SAM SOLIS

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 35 seconds.

There's something about programming for the clever, critical and logical person that makes it alluring and addicting. There are people out there that will always think that there is a better or efficient way to handle a task at hand.

I personally have frequent anecdotes wherein I really don't want to do redundant tasks and I use coding to automate these tasks for me. And just that mentality influenced my interest in wanting a career that encourages me to code. From then on, I know I wanted a career in Software Development or Software Engineering.

I eventually got a job in this field but I really had no clue about the practices and tools being used for this discipline. I essentially know how to code, but some of the terms aren't even familiar to me. But there really is a lot to consider before you can finally deploy your code.

I'm grateful that fresh hires are trained in my previous job and they accept that new recruits may come from different backgrounds. They know that a baseline or synchronization is needed before we are tasked with serious work. During our onboarding training, I'm very intimidated by my colleagues at that time cause I felt like I was the odd one out. I had an undergraduate degree for Electronics and Communications Engineering, not Computer Science. So in some sessions they would already know what are being taught and I would be in awe with the different tools used.

So for anyone who is feeling the same I did, I'd like to give a gist of what was being taught to us during our onboarding. I'm not going to write it because, well, we're tech people. We don't like to read a lot. So I'd like to promote this video playlist that essentially discusses the different tools and different practices in the field. I hope this gives you an insight of what you can expect if you take a Software Engineer or Developer job.

The YouTube channel is named Missing Semester. This is a class taught at MIT and in their site they shared their intent for coming up with the lessons:

Classes teach you all about advanced topics within CS, from operating systems to machine learning, but there’s one critical subject that’s rarely covered, and is instead left to students to figure out on their own: proficiency with their tools. We’ll teach you how to master the command-line, use a powerful text editor, use fancy features of version control systems, and much more!

To get an idea of what they teach, these is the title of the videos the published:

• Course overview + the shell
• Shell Tools and Scripting
• Editors (Vim)
• Data Wrangling
• Command-line Environment
• Version Control (Git)
• Debugging and Profiling
• Metaprogramming
• Security and Cryptography
• Potpourri

Don't be intimidated if you don't know any of the words! Test it out by watching the first video!

I bombed my first interview. Granted, I don't really know much about coding then but I'd like to believe I have a passion for it. Among all the courses I took while I was taking my undergraduate degree, I loved my coding courses and most excelled in them compared to my other majors. This gave me a false confidence and convinced me that I can rely on stock knowledge alone.

I feel like it's standard to use coding test platforms to prepare for an interview for software development jobs. Most times corporate recruiters test a candidate's knowledge of algorithms and data structures. This is why hackerrank.com and other similar platforms are alluring for last minute preparations.

I attended the test and interview while only having practiced a few rounds in hackerrank.com. Although they've acknowledged the result of the coding exam, my interview didn't go so well. The interview dug deeper to my knowledge and practice of the craft - to which I have no experience in except for my class projects which are decided and scoped by the professor. I was not really equipped for standard practices in a work setting in my undergraduate course. Our education was really concentrated on theories since we are a research institution. 

In retrospect from that experience, I appreciate my interviewers. They treated me kindly despite my inexperience. And I was left with a wonderful piece of advice as we ended. They said:

try developing a project you're interested on.

Eventually, I was able to take an entry level job as a software developer, but not with a portfolio yet. While I was at my first job, I was also taking up my graduate studies which motivated me to do a mini project of developing a Point-of-Sale (POS) system for my parents' restaurant business. I submitted it to my professor and was impressed by my commitment to the project. After that, I was offered an academic research project to which I accepted. From then on, that decision has opened more opportunities for me that I am grateful for today.

Going back to the piece of advice my interviewers gave me, I never really appreciated the advice until I started doing the mini project.

The difference between coding tests vs. mini projects

• Coding tests are focused on algorithms and structures
• Coding tests are focused on your conceptual knowledge of a programming language
• Coding tests are formulated such that they are solvable in a limited period of time  
• Doing mini project is multidisciplinary
  
• Doing mini project is an experience-based type of learning
• Mini projects have a relatively larger time frame than coding tests 

My ultimate case is that doing the mini project has really helped me to easily retain software development concepts and practices over practicing on coding tests. It did not box me to focus only on the programming language nor focus only on how to write a block of code that would work to solve a problem. It enlightened me on all aspects of software development.

Software development is a large discipline that does not only involve programming and running your code and hope it works. It's a pipeline that involves planning, implementation, testing and debugging.

To end, I am not discouraging the use of coding tests. The topic it focuses on is inevitable in job interviews and is usually the first phase of a candidacy after all. But having a portfolio of mini projects and an arsenal of experience will help you in the final interview.

I just wanted to share a piece of myself in this blog. In my next posts, I plan to be more objective and share a lot of materials I used for self-learning to become a better software developer. I plan to share some standard practices in software engineering that was not taught to me before I was trained at my first job.

The tech industry is perpetually evolving. Moreover, with any other career paths, we will always learn something new in our respective fields.

This page serves as a blog about my past experiences and what I learned in retrospect throughout my career and my projects.

This is not intended to be a diary, but rather, a collection of notes that I would like to impart to those who are very much interested in the field that I am in.