Practical Advice for Establishing Your Engineering Career

Transcript

1. practical advice for establishing your engineering career Liz Abinante @feministy
2. preface
3. this shit is really, really hard.
4. the same advice doesn’t work for everyone.
5. do the things that make the most sense for you.
6. my story
7. age 7 typing
8. age 12 building websites
9. age 15 blogging & designing
10. age 19 profit… kinda
11. age 26 building web apps
12. OMG THE INTERNET
13. age 26 first engineering job
14. my first year
15. 5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new devs organize/attend ~40 meetups
16. 5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new devs organize/attend ~40 meetups
17. 5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new devs organize/attend ~40 meetups
18. 5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new devs organize/attend ~40 meetups
19. girl develop it chicago education leader
20. rails girls summer of code coach
21. learn 3 javascript frameworks
22. make ~2,000 commits
23. OMG TOO MUCH WANT TO DIE :(
24. 1 burn out literally me
25. seriously. don’t do this.
26. i did all of this because people told me i had to if i wanted to grow my career.
27. their advice
28. speak at conferences!
29. contribute to open source!
30. be public! use twitter!
31. write blog posts!
32. answer questions on stack overflow!
33. attend every meetup!
34. introduce yourself to everyone at all of the meetups you attend!
35. learn a new programming language!
36. volunteer!
37. do ALLTHETHINGS!
38. do ALLTHETHINGS! WHAT BURNOUT????
39. their advice is a mine field.
40. their advice requires you to take risks.
41. who are they?
42. people with privilege who feel safe being public.
43. people with and without privilege fighting the fight.
44. people who actually like doing these things.
45. you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel
46. you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel unsafe
47. you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel overworked
48. you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel unhappy
49. you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel unappreciated
50. you do not have to follow this advice if it makes you feel inadequate
51. you can follow this advice if it sounds good to you.
52. it is not bad advice.
53. in fact, i will give you some of the same advice.
54. it simply doesn’t work for everyone, and it’s not the only path to career growth.
55. my advice
56. two principles
57. two principles consume
58. two principles consume share
59. four axes
60. four axes code
61. four axes code knowledge
62. four axes code knowledge experience
63. four axes code knowledge experience network
64. the things you choose to do depend a lot on the path you want your career to take
65. growing on different axes will shape your career in different ways
66. consume
67. consume consuming takes time, the amount is up to you
68. consume you don’t have to consume everything
69. consume you don’t have to learn from toxic sources
70. consume you can consume at your own speed
71. consume you can consume things relevant to what you do, or completely different
72. consume you can consume in many different ways
73. consume you don’t have to be present physically to take advantage of a resource
74. consume you can consume online
75. consume you can consume in person
76. consume you can consume alone, in a quiet dark corner with a cute fluffy puppy
77. code read the source code for everything you use
78. code lurk in pull requests for things you’re interested in
79. code review solutions to popular coding problems
80. code compare solutions for coding problems across different languages
81. knowledge watch recorded conference talks and panels
82. knowledge subscribe to technical mailing lists
83. knowledge read technical blogs or books by people you like
84. knowledge attend conferences, meetups, and trainings
85. knowledge listen to podcasts
86. experience read things by people who have come before you
87. experience ask for help
88. experience ask for advice
89. network ask for introductions
90. network turn a friend into an acquaintance
91. network use resources created by friends-of-friends
92. network join irc or slack channels
93. share
94. share you don't have to share with anyone you don't personally know or trust
95. share you don't have to share everything you do
96. share you can say no to sharing
97. share you don't have to be a public figure, on the internet or in person
98. share you can share anonymously
99. share sharing anonymously will still help you grow your career
100. share sharing isn’t just to get your stuff out there so you can be seen or recognized
101. share sharing is also about practicing how you present yourself, your work, and your achievements to others
102. share sharing will help you practice talking about your achievements when it comes time for a review at work or a new job interview
103. share sharing will help you catalog your professional history and growth
104. share sharing will help you find trends in your own work
105. share sharing will help you find your strengths and weaknesses
106. code publish what you can, not just what you think is “good enough”
107. code pair up on projects with friends, remote or in person
108. code play with things that interest you
109. code revisit, refactor, and review your old code
110. code document your refactoring
111. knowledge write down or explain your technical decisions, processes, and ideas
112. knowledge informal lunch and learns with friends and colleagues
113. knowledge share ideas and work through challenges over email and irc
114. knowledge conference talks, lightning talks, panels
115. knowledge teach workshops
116. knowledge teach a friend
117. experience share your story
118. experience share your mistakes
119. experience mentor people you know
120. network work with your friends whenever you can, and invite new people to join
121. network introduce new friends to your social circle
122. network start a small, informal hack night, discussion, or forum
123. network contribute to a friend-of-a- friend’s project
124. network create irc or slack channels and invite all your cool new friends
125. final tips
126. take what works, throw out what doesn’t
127. take breaks and don’t push yourself too hard
128. try a new thing sometimes
129. set goals
130. measure progress
131. reevaluate goals
132. questions? slides: speakerdeck.com/feministy blog: lizabinante.com (resources, links, etc) email: me@liz.codes twitter: feministy irc: feministy