Career

As software developers, we develop habits that allow us to build products that work and do not fail under stress. Every software developer knows what an ”off-by-one” error is, and like the Karate Kid, we train extensively so we can avoid those traps. We learn how to avoid these and other similar software problems and we sharpen our skills to find logic errors. As we mature as developers, finding logic errors and incomplete solutions becomes our way of life. It defines us. But our engineering strength is also our social weakness. Countless times as engineers you will find yourself interrupting someone telling a story, an anecdote or a joke to correct a false assumption, provide an extra fact that the narrator overlooked, give a bigger perspective on the problem or point out that the joke premise is actually flawed. You can identify this behavior because the person interrupting usually starts with the phrase ”Well, actually…”. ...

Twenty-four years ago today, I had a very bad day. On August 8, 1988, I was a senior in high school. I was working my after school and weekend job at Safeway as a cashier, when the store manager suddenly walked over and said I better stop ringing up customers and talk to my mother on the store phone right now. Mom told me to come home immediately because, well, there were police at the front door asking for me with some legal papers in hand. ...

In the same vein, programmers who pay attention to how they construct written language also tend to pay a lot more attention to how they code. You see, at its core, code is prose. Great programmers are more than just code monkeys; according to Stanford programming legend Donald Knuth they are ”essayists who work with traditional aesthetic and literary forms.” The point: programming should be easily understood by real human beings ” not just computers. And just like good writing and good grammar, when it comes to programming, the devil’s in the details. In fact, when it comes to my whole business, details are everything. ...

I regularly receive e-mail from people who want advice on how to learn more about computer security, either as a course of study in college or as an IT person considering it as a career choice. First, know that there are many subspecialties in computer security. You can be an expert in keeping systems from being hacked, or in creating unhackable software. You can be an expert in finding security problems in software, or in networks. You can be an expert in viruses, or policies, or cryptography. There are many, many opportunities for many different skill sets. You don’t have to be a coder to be a security expert. In general, though, I have three pieces of advice to anyone who wants to learn computer security. ...

Tu jefe lo quiere para ayer, pero más vale que cumpla con los standards de mañana. Los clientes quieren todas las características que se puedan imaginar, pero no te atrevas a confundirlos dándoles todos los botones que desee. Tus compañeros programadores quieren que documentes tu código, pero ellos simplemente responden ”tl;dr” (Too Long; didn’t read) a cualquier cosa que escribes. Así como la tecnología evoluciona, también lo hacen los dilemas que enfrentan los desarrolladores. Cada elección, desde la plataforma hasta el almacenamiento de datos, incluyendo a cuánto control darle a los usuarios, está cargada de preguntas. Y gracias a la nube, el crecimiento de la tecnología móvil y la acelerada vanguardia, pareciera como si el mundo de la programación enfrentara una nueva elección – y dilema – a un ritmo creciente. ...

La semana pasada desayuné con un polémico artículo de Enrique Dans titulado ”El Programador Perdido”, en el que lamentaba la falta de buenos programadores en España. Programadores con cabeza y riñones suficientes para sacar adelante un proyecto ganador en una industria global y competitiva como Internet. Si quieres encontrar un buen programador, básicamente sólo tienes que hacer una cosa: pagarlo. Pero esa presunción –como las comparaciones con la supuesta calificación y estatus de los programadores extranjeros- es errónea y estereotipada. Después de más de 10 años trabajando en la industria del software, tanto en España como en eso que llaman Silicon Valley, yo conozco otra verdad. Una verdad incómoda. ...

I may not be a great programmer, but I have a ton of fun programming. As a self-taught hacker, I’ve always enjoyed programming to a great extent–but everyone has their ups and downs. These are simply my reflections about what makes me happy while programming, and serves as reminder to myself why I should keep pushing onwards! » rdegges.com

It’s important for programmers to challenge themselves. Creative and technical stagnation is the only alternative. In the spirit of the new year, I’ve compiled twelve month-sized resolutions. Each month is an annually renewable technical or personal challenge: Go analog. Stay healthy. Embrace the uncomfortable. Learn a new programming language. Automate. Learn more mathematics. Focus on security. Back up your data. Learn more theory. Engage the arts and humanities. Learn new software. Complete a personal project. » Matt Might | matt.might.net