Career

Should I learn Java? This is a question that just keeps coming up. If you are just starting out as a developer, if you already work as a Front End Developer or even if you are from the .NET background, many people wonder if learning Java is the right career/personal development move. Let’s see how useful learning Java is in 2018. When I first started using Java, around 2007, it had a very mixed reputation. On one hand, it was a reasonably new and modern language, but on the other, it was infamous for its bad performance (not fully deserved in my opinion) and verbosity (when contrasted with, back then, very popular Python). ...

Who wouldn’t want to work as a part of a happy and motivated software team? Wouldn’t it be great if every team you ever worked with was like that? Based on Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek and Drive by Daniel Pink, I will tell you how to make this possible. What motivates developers? There are different ideas out there about how to motivate people. The two most common ones are- bonuses (or other financial rewards) and fun work (challenging, interesting etc.). While there is some truth to both, they do not give the full picture. ...

I feel horrible today. I am sick- my throat hurts, my head is not working as it should. Hence, I decided I will tell you how to write horrible Java code. If you are tired of all these beautiful patterns and best practices and you want to write something insane- read on. Maybe you like horror stories but in code- this may appeal to you! If you are looking for advice on how to write good code- look elsewhere! Check my review of “Effective Java“ and take it from there. Nothing nice is waiting for you in the following paragraphs… But if you are insisting on reading… ...

Writing good software requires using the right tools. Choosing the right frameworks, libraries and designing smart systems. With all that to learn and worry about, it is easy to forget about another very important thing: using your programming language wisely. In this article, I want to introduce you to *“Effective Java”*by Joshua Bloch. Effective Java– back to “basics” With the JVM ecosystem moving faster than ever, it is easy for us to forget that writing good software is more than using frameworks correctly. ...

Java, Microservices, other JVM languages… Programming, best practices, architecture… Libraries, frameworks, methodologies… I could go on for a while here. Being a passionate and up to date Software Developer is a challenge. How do you stay up to date with all this? I will let you on a well-known secret- use Twitter! Read on to find out what can Twitter help you with and how I use it to stay up to date. ...

Getting work done effectively and efficiently is a goal of most software development teams. On a personal level, being able to get a productive day at work can also be immensely satisfying. In this article, I will share with you my advice on how to be much more productive. This advice is inspired by “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” – a book that made a big impact on me. ...

I have recently been thinking about the importance of humility for software developers. I feel that the more I learn about building software the humbler I become, knowing I do not have all the answers. This attitude helped me a lot in my life as a software developer… I was OOP expert after 3 years of study or so I thought… I remember thinking that I knew Java and Object Oriented Programming pretty well when I was finishing my Bachelor degree. Why would I not think that? I had great marks, aced all the classes, read a couple of books and in general thought like I had a good handle on this Java and OOP thinking. ...

I have recently gave a talk about being a lead developer in consultancy. I have stressed there the importance of learning in the role of a software consultant. Beyond that, it is good to stay “in shape” when it comes to algorithmic coding. You never know when it may be important- a difficult problem at work or a short notice interview. Let me introduce you to one of my all-time favourite “tools”. Ladies and Gentlemen- HackerRank! ...

On the 14th of March 2018, I had a pleasure of speaking at the While42 – French Tech Engineers Network event. I want to thank my friend Cesar Tron-Lozai and the group for the invitation. I am a Lead Developer at Scott Logic – a job that I am passionate about and proud of. During this event, I had a chance to share my passion for that role and share some advice based on my experiences. ...

I have recently spoken at a meetup about Practical Choreography with Spring Cloud Stream. It was a great event where I was asked many questions after the talk. One question got me thinking: *“What book about Spring Cloud do you recommend?”*which as it turns out boils down to “How do you learn Spring Cloud?”. I heard that question posed a few times before in different ways. Here, I will give you my answer on what I think is the best way of learning Spring Cloud. ...