Thoughts
Tamman @ RenderATL 2022 Recap
This year, Tamman was fortunate enough to be able to have some of our developers attend the 2022 RenderATL conference in Atlanta, Georgia that took place on June 1st-4th. RenderATL, for those of you who don’t know – is a four day long software engineering conference, offering more than fifty speakers, well versed in engineering best practices, digital accessibility, and web3 among other things. Beyond the professional growth one is surely to gain at RenderATL, they offer many recreational activities including live music, an open bar, and what our own Devon Pirestani assured us – a wonderful culinary adventure. Without any further ado – we want to share some key takeaways our delegation brought back to us here in Philly.
Remix Fundamentals: Kent Dodds
- The goal of Remix is to ease the burden of full-stack development by promoting a front-end first approach.
- Controls the routes for showing pages of an app or microsite.
- Why is Routing so important?
- Remix bridges the gap between
frameworks’ dev experience. - Uses native browser interactions.
- Native support for assistive tech.
The Product Minded Engineer – Micheal Brown
- What does good software look like?
- Solves a problem
- It Works
- Completed in a timely manner
- What’s the good of Tax Prep software on 4/16
- You must understand the software’s value to the end users.
- Build quality into each step, not just a final check
- “Be allergic to waste”
Where to Start With Open Source – Brain Douglas
- Being a good developer is more than just green squares
- OS projects care more about consistency and willingness than technical knowledge
- Documentation is just as important as the code
- Every PR should have an associated GitHub issue or request
- PRs should be detailed and provide information needed to review it effectively
- OpenSauced: open source contribution tracker
The Art of Inclusivity – Brittany Ball
- How to Create Content that is Welcoming to All
- Avoid using language that is exclusionary or employs stereotypes
- Content should include a diverse group of people:
- ages, genders, ethnicities
- Inclusion decreases imposter syndrome, increases confidence
- Be mindful of cultural differences
Infusing Psychological Safety Into Your Teams – Taylor Poindexter
- Sharing opinions drives innovation;
Stifling opinions causes people to stop caring. - “There is no team without trust.” – Paul Santangata, Head of Industry, Google
- Build trust North-South as well as West-East among reports.
- Create bonding moments: Pairing, Out-of-Work Socialization
- Use Retro to farm gratitude.
- Highlight the efforts that go on behind the scenes.
- Give measurable feedback. If it’s not measurable, keep it unsaid.
- Manage highly performant workers to avoid burn-out and siloing.
How Not To Suck At Technical Interviews – Aline Lerner
- Only 20% of people are consistent from interview to interview
- Performance in interviews are non deterministic
- Interviewing is a mental and numbers game
- People fail mostly because they psych themselves out
- Biggest predictor of success is how many mock interviews you’ve done
- Around 5 mock interviews, probability of passing a real one is 2x
- Collaborate with the interviewer
- Shows you are a good team member
- Don’t start coding right away, spend first few minutes setting expectations
- Big O is important
