Looking back, it would of probably been better if I got my Computer Science degree instead of Mathematics. At the very least, it would have made the first few years of my career a whole lot easier. That is one way of looking at it, but would I be a better developer if I had it easier? That is hard to say. But, all those experiences have made me who I am today, and I am happy with where I ended up.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
There’s no doubt about it, weekends had to be sacrificed for hard work, caffeine was consumed and some luck was involved. But, I did find that some learning and inspirational resources were absolutely essential to my success. I put together a list of websites, blogs and forums that helped me get where I am today. Some of these are free and some of these are paid; I am not sponsored by any of them, but I feel that they are more valuable than gold.
- Pluralsight - This is the first online resource that I have ever used. I have learned C#, ASP.NET, JavaScript, Angular and React from here, at least on a basic level, which was enough to either get my foot in the door or transition from one position to another. There is a monthly membership fee which gives you access to all the courses.
- Udemy - After I already had a couple years of experience, I started using Udemy quite a bit. I find that their courses are usually longer and a bit more in-depth. I also found that the guidelines for Udemy courses are bit more “flexible,” so teachers use more varying styles of teaching. This can mean that the courses on Udemy can be amazing, really bad and everything in between, while Pluralsight courses tend to all have a similar quality and style. Each course has its own cost, and there is no monthly membership. I recommend looking at the course reviews/ratings before buying.
- Scott Hanselman - Scott is a superstar in the programming world. Despite being a technological rockstar, he is down to earth, supportive and an overall great influence on the developer community. He blogs often and talks about various projects other people do, giving credit where it’s due. Sometimes I check out his blogs just go get some positive vibes.
- Iris Classon - Iris must be one of the most energetic developers I have never met. But, her blog came to me at the right time when I was contemplating my current career. At that time, she recently switched her career from a clinical dietician to programmer, and her story inspired me to push forward full throttle. To this day, her blog posts are full of useful content and fun, check them out!
- Coding Horror - This is Jeff Atwood’s personal blog. He is yet another superstar and one of the founders of your favorite website Stackoverflow. He blogs about all things technology in a fun and often satirical manner. Always a fun read.
- Programming Reddit - An excellent resource to ask anything about programming. For specific coding questions I would still recommend Stackoverflow, but for everything else there’s Programming Reddit.
There may be other interesting or inspirational blogs out there, so if you know any that I haven’t mentioned, feel free to leave them in the comments below for others to see. I am always on the lookout for intresting blogs, so I frequent websites like Feedspot and this quora thread
Honorable mentions
Here are a few resources that I did not use, but were recommended to me by other strong developers.