jobs immediately afterwards but realize too late that it's much more difficult than we thought. Here are a couple of … Continue reading Job Hunting 101 for Students
Taking the PAIN out of coding
Over the years, I have learnt some tricks and picked up some lessons while writing code. Most were learnt the hard way, so I decided to share a couple of tips on how to avoid development pitfalls.
Are developers better than testers?
A lot of people view testers as second-class citizens; probably because QA guys rarely 'create' stuff like devs do (although they sometimes do original work creating test frameworks and platforms). They are more similar to editors who verify the work of authors. However, testers are just as important as developers; without QA the end product … Continue reading Are developers better than testers?
Book Review: Coders At Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming
I recently completed reading Coders at work (well, I must have spent approximately 8 weeks trying to complete it; not a record I am proud of but still it's better than nothing!) I think the book is a good read even though some of the interviews dragged on for too long. Peter Siebel, the author, … Continue reading Book Review: Coders At Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming
So you want to become a better programmer
An awesome team of professionals reviewed my code and quickly exposed my mistakes. Yes, it was a great albeit humbling experience :) . It gave me a firsthand glimpse of my code-writing flaws; I appreciate this as it will enable me to improve insha Allaah.
I am language-agnostic
Once upon a time I used to think programming in Java was the best thing anyone could do. All this changed when I started my internship and realised I had to program in PHP whether I liked it or not. PHPwhat?! I didn't like it and felt that PHP was just not the way to go. … Continue reading I am language-agnostic
Become a better programmer
A lot of people say they want to become programmers and rave and talk about it without ever doing anything. So if you want to become a better programmer you can try these tips. Learn a lot Programming is a rapidly changing field with new innovations, discoveries and concepts coming up daily. Change is constant … Continue reading Become a better programmer
How it all started
My very first language was FORTRAN; I took a programming course in it in 2006 and was instantly hooked. I didn't have a computer however I worked in a computer centre so I could program whenever I was free. After getting my laptop, I delved into C; however I was 'advised' to drop C as it wasn't … Continue reading How it all started
Increase your Productivity
Here are some reasons for low productivity and some tips for getting more done in lesser time. Doing too many things simultaneously Some people claim to be be masters of multi-tasking and seem to be able to do too many things at once. Truth is, they end up compromising their own productivity. Humans have only … Continue reading Increase your Productivity
