What All New Software Developers Need To Know

I asked a bunch of industry-leaders and experienced software developers for their career advice for junior software developers. I got hundreds of responses. This video collates that advice and adds some of my own. So if you are just getting started, or about to begin, in your career as a software developer, here is some really valuable advice from industry experts, leaders in the field, as well as some of the people that will be hiring you, and probably managing and teaching you when you start out. I hope that you find it interesting, helpful maybe even inspiring in places.

New software developers, just starting out, often focus on the wrong things. It is easy to get lured into the technicalities of language, frameworks and tools. After all, that is where we spend most of our time: but that is not what we do.

I have been lucky in my career to work on some fantastic teams, with great people. Amongst my proudest achievements though has been in helping to coach and improve some software developers who were just starting out in their careers and in helping them to become world-class in their field.

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Dave Farley is a well-known expert in the field of Continuous Delivery, DevOps and Software Engineering in general. He has led successful, world-class development teams and helped many people grow their careers in software development. He is also quite opinionated!

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📖 "Continuous Delivery Pipelines" by Dave Farley

📖 The original award-winning "Continuous Delivery" book by Dave Farley and Jez Humble
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[feyzullahsari]

“Everybody is junior at something “
Very nice...

[rkd-me]

This might be the first video i saw that doesnt talk about coding, but the actual things programmer need, great video!

[vjzb]

As a dev who has just 2 years of professional experience, and has lacked access to mentorship, this information is incredibly valuable. I can see many examples from my past two years where I have succeeded or failed in applying the principles outlined in this video, and I now have the expanded awareness to be more intentional about these things in the future. Thank you

[StaffanJohansson]

It took me about 5 or 6 years as programmer to realize most of these things, so I think this video is not only for "new" developers. Great summary of what our profession is all about.

[sarahgraves]

As someone whose not a professional developer (hardly a hobbyist) I came just to say I love your shirt.

[mr.dingleberry]

This is criminally underrated. I've written down everything you said to make sure that I never fall under the impression that I've somehow "outgrown" these concepts set by veterans such as yourself. If you stress that something is important, I'd rather blindly trust you than experience the repercussions for thinking that I know better (Dunning-Kruger Effect). Thank you.

[TokyoXtreme]

I feel like I’ve become a senior engineer just by listening to this video. I’m going to make SRS flashcards of all the things that aren’t already burned into my mind.

[khps]

The first advice i would agrue is one of the most important once. The thing i've found is that the more i learn, the more i realize that i got no idea what i am doing.

[ejokeregaming]

This is a great breakdown on the industry. Unfortunately, those doing the recruitment for many organisations, don't understand most of these points. Once you have a role all of this advice is spot on. Great job.

[magenertech]

I've had 6 years of non professional experience and this video was the most eye opening I've ever watched on Youtube. Thank you for that.

[banatibor]

As a software developer with almost 10 years of experience under my belt I am glad I found this video. It reinforced me that I am doing it right :)
To junior devs, I would say focus on TDD and clean code first, make those a habit, get to know your tools and the language you are working with, then you can and should dive into higher topics like what were addressed in this fantastic video!

[tleanvasner]

I've seen a bunch of videos with advices for new software developers and none of the speakers to my mind were so enthusiastic about the job in the IT. It was so nice of you to greet us with such warmth at the beginning of the video! It IS very inspiring when you finally see a person who is still able to enjoy the work despite the decades of experience.
Thank you :)

[viniricardoferrera]

I'm started programming 9 months ago. I'm at the beginning to crawl still. I became so hungry for knowledge that I'd never possibly imagined that I would be falling in love that hard for a thing. In the 9 past months, I had 3 burnouts.
In the first one, I've spent at least one month until I can get back to the front of a computer again.
This was when I've decided to learn how to learn to recover myself from burnouts readily and realized that I have become a programmer.
Thank you for the valuable advice.

[TheZethera]

I remember someone saying: When starting a new project do the hard part first, that way you'll find out early if your project is even viable.

[offilawNoone]

Very useful stuff. After I got my second higher education three years ago, I did programming all alone and, probably, this is an excuse, I didn’t have time to learn how to do it right, because I immediately needed to complete commercial tasks quickly, in languages and with the help of tools which I have just learned to use. We all know that formal computer science education does not provide programming skills in specific languages and development environments. In such an environment, and even I would say bubble, I worked for about three years. But then the war happened. A few months after that, I was gathering my thoughts about how to live on, and as a result, a few months ago I left my country, leaving almost everything behind. Grabbing two bags with things and a backpack with laptops, I crossed the border of my country on foot. Now, in order to be able to work remotely in a normal company, competing with good programmers, I need to increase my level by several steps at once, otherwise there remains the prospect of being one of those stereotypes who, having several higher educations, work as sellers or loaders. I try not to think about the upcoming trial and deportation, I try to learn new things. It's not easy when you live on suitcases and don't know if you can afford to live under a roof and eat in the coming month. A good programming video can take your mind off the stress. As a former psychologist and almost linguist, having studied at four different higher education institutions, interacting with students of three different generations, with teachers of completely different levels, I can immediately recognize a good training video and a good language structure (interaction of thought and word of a speaking person), which is easy to perceive even to foreigners who studied the language mainly from textbooks and Hollywood films. Thanks for the good content.

[akinbodejoshua]

I was overwhelmed by the information I got from this video, thank you so much.

[niklot]

Trying to transition from QA to development in gamedev, I started learning how to code very recently.
Looking through all the job requirements for Gameplay Programmers etc seems so daunting I started to doubt if I have enough lifetime to master all those skills and technologies.
This video gave me lots of hope and further fueled my drive to push forward and learn.
Thank you!

[mwathibrian]

I am 2 years into my journey as a Software Developer and have found this video very insightful. Thank you.

[enjonpodrimaj]

Hey David, just wanted to say, that after my two years of working on software development, I know at least enough to value all these tips and carry them onto my career. Thank you very much!

[jeehill]

Hey I am restarting my life (have been for the last 7 years) and I recently got a degree in Software Development focused Computer Information Systems. I am finally in a position to break into the industry (hopefully) after overcoming some obstacles that disallowed me to go for tech jobs and I really appreciate this video. I aim to become a software dev and work on a team challenging myself and growing. Keep this stuff coming I enjoy learning more about how to be more successful in this field.