Jonathon Hinchley

One of my favorite quotes from Zach White is "Knowledge without action is failure." Only those that act on the knowledge they have see results. I see this every day in my Skool community. There are tons of amazing resources in there for people, and yet only a few see the results they say they want. The ones that do are the ones that act. --- ➡️ 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀? 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗦𝗸𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 >> https://bit.ly/mcc-skool #mcc #engineering #leadership #jobinterviews #careers

3

2 Comments

Is remote working better than the on-site working, or other way around? I don't know. I will just give you some figures so you have something to think about: In all my jobs in last 10 years, I've seen all my bosses (in projects line of reporting) only for like 15 days. Combined. Out of these 10 years, I am working fully remote just for something like 3 and half years. So, does on-site vs. remote really matter?

6

3 Comments

📣 Only hiring senior-level developers is hurting your team! 📣 Recent economic headwinds have led organizations to scale back or completely stop hiring entry-level developers. While I understand the push for leaner engineering organizations I don't think businesses realize what they are losing when they buy into the "senior only" job market. There are many examples I could relate (and maybe I will), but let's start with the fact that entry level engineers (and really any entry level employee) represent an incredible opportunity for process improvements. The level to which we onboard and support new team members is often a function of their level of experience. Senior devs and above have seen a lot and their experience hides the rough edges and deficiencies of your process. Beginners ask more questions and need more support. Each question answered is a sign pointing toward a potential process improvement, documentation update, or rethink in "how we do stuff". Beginners mind is truly powerful and a valuable thing. And it’s basically impossible to fake. I understand that there are OKRs to complete, deadlines to meet, and code to release- I just take issue with the idea that only experientially flat teams can do those things in a way that maintains a healthy balance sheet. It implies that without years of experience you're simply a cost center, incapable of delivering real value. I know this isn't true because I know Elise McConnell, Christopher Spencer, Matt Kitchens, Michael McBride, Brandon McMaster and a whole community of entry-level engineers who are ready to deliver world-class software- not five years from now...but today! Tie your team’s success to the success of its most junior members. Raise the tide and watch all the boats rise. What else are we losing by prioritizing experience over everything? #juniordevs #hiring #jobs #software #engineering

19

2 Comments

I ran into a weird issue while building a route that uploads files using #Multer and validates user input. At first, I tried validating the req.body before handling the file upload, but things weren't working as expected (and there were no clear error messages to help!). After some head-scratching, it dawned on me that the order the client transmits data (fields and files) might be affecting things. So, I swapped the order around – validation after file upload – and voilà! Everything functioned smoothly. Is there a specific reason why validating after file upload works better in this case? Are there other factors to consider when it comes to ordering these operations? What do you think? Share your experiences and thoughts in the comments! Let's learn from each other. 💬 #backenddevelopment #validation #javascript #node #programming #nodejs #expressjs #mongodb

2

Jr. Devs, When you are sitting in that interview chair trying not to say the wrong thing and trying to remember all the stuff you’ve been told about how to interview well, don’t forget this one thing that should give you at least a little more confidence. You're not the only one being interviewed. You may think… duh, there are tons of candidates for this job. However, that’s not what I’m talking about. You are interviewing the company. Most Jr. Devs don’t think like this because, frankly, most Jr. Devs are just trying to get a job and they often don’t care or don’t consider the company or the culture they end up in. I’ve spent a lot of time on the DevMentorDave YouTube channel recently talking about mentoring and the need for it in our organizations. But that’s only one part of finding the right fit. The company is looking for candidates they think will fit what they need. Notice I said, ‘NEED”. They don’t just hire because it’s fun (it’s not). They need someone and you need to make sure they are a good fit for YOU before accepting an offer or before leaving the interview. Don’t just ask questions you found on a website or were given by a recruiter. Think about what matters to you as an employee and as an individual and ask questions that will impact how you work and impact your success and future. That level of confidence and interaction in the interview may just set you apart from the pack, even if your dev skills are the same as all the other candidates. #juniordeveloper #mentoring #interview 

12

1 Comment

I believe that the end consumers of any Language Java , Js , C ,C++ etc are the developers . They need a better developer experience to make good products as in software. And these principles are what makes the codebase predictable and accessible. So that each time another developer looks into the codebase he can predict what's coming next and can understand the flow. Writing your own crappy code design makes it very less understanding and thus very difficult to interpret and debug by others. These structures , naming patterns , community conventions are what makes life easier. Breaking it , would make you linger in the code trying to figure out where the code has gone buggy.

1

5 Comments

I'm a #StaffEngineer. This means: ✅ I have no idea what the next 5 minutes will look like, much less what the rest of the day will look like. ✅ I can and will spend hours, if not full business days, chasing down that ONE bug. ✅ I need consistent "sob in the corner for hours" breaks. ✅ I love code. ✅ I love teaching others what I've learned through my career. ⛔ No, I don't want to switch to management, thanks. ⛔ No, I can't write you that "genius" app idea, thanks. ⛔ No, I can't do lunch with you, I really need my "sob in the corner for hours" break today, thanks. ⛔ No, I can't estimate something for you, thanks. ⛔ No, I really don't want to talk to the client today, thanks. Pictured below: Me. I'm fine. This is fine.

73

20 Comments

The horror messages I get from #DevRel practitioners and other leaders still blow my mind. Biz leaders telling them to do this, wait, let’s do that. Oh now let’s cancel that and do something else. Developers require time investment. You can’t launch a program today and dump it in a few weeks or a few months because you don’t think it’s working. It’s working, it just needs TIME. Devs need time to decide if you’re trustworthy. Plus, their leaders are clearly throwing darts at a blank wall. I much prefer to throw darts at a dartboard with a clear center target 🎯

62

5 Comments

As a Staff Engineer, I agree with the description, in part. - An awesome Staff Engineer can learn whatever is needed, do the task 100x faster, but that will not help its team to be successful as much as Cristiano Ronaldo is not a successful team by hinself. - An awesome Staff Engineer will push back decisions that will hinder the team productivity in the future by introducing a new technology that only he understands . - An awesome Staff Engineer will take the opportunity to coach other team members to achieve the same feats as he does, even if this time takes longer. And the list goes on. A Staff Enginner will always think about improving the team and not just the task at hands. Please don’t confuse an overachiever developer with a Staff Engineer.

6

It’s baffling to witness the underutilization of technology in our healthcare system. This issue could stem from several factors: perhaps there’s a lack of visionary leadership with a robust understanding of digital potential, misdirected investments, or the complexity of healthcare policies that stifle innovation. This makes me wonder if we need more physicians with technological know-how to step into leadership roles. I echo Peter Birch sentiment: we must strive for improvement and better integration of technology to enhance our healthcare services.

2

1 Comment

Today asks of us to revisit what HA looks like. It asks of us to take full responsibility and stop accepting assumed responsibilities. It’s easy to count the min. dollars that today’s outtage will cost. It’s also easy to pin that on a single vendor/vendors. It might even be their fault at the core. But we need to ask, if all of us did a bit more to be ready for what we knew was coming, and will come again, could we have, and can we prepare better for that eventuality? The answer is normally yes. If we’re honest. The same is true for your last line of defense, the human firewall. Train your people for when it is not a drill. Let’s all learn from this. Whilst fixing impacted systems, keep your guards up. Follow security protocols. It might be down, but the way you bring it up matters and can influence the outcome. Think slow, validate, execute fast. Hats off to everyone putting in long hours to bring up those systems. 💪🚀 Stay safe out there.

6

Programming 101, Ask for help. When I was a young developer, my manager told me “if you are trying to solve a problem, give yourself time limit of 1 hour and if you do not find a solution in that time, ask for help”. That helped me heaps in my career. Do not spend hours on a problem before asking for help. Do not wait for a seasoned developer to barge into your life because you look a bit in distress. That will not happen, not many of us can read clues like that. Ask for help.

3

Getting a remote job is harder now than ever before. Especially for those new to the industry. When COVID happened, everywhere went remote and companies hired all over. Now, many companies are falling back to hybrid positions, which is even more common for entry-level positions. Location matters. It's one of the things I tell my mentees and is a key consideration for the level of training they need. Because if they need to get a remote role for their first role, they need to work so much harder to stand out. There is just so much more competition for it. What is your advice for those looking for a remote role to stand out?

180

85 Comments

I share Dan’s sentiments on how to be considered a good coder. To be honest, I don’t get excited when one of my team writes code that works (although maybe I should, for their sake). I also don’t feel like a developer that writes non-working code is a failure or a let down. However, I do get excited when I can look at the working code & easily extend or modify it. And, I do get excited when I can look at the non-working code and help fix it because it is well structured, well written and commented appropriately. #coding #software #skill

2

As a #StaffEngineer, part of your role is going to be helping maintain your #TestSuite. Two questions for you: 1) If your test suite is green, can you push to prod RIGHT NOW with a high degree of confidence that nothing will explode? 2) If your test suite is red after running your e2e tests ONLY ONCE APIECE, do you have a high degree of certainty that something is actually wrong? If your answer to either of these questions is anything but an immediate "yes," your test suite isn't doing its job! Wanna hear more? Of course you do! Come hear me speak on maintaining a solid test suite on May 14 in Raleigh! Buy tickets here: https://lnkd.in/endei_Q3 Pictured below: An engineer stressing out over the "only once apiece" bit up there. Yes, it really is achievable!

4

2 Comments

Developer downtime: don’t overwork your devs. It’s memorial weekend and I’m lazily sitting on my porch. My kids keep coming in and out of the house, but get stuck because the sliding door keeps coming off the rails and won’t open. Well, since I’ve got nothing else scheduled for the afternoon I investigate the issue. Turns out sliding doors have a bunch of adjustment screws. I adjust them till the door slides smooth. Left in the broken state my kids learned to hit top left side of the door before opening it. Bringing this back to work, I know customer success teams that have a cheat sheet of these maneuvers. Give devs space to observe, we naturally fix these issues.

15

1 Comment

I can't write code at night... Said no engineer ever. Why are companies so focused on having all engineers available during the same hours during the day? Hire contractors to do some of the work during off hours. What could possibly go wrong? They get work done and avoid needless meetings? If you can hire a contractor that has set up a specific technology 100s of times and they can get it done in a day, over asking one of your employees to try to hack it together over weeks, why wouldn't you? Let them do it in off hours!

7

3 Comments

I'm starting to think differently about technical documentation with the rise of products like InKeep (ChatGPT for docs). This tool is unbelievably good, and I find myself hitting Command+K first thing when I visit a docs website. As someone who does technical writing, I've realized that having more context-related information significantly improves results, especially Q&A since that's typically why I'm in the documentation in the first place. Focus on your product's issue tracker, like GitHub Issues, and maintain an FAQ. Especially focus on "GitHub Issues," as products often offer first-class integration with GitHub. The only thing that keeps me away from InKeep is that it's overwhelmingly costly. InKeep: https://inkeep.com/

13

Here’s a helpful tip to all developers out there. I tend to avoid live demos of new features if possible. What I do instead is record a video of the new feature beforehand and then speak live to introduce the video. This way network issues, unexpected errors, etc. won’t get in the way of a successful demo.

1