Learn the Programming Fundamentals You Need to Launch Your Programming Career

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Throughout my career, I’ve helped many beginner developers start their journey. I’ve noticed that they often have similar doubts and questions. In this blog post, I’ll share the essential knowledge and resources that every beginner developer should know. I’ll also provide some links to more advanced resources for experienced developers who want to review the basics or share their knowledge with others.

This blog post is not meant to be a rigid curriculum. Instead, think of it as a guide that you can use to assess your current knowledge and identify your next steps.

Here’s a structured overview of the content in this page:

• Essential knowledge for beginner developers
  • Programming languages
  • Data structures and algorithms
  • Software development fundamentals
• Further resources for experienced developers
  • Advanced programming topics
  • Best practices and design patterns
  • Tools and technologies

I encourage you to share your feedback and resources in the comments below. Let’s learn together!

Motivation

• Motivation
  • My technical reading path - Software engineering journey
  • The philosophy
    • The craftsmanship movement
      • The Software Craftsman: Professionalism, Pragmatism, Pride
      • London Software Craftsmanship Community
      • The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery
    • How to lose your developers - Mindmap around software development, what not to do to lose developers

Mental mode for programming

• Programming is not what looks like
• Does the operating system matter? Mac vs Linux vs Windows
• Soft-skills
  • Leadership
  • Conflict resolution

The university fallacy

Bootcamps?

The programming industry

• Before joining the party
• Software engineering, in the developer’s hand?
• Looking for a job
  • Algorithms, Algorithms, Algorithms …. Oh Wait!
  • The experience fallacy
  • Brownfield projects vs Greenfield projects
    • Strategies to test legacy code, an attempt to use the pyramid of tests to aid developers pain in legacy systems - PART 1
    • Rethinking legacy code and testing
• Should I have a github profile?
  • GitHub badges! (PHP repository) - Tutorial with Travis and GitHub
• Looking for help
  • I am blocked, what should I do?
  • The hero
• To specialize or to generalize?
  • Are we front-end/back-end developers?
• Socialize
  • Developer conferences
  • Meetups!
  • Speak, share what you know
    • Conferences

Choosing the correct programming language

• What is correct?
• For me, it was PHP and the LAMP stack
  • Head First HTML and CSS: A Learner’s Guide to Creating Standards-Based Web Pages 2nd Edition
  • Head First SQL
    • MySQL 5.7 on Ubuntu 19.04 and 19.10
  • Head First PHP & MySQL
  • Introduction to Object Oriented Programming with PHP (Classes, Encapsulation, Inheritance)
  • PHP Design Patterns
  • PHP architect magazine
  • PHP certification
    • PHP basics, are you sure? So tell me how to use octal system!
    • Converting Hexadecimal(16) to Decimal(10)
    • Bitwise operators - The Journey
    • Bitwise operators – The Journey Part II
• And then, expand
  • ReactJs
    • e2e testing with Cypress, ReactJs + Redux and Firebase
    • Configuring reactjs and relay 2019 version
    • ReactJs patterns - A study based on google search
    • Towards a reactjs folder structure based on intent
  • VueJs
    • Adventures on vue.js and data visualization - episode 1
    • Adventures on vue.js and data visualization - episode 2
• Object Oriented Programming (deep dive)
  • Dr. Alan Kay on the Meaning of “Object-Oriented Programming”
  • Object Design: Roles, Responsibilities, and Collaborations
• Functional Programming
  • Clojure
    • Clojure Intro: dipping your toe in
    • Clojure and the Functional Paradigm
    • Clojure Data Structure
• Does it matter? Don’t limit yourself.

The web

• Pick a platform
  • The web
    • CORS
• Service workers
• Real time
  • WebSocket - HTML5
  • The definitive guide to HTML5 WebSocket
• REST
  • Setting up an API skeleton what should I take into consideration? - Routing, Persistence and Caching
  • Thoughts on REST API’s
• GraphQL

The programmer toolkit

• My setup for web development, 2020 edition - Vim, linux, zsh, tmux, Jetbrains and docker
• Terminal
• Git
  • Why git
  • Not so popular git commands
    • Rebase
• IDE’s or text editors
  • 30 days of VIM
  • 30 days of VIM - One week after
  • 30 days of VIM - One month after
• Database Administration tools
• Productivity
  • Pomodoro is it worth it?
  • Keep an agenda
• Docker
• Kubernetes
  • Kubernetes quick notes deployment
• Infrastructure as code
  • Terraform HashiCorp certification - infrastructure as code, the udemy course companion
• Readable code
  • The Art of Readable Code
  • Clean code and the art of readable code a brief summary
• Document as code
• Pick a cloud provider
  • AWS
    • Lambda (AWS) - first impressions
    • Deploying git bot release to AWS lambda
    • Certification
      • CPP exam study guide
      • Module 1 and 2 - EC2
      • Module 3 - Infrastructure and reliability
      • Module 4 - Networking
      • Module 5 - Storage and databases
      • Module 6 - Security
      • Module 7 - Monitoring and Analytics
      • Module 8 - Pricing and support
      • Module 9 - Migration and innovation
      • Module 10 - The cloud journey
  • Azure
    • Study guide for Exam AZ-204: Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure - A guide made through notes and self-study guide
    • AZ-204 Developer Associate: Architecting Powerful Compute Solutions on Azure
    • AZ-204 Developer Associate: Exploring Azure Storage Solutions for Developers
    • AZ-204 Developer Associate: Securing Azure Solutions for Developers
    • AZ-204 Developer Associate: Troubleshooting and Monitoring Azure Solutions
    • AZ-204 Developer Associate: Navigating Azure Service Connectivity and Consumption

Practices

• The waterfall
  • Winston W. Royce 1970, described the model known as waterfall, but didn’t attributed a name to that.
  • The waterfall terminology first appeared in 1976 by T. E. Bell and T. A. Thayer.
• Agile?
  • Manifesto for Agile Software Development
    • Agile Product Development in Practice
  • eXtreme programming
  • SCRUM
    • Starting with the framework
      • Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum
    • The idea behind process
      • The lack of leadership and the focus on process in an agile environment
    • The gap that SCRUM does not help
      • Rethinking legacy code and testing - Challenges and Strategies for Testing Legacy Code in Agile Teams
  • Kaban
  • Metrics
• Test Driven Development
• Feedback
• Continuous integration/ Continuous delivery
  • Continuous Delivery
  • Accelerate - Building and Scaling High-Performing Technology Organizations - Book review and my personal notes and insights
• Facilitating meetings
  • Impact mapping
  • Gathering requirements

Software design

• Design patterns
  • Head first - Design Patterns
  • PHP Design Patterns
  • Revisiting Design Patterns after 20 by Edson Yanaga
• SOLID
  • The S.O.L.I.D. Principles of OO & Agile Design - Uncle Bob Martin
• Object Calisthenics
  • Introduction
    • The ThoughtWorks Anthology: Essays on Software Technology and Innovation
  • Improving OO Design by Removing Old Habits
• Code smells
• The four elements of simple design
• Connascense

Software architecture

• What is even architecture?
• Architectural styles
  • Software architecture patterns - Layered, Event-driven, Microkernel, Microservices, Space-based and CQRS
  • Hexagonal architecture
  • Clean architecture
  • Production-Ready microservices - Book review and my personal notes
• Do I need to architect?
• ADR’s (Architectural Decision Records)
• Representing architecture
  • Plant UML
  • The C4 model
    • Software Architecture for Developers - Technical leadership and the balance with agility
    • Architectural Katas
    • C4 as a complement to UML
• Monoliths and microservices
  • Strategic monoliths and microservices - Driving Innovation Using Purposeful Architecture - Book review and takeaways

Empirical software engineering

• Taking decisions based in data
  • Methods L01 - Intro and Course Overview [CMU 17803 Empirical Methods - Spring 2021]

Learning

• Learning how to learn
• The programmer’s brain - memory and code
• Katas - why, when and how
• Side projects

Where to go from here

• This is just he beginning
• Do not advocate, teach
  • Advocate, educator, and authorial stance
• Teaching others

Resources

• Web Development In 2023 - A Practical Guide