I am a mentor to many young engineers both in and out of college, and I had this idea kicking around to create a quick "Business App Bootcamp." Hopefully, you all find this useful. Feedback and Pull Requests are very welcome.
It is written for Java / Spring Boot, but the structure can easily be applied to ANY language, but you will need to do the Googling to get your laptop configured with that runtime environment. GOLang, NodeJS, Java, Spring Boot, I can see how those would all easily fit into this. Enjoy the hacking...
Target Audience This is not for the absolute beginner. I'm not going to give you step by step to configure your environment, but if you are competent at googling answers, and setting up your environment on your laptop, then this is for you! But I did try to feed you the problem a small step at a time.
To be a great engineer, you need a few key attributes:
- Bottomless well of optimism,
- Natural Curiosity,
- Jack of all trades, master at none,
- Ability to separate "signal to noise,"
- Learn to talk to the business team
This line of work requires long hours of focused concentration. If you are easily frustrated or get bored quickly when things don't go your way, well, you might want to rethink your career choice. 😄 When your life partner says "Are you going to sleep or not? I can't wait up any longer, I'm going to bed", and you say "I almost have this working and as soon as it does, I'm going to bed. Be there in 5 minutes, I promise." Three hours later, it is still "almost working." 🙁
I wonder if... is one of the most powerful phrases in the human vocabulary. Dream big, but then get ready to get to work. Always be willing to peel back the onion one more layer. Google EVERYTHING If you see a word or phrase you don't know STOP and Google it until you have a basic understanding.
This has served me well in my career. I have a good friend who is a multi-instrumentalist. He can play like 20 different instruments. But he will be quick to tell you that he is a master of none of them. He simply loves the freedom to shift around. Now it doesn't mean you shouldn't have a "base." His "base" is keyboard, but then he branched from there. My base is "Java" but I'm also decent at python, NodeJS, react, and many others.
The amount of "noise" in technology can be overwhelming. Learn when to stop going down the rabbit hole. There are tons of rabbit holes in Technology. Learn just enough to make an informed decision and move on. Run your ideas past somebody you trust, then make a decision and try not to look back.
This skill needs to be emphasized more in school and work. If you are working on a business app, then LEARN the business. If it is pricing, then learn the basics of retail pricing. Some of this will come by osmosis but push yourself to speak the business team's language. When you are in a meeting with the business and you hear yourself start talking technology to the business team, STOP STOP STOP and elevate your speech back to business terms. This technique will save you a lot of heartaches and make you look like a superstar.