449: Evergreen skills for new-ish developers

The Bike Shed

One of the most challenging things about starting out as a developer is how much you need to master all at once. And with so much to learn, it can be difficult for experts to guide fresh developers and advise them on where to focus first. Luckily, some skills will always be useful, no matter what language you’re coding in. In today’s episode, Stephanie and Joël tackle this topic by unpacking several key evergreen skills that will always be valuable, from reading error messages to deciphering a stack trace. They break down how new-ish developers can start acquiring these skills, key obstacles they’re likely to encounter, and how to ask for help when you hit a block. Their conversation covers the ins and outs of debugging, how to feel comfortable in your editor as a new developer, the art of asking for help, and much more. They also share plenty of valuable tips to help you on your journey – including one that will help you commit more frequently. Tune in now to hear it all!

Key Points From This Episode:

Stephanie’s time at the Ruby Conference in Chicago.
The challenges of advising new-ish developers as an expert.
Broad evergreen skills that are always valuable to learn.
Tips on mastering debugging as a core skill.
How to improve your ability to read error messages.
Our approach to resolving errors and isolating what is wrong.
Advice for learning to read a stack trace (even though it’s intimidating).
Strategies for fixing different types of bugs.
The value of editor mastery and version history.
Tips on how to commit more frequently as a new developer.
Learning to ask for help when you hit a block.
The art of structuring your questions when asking for help.
Breaking down large tasks into smaller sections.
Learning to find focus as a new developer.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

What technologies should I learn?
Debugging blog post series
Asking about solutions rather than problems
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Joël Quenneville on LinkedIn
Joël Quenneville on X
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