Self-Improvement

What I learned from the Hashnode Writing Bootcamp

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As an academic and a teacher, I spend a ridiculous amount of time writing. I always believed that I was pretty good at it and always wanted to write even more online. I was enamoured with the concept of technical writing here on Hashnode, but I genuinely had no real idea where to start, what to write about, or how on Earth I was going to reach anyone when I did decide to start scribbling.

To my delight, Hashnode announced a boot camp where budding writers including myself could come together and learn from some of the most experienced and talented writers on the platform. They were ultimately Catalin Pit, Omotola Shogunle, Tapas Adhikary, and Victoria Lo, who gave wonderfully insightful glimpses into their writing journeys, their methodologies and thought processes behind each article, and how to fend off the ever-present dragon of procrastination when their motivation levels run low. It was a humbling experience and one I remain immensely grateful for the opportunity to have participated in.

Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the boot camp as a whole that I’m looking to incorporate into my own writing.

Keep it simple, stupid

My writing is often fluffy and elaborate, making it somewhat difficult for second-language speakers of English to read. I’m afraid this is symptomatic of spending so much time in the ivory tower!

Nevertheless, I have made a conscientious effort in my writing to primarily use active voice, as opposed to passive voice, to always explain acronyms whenever I first use them, and to try to structure my writing into clear, easy-to-digest paragraphs with headings and subheadings as appropriate.

Consistency is the key, but value quality over quantity

Write often and write consistently, but provide value in your writing – what can someone learn from you? What unique perspective do you provide? These are all important questions that we can ask ourselves as we decide on a topic to write about and share with the Internet. As someone with a great deal of experience both as a developer and as an educator, I think that this provides me with a unique viewpoint and perspective to share with the rest of the community.

A high quality, consistent blog is an amazing resource for demonstrating not only your commitment to an ongoing project but both your technical and writing skills at the same time.

Branding and promotion

I’m not great at this because I’m not a huge lover of social media – it took a fair bit of convincing for me to come back to Twitter! But in the long run, it cannot be denied that it remains a powerful utility for sharing your writing with developer communities and with like-minded individuals who will find value in your work.

Sharing your writing on other communities such as freeCodeCamp, Dev, and Medium are also options for furthering the reach of your writing, sometimes even opening up paid opportunities, though personally, I prefer that they remain centralised here.

I’ve taken steps to adopt a unique and consistent design pattern in my images and in my blog design using Adobe Spark, so I hope that I reap the benefit of that down the line as I continue my writing career.

Find a niche

Carving out a niche is a great strategy for building a reader base who will repeatedly come back to read what you’ve written about. Whether that’s about web development, cybersecurity, Python scripting and machine learning, whatever. Establish your niche and maximise upon it.

I’m considering giving this a greater deal of focus in the near future, but it’s really difficult when your interests are incredibly broad and you want to write about everything. Perhaps with time, I will naturally establish my own niche and my own audience who will appreciate my perspective and the links between the topics which I write about.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to once again thank the amazing folks at Hashnode for running such a well-coordinated and ambitious remote boot camp, and wish them the best of success in the future! I look forward to the post-COVID future when we can look forward to in-person writing boot camps. Perhaps I’ll see you there!

Furthermore, I’d once again like to thank the aforementioned writing veterans for their time, their expertise, and above all their infectious passion and inspiration that they provide to all of us within their community. Thank you!

Your degree isn’t enough: my advice to students

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A degree, whether it be in computer science, software engineering, mathematics or a related field is often marketed as the golden ticket for those wanting a lucrative career in programming. An often extortionately expensive goose that will eventually lay golden eggs for years to come.

While it’s absolutely true that a degree has serious value in technical career paths, it should be noted that students on a degree programme should not see three to four years of study as a silver bullet. Plenty of students will get a job with just their degree and nothing more, yes, but as the barrier of entry to many development and IT jobs lowers and university students face increasing competition from apprentices, boot camp graduates, and completely self-taught developers, there is no room for complacency.

What do you know?

Throughout my time in academia, I’ve had the good pleasure of advising plenty of students on their next steps and what they can do to maximise their time as an undergraduate. I’ve been on careers panels, representing former employers and universities. I’ve had the opportunity to learn directly from senior developers and recruiters from a range of amazing companies including Google, Oracle, Amadeus, and Network Rail on what they’re looking out for and how they curate CVs (resumes). I currently work in education now; passing the mantle and routinely guiding and assisting students with their own professional development and learning journeys.

Of course, don’t accept my word as Gospel. I encourage you to do your own research, talk to your university’s career service(s), and to other senior developers and recruiters you network with. Everyone has unique perspectives to share and your mileage will always vary. Finally, it’s important to note that I speak from the perspective of someone within the British education system, so things can be different elsewhere, such as in Africa or in North America.

A tiny word of caution

I realise that by writing this article some might try to mimic me directly or curate my GitHub or other portfolios to see whether I can stick to my own advice.

Do what I say, not what I do.

I’m not always a great model to follow directly, given that my intentions have always been different and that I never intended to work as a full-time web developer given my interests and passions lie elsewhere. I’m an academic first and foremost. That being said, I routinely help people reach those goals, so let’s get started.

1) Complete projects and portfolios

You hear this all the time on self-taught guides and other tutorials on how to work in software engineering or to become a developer. Students with a formal CS background are not exempt from this. University teaches computer science and a lot of theoretical skills, with practical elements here and there. It often doesn’t teach you how to use the latest frameworks and programming languages, which are nevertheless in high demand.

You will often be grilled on how you’ve applied your programming knowledge outside of work/studies and this is a great time to show off the work you’ve done. Uploading your coursework to GitHub isn’t enough here either, though it’s certainly a start. Whether it’s design work, APIs, monolithic web applications, JAMstack websites – whatever – show it off and be prepared to talk about it.

2) Contributing to open source

A quick word on open source. Open-source contributions are frequently seen as brilliant and often favoured even more highly by many recruiters and interviewers as they demonstrate a working knowledge of development workflows and current technologies. That and you know how to confidently use Git.

That being said, contribute to (F)OSS if it interests you. Don’t feel pressured into contributing to a project if it honestly just doesn’t interest you that much. Or worse yet, for a damn t-shirt. There are often other more valuable things you can be doing with your time, such as working on that side project, or…

3) Technical writing and blogging

Writing about what you know, whether it be a tutorial, a thought piece on a specific piece of technology, a guide or discussion, or even a unique piece of research is a fantastic way to demonstrate what you know, potentially what you’re working on, and where your passions lie. It’s also a neat way of building up your own personal network and gives you something to talk about in that important interview.

You could also live stream, podcast, or create a YouTube channel. Whatever medium and format suits your style of expressing yourself.

4) Making use of your university

University is an incredible resource for networking, for getting involved in research, and may even have teaching assistant or demonstrating opportunities for you to take hold of. Research and teaching are especially great to have on a resume, as they both demonstrate a great deal of competence in a certain area, such as in a programming language or field of computing.

It doesn’t all need to be computer science or programming related though. Look for opportunities to be involved in sports and clubs that interest you, or volunteering schemes where you can give back to the local community. Volunteering is especially useful at building soft skills employers are looking for, helps paints you as an empathetic and likeable person, and can even open more doors for paid employment. It happens!

One thing to note though, avoid letting your grades slip because of any of your extracurricular. It’s something I see quite frequently and would encourage people to find a balance as best as they can.

5) Classes and courses

Taking a class or free course in something different can broaden your horizons and help paint you as someone knowledgeable, has a keen desire for learning (which is something developers never stop doing!) and isn’t just someone interested in programming and nothing more.

Learning how to do 3D modelling, a foreign language, or a social science like psychology are all great examples of how you can further spread out your skillset. You can even do these online for free by undertaking a MOOC (massively open online course) on websites such as Coursera.

Alternatively, this is a great time to work through online curricula such as freeCodeCamp or The Odin Project to further bolster your portfolio. If boot campers are doing it, then find some free time to work through them too. They’re great for sharpening the technical skills that your coursework might overlook.

6) Internships and industrial year placements

University students who are looking to compete for the best jobs should look to carry out internships in the summer . There is no better experience than real-world experience, and subsequently, internships are worth their weight in gold. Whilst it’s great to get an internship at a major company, don’t overlook smaller organisations, as the experience is nevertheless a serious advantage and you can learn an incredible amount no matter where you go.

If your university programme or degree scheme offers the ability to take an industrial year placement or a “year out” to work in an extended internship placement (this is common in the UK) then you should seriously consider this. Almost every student I’ve spoken to who has taken such a year before their second and final years of study have attested to just how much they have learned within that year, and how it has recharged them to finish their course. Some high-flying students who impress their employers can even score graduate jobs.

The only exception to all of the above is unpaid internships. If you want to take one, don’t let me stop you, but I strongly believe that they are exploitative and that it’s bullsh*t to have someone live out of pocket just for the experience.

(It’s also not the same as contributing to FOSS or volunteering, which is something you do generally for a good cause or community.)

7) Casual employment

If you can’t secure an internship, please don’t turn your nose up at casual work over the summer, or even part-time whilst you study! Whether it’s teaching, cleaning, barkeeping, or stacking shelves, work experience is work experience and it helps you to develop soft skills and an all-important reference for later.

Again, don’t break your back by earning a paycheque when you should be studying. But I empathise that sometimes it’s necessary to stay financially afloat. Balance is key and hopefully, you can find it.

Conclusion

I hope that you found my advice helpful. It is important to note that this is not the end-all and be-all of all student advice and that there are likely to be important points that I missed, so definitely continue to read here on the Internet and further afield for even more valuable advice!