Class 9 - Career Paths, Life-long Learning, LinkedIn and Networking Flashcards
Business Mindset
-Our skills and our trade belong to us
- Think of yourself as a business
What is the “old way of getting a job”
- Send out a bunch of resumes
- Get interview
- Interview
What is the more reliable way to get a job?
- Find contact at company
- Build rapport with contact
- Get personal referral for job
- Interview
What are some different ways to build a network?
- Follow other developer’s blogs
- Join local user groups and meetups (e.g. DevEdmonton, Edmonton Unlimited)
- Use LinkedIn
What are the different employment options for software engineers?
- Employee
- Independent consultant
- Entrepreneur
What are the benefits of being an employee (in the context of software engineering)?
- Stability
- Easier to pursue
- Paid vacation
- Possible medical insurance assistance
What are the drawbacks of being an employee (in the context of software engineering)?
- Lack of freedom
- Income capped
What are the benefits of being an independent consultant (in the context of software engineering)?
- More freedom (you set your own hours)
- Constantly have new projects to work on
- Potential to make more money
What are the drawbacks of being an independent consultant (in the context of software engineering)?
- Have to find your own work
- Overhead of running a business
- Trading one boss for many bosses
What are the benefits of being an entrepreneur (in the context of software engineering)?
- Complete freedom
- Huge earning potential
- Work on what you want
- No boss
What are the drawbacks of being an entrepreneur (in the context of software engineering)?
- Very risky
- Completely on your own
- Requires many other skills (e.g. marketing)
- Might end up working very long days
What are the two types of startup companies?
- Startups that are created with the intent of getting investments from outside investors (these companies can grow quickly)
- Bootstrapped startup (completely funded by its founders)
What are the pros of working for a small company (in the context of software engineering)?
- Flexible roles
- Higher impact work
- High potential for rewards
What are the cons of working for a small company (in the context of software engineering)?
- Might not get to just sit down and code
- Can’t hide under the radar
- Low stability
What are the pros of working for a medium-sized company (in the context of software engineering)?
- Stability
- Less crazy hours
What are the cons of working for a medium-sized company (in the context of software engineering)?
- Slow pace for change
- Might not get to work on cutting-edge technology
What are the pros of working for a large company (in the context of software engineering)?
- Established processes and procedures
- Training opportunities
- Large impactful projects
What are the cons of working for a large company (in the context of software engineering)?
- Lots of “red tape” (i.e. regulations and rules)
- Likely work in small area of codebase
- Difficult to get noticed
True or False: Very few companies still value people who can write COBOL code since the language is obsolete
False. There are 220,000,000,000 (220 Billion) lines of COBOL code still in use
What are some investment rules that will help you get good returns on your investments?
- Invest regularly – as a habit
- Diversification is the key to long-term success
- Balance between conservative and high-risk
- Buy low and sell high
- Review your portfolio periodically
According to StackOverflow Insights 2022, what are the most wanted programming languages (name the top 3)?
Rust, Python, TypeScript
According to StackOverflow Insights 2022, what are the most wanted databases (name the top 3)?
PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis
According to StackOverflow Insights 2022, what are the most wanted cloud platforms (name the top 3)?
AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure
According to StackOverflow Insights 2022, what are the most wanted web frameworks (name the top 3)?
React.js, Node.js, Vue.js
According to StackOverflow Insights 2022, what are the most wanted other libraries (name the top 3)?
TensorFlow, Flutter, React Native
What are some useful non-technical qualifications?
- MBA
- Project Management Professional (PMP certification)
- University of Alberta - Continuing & Professional Education
- Toastmasters
What are some strategies to strengthen your LinkedIn presence?
- Grow your network
- Make use of endorsements
- Write and request recommendations
- Comment on posts
- Follow influencers
- Post updates
