… make extra income by writing about your passion online?
Start a programming blog and you can enjoy each of these & more.
Stick around for the exact step-by-step path to creating your fun, popular and profitable programmer blog.
I’ll take you by the hand and show you step-by-step how to create a blog that makes you income. And that income could come in different forms – one of which is a high-paying job.
5 Good Reasons Why You Should Start a Programming Blog
Let’s look in depth at the 5 main reasons why writing your own coding blog is a good idea.
1. Personal Brand: Become a Thought Leader, Create Opportunities & Get a Great Job
When your blog is helping other programmers and they start sharing it around, your personal brand will become more and more popular.
And the goodwill and trust you’ve built up leads to a slew of new opportunities for you:
People want to be coached by you
People want to work on (potentially profitable) projects with you
People want to buy products as per your recommendation (and gladly have you earn an affiliate commission)
People want to hire you for perky programming jobs
2. Learning: Adding New Languages, Working Through Problems, Discovering New Methods
When you tell others about what you’re working on, it forces you to be exact. Thanks to your new programming blog, you’ll be carefully exploring the object of any new learning challenge from all angles.
Because afterwards, you want to be able to teach it to your audience! In any teacher-student situation, the teacher has to be more diligent than the student – and he gets the greatest learning benefit.
Blogging about your coding experiences will make you more aware and stronger in your problem-solving process, push you to fully explore approaches you weren’t yet familiar with, and make what you’ve learned more ‘sticky’ than ever before.
3. Sharing Code With Others: Helping, Innovating, Creating Community
Coding can be lonely.
Even if you get a win, you sometimes don’t have anyone to share it with, outside of a forum where you can’t be sure people are going to see it. Or maybe you do have a few friends who understand and care.
But how cool would it be to make a write-up of what you did that’s super helpful for others, and have it live on a website you personally own, forever?
Starting your programming blog allows you to share solutions that improve the lives of others while adding your explanations to make them easily consumable. People can then add their comments on your blog article.
Ét voila, you’ve just formed your own little programming community around the content on your website!
4. Improve Communication Skills
There’s no better way to improve your clarity than typing out your thoughts, as coherently as possible, for others to read. Writing a lot and trying to write well turns you into a much better communicator.
Luckily, you don’t need to write essays for magazines or publish books to do that. You can do it online, and without investing too much money.
I’ve been booked for many speaking engagements and have made hundreds of YouTube videos. My ability to organize my thoughts and communicate clearly and concisely has been sharpened by writing endless articles for this programming blog.
And it’s transformed my performance in those areas.
5. Make Money
Once your blog is popular, you’ll have many options to monetize it.
In some cases this can become a full-time income, or even a massive business.
The formula for financial success with your blog is simple: The more you’re writing to solve people’s problems, the more money you’re going to make.
After you have a sizable audience who trusts you and is hungry for your help, it’s easy to slap on the monetization and start raking in a good amount.
How to Start Your Programming Blog
The first step on creating a blog is choosing a web hosting company that you can trust and that is reliable.
There are many Web Hosting Services nowadays and you should pay special attention into this step because it can definitely save you hours of stress and headaches on the future.
Should you start for free?
You can get free hosting at WordPress.com (which leaves you with an ugly domain address and limited functions) or Squarespace.
Squarespace is free and looks good, but if you want more freedom and functions later, you’ll have to switch. There’s a reason half the internet runs on WordPress.
If you want to run the full WordPress CMS (content management system), you’ll need paid hosting to run it on.
The best Website Hosting for Beginners
I personally recommend Bluehost, which is the only service officially recommended by WordPress itself.
The combination couldn’t be better. Bluehost is amongst one of the reliable and strongest web hosting companies, having thousands and thousands of clients. The server almost never goes down, it counts with a 24/7 technical support team, offers a free domain and, of course, it has a one-click WordPress install feature, which makes the process so much easier and faster.
To speed things up, think of a domain name for your blog and have your credit card ready.
Done that, follow the steps below.
Set Up Your Website Hosting
To get started, go to Bluehost’s homepage and click on “Get Started Now”.
Next step is choosing the right plan for you. If you’re just starting out, the best plan for you is definitely the “Starter Plan”.
However, if you plan on getting a decent amount of traffic or even creating more than one blog, you should definitely consider acquiring more robust plans, such as the plus plan or the business pro plan.
After that, you’ll be asked to choose a domain name for your blog. If you don’t already have a domain name, you can purchase one right at this step.
The best part is that is comes FREE with this new WordPress hosting account purchase.
Choose a domain name and click on “Next”.
(Note: If you already have a domain name, just enter the name of your current domain on the “transfer domain” field and follow the steps provided by Bluehost)
Once you’ve chosen your domain name, it’s time to enter your personal information.
Next step is to choose your package plan and enter your billing information.
Normal, shared hosting is priced at 12, 24 and 36-month terms. Longer term plans will help you save more money and the lower your monthly rate will be.
Study what will be the best option for you and choose a package. You’ll also see some offers from Bluehost partners, such as SEO jumpstart and domain privacy.
Select the ones that fits your needs.
After filling your billing information and choosing your hosting package, click on “Next” to complete your purchase. You’ll be asked to create a password for your account.
You can either use Bluehost’s password generator or come up with yours on your own.
Now that you’re all set up on the Web Hosting part of the process, it’s time to install WordPress.
Installing WordPress
This used to be one of the most complicated steps when it comes to starting a blog.
However, Bluehost recently made it so that you don’t even have to do anything. Check out this video where I show you exactly how easy it is:
You now have your WordPress install created for you automatically and you are automatically logged into your new WordPress blog!
You’re done creating your blog and installing WordPress.
Now, simply log into your WordPress website by going to the admin login URL. Enter your username and password, then click “Log In”. This will take you to your WordPress dashboard.
From here, you can control everything about your WordPress website, such as writing blog posts, creating pages, changing the overall appearance, etc
Pick Your Favorite Theme
You now have the opportunity to put a nice theme on your blog.
WordPress comes with thousands of free themes, of which you could just pick one and go.
If you go for a paid theme, you’ll have more customization options. The paid themes also often look a lot better right out of the box.
I use Thrive Themes and I love how it has fully customizable themes, plus a complete drag & drop website builder, quiz builder, and Thrive Leads to create opt-ins for your email marketing.
Plugins
There are a number of additional plugins you should install on your new programming blog to make things easier for you and to make everything run more smoothly.
The ones I recommend are:
Gutenberg Blocks
A block editor that lets you build pages on your website using special blocks, without having to use any code.
ShortPixel Image Optimizer
Having your blog load fast is essential in the 2020’s. Compressing your images (while still having them look good) is one of the main ways you’ll achieve this.
The ShortPixel Image Optimizer Plugin is the best plugin to size down your images at the click of a button without sacrificing much in image quality.
WP Rocket
This plugin speeds up your site, so it always loads a fast as possible for the user. It’s $49/year, but well worth the investment.
YoastSEO
The YoastSEO plugin makes sure your site and posts are optimized for search engines. It’ll also help you by managing your sitemap, robots.txt, page title, and meta descriptions.
Code Inserter
When you’re blogging about programming, you want to have a way to nicely display code snippets on your website.
The code inserter plugin does just that: You put in the raw code, and it outputs it in a pretty and well-formatted manner.
Your Programming Blog’s Content Strategy
Congrats! You’ve finished setting up your blog.
Now, how do you figure out what to write about? And how do you structure those blog ideas?
In fact, I recommend you start with just one topic, and write a number of blog posts about all the details of it.
Pick One Topic to Start
When you’re first starting out, you have two main weapons to compete with bigger, more seasoned programming websites:
Making your content better and more engaging than theirs. This can give you a chance to outrank those more authoritative websites in case their articles are missing the mark
Creating ‘topical authority’ in the eyes of Google by thoroughly answering many questions around the same topic. Google then considers you an authority on this topic and ranks your site more highly for any term related to it
That’s why you should consider writing on a more narrow range of topics at first, instead of following every idea you get about everything you know.
Come Up With 10-30 Posts for Your First Topic
The goal is to create a ‘content cluster’ of 10-30 posts around the first topic you picked.
So you’ll start mapping out your content strategy by coming up with enough blog ideas to make up that first cluster.
As a brand-new coding blog, you’re not going to rank for those big, juicy keywords.
Instead, go after what’s called the ‘long tail’ of Google searches: Longer, more detailed phrases that are searched less, and are less competitive. This gives you the chance to rank in the top 10 even if you’re new.
It lets you build up that topical authority over time. At some point you can then start going for those more competitive search terms.
Keyword Research & Planning
To make your keyword research process most comfortable, use a paid keyword tool – it’ll save you a lot of time and stress. You’ll get hundreds of keywords at a time, and you’ll be able to see their search volume and competition at a glance.
But, of course you can choose to do basic keyword research on your own, without paid tools, for free:
Enter your main topic keyword into KeywordSheeter (free). This tool will spit out all variations, questions and related searches to the keyword you entered. You can then pick queries to use as keywords to cover with an article.
Google the phrase and manually analyze the competition. Look out for other small niche blogs, quora, reddit, or forums in the top results. If those are able to rank, so should you, especially if you answer the search query better than they did.
If a bigger site is ranking, but they’re completely missing the point, you also have a chance of outranking them if you create a more well-targeted article.
Types Of Topics To Pick & How They’ll Help You Reach Your Goals
You can pick between different types of articles on your programming blog that can be monetized differently:
Answering specific coding questions. There’s thousands of these. And while people are just looking for answers – not to buy something – you can still monetize these posts by running ads on them.
In-depth tutorials on how to code or how to be a more successful programmer. You can establish yourself as a subject matter expert and sell courses on the same topic. For most topics it’s likely good tutorials already exist – so you either have to make something that’s a lot better, or find topics that are underserved or emerging.
Reviewing software & hardware. These have the potential to make you good money by way of affiliate commissions, but they’re also competitive topics.
In your first batch of 30 articles, it won’t hurt to include some of each type.
But, you want to be careful not to go for a super competitive review-type keyword, for example – you’ll never rank for it with a new blog.
Try to find the more niche topics that haven’t been covered by all the giant competitors.
How to Write Your Programming Blog Posts
Now that you’ve got your content strategy all planned out, it’s time to start writing the posts! Your goal is to create the best resource your readers can find on the internet.
If you…
Write satisfying answers to their questions
Help them solve their pressing programming problems
Give useful career advice
Create genuinely helpful reviews
…your programming blog WILL be successful.
Here’s how to create the best blog posts that get found by Google and delight your readers:
Go For One Main Keyword
Make your articles focused on a specific search term, and cover that one term as well as you can. Google will be able to pick up what your post is about and start ranking you for that keyword.
Include this main term in the title of your post, in the first subheading (these are called ‘H2’ subheadings), and multiple times throughout the text (in a natural way).
You can go for 2-3 secondary, related keywords as well – but first and foremost, focus on the main one.
Also, make sure you’re not rambling, and that even ¾ of the way through, you’re still talking about the same topic.
This stops readers from dropping off, and it shows Google your article is relevant from start to finish.
Match The Search Intent
Blogging today is not so much about writing interesting, “magazine-style” content – but it’s about providing focused solutions to the problems people are asking Google about:
When people are searching for: “How to do something” in programming, they expect you to give them the exact answer in your blog article.
When they’re searching for a “Why?”-question, they want you to give them the reasons.
When they’re searching for “best” or “versus”, they want you to give an honest review of that thing.
You can tell how to structure your article by how the search query is phrased. If you match the search intent well, you’ll satisfy both your readers and Google’s algorithm.
Make The Title Interesting
In Google’s “Search Engine Results Page” (SERP), you’re competing with other articles targeting the same keywords.
Your chance to stand out from the crowd is choosing an interesting title.
Here are a few elements you can include to make your title “pop” and entice people to click on your article over the others:
Include a number, e.g.: 7 Secrets to Writing Better Code
Add “power words”, such as easy, secrets, crush
State the benefits: How to market yourself as a programmer and make lots of money
Mind Your Blog’s Style
You want to make your articles as easy to read as possible – especially considering a majority of your audience is consuming your content on their small phone screen.
Use Large Font Sizes
Nowadays, you want your font size to be between 18-22px. It’s easier on the eyes and keeps people on the page for longer.
Pay Attention To Line Spacing
In the 2020’s, nobody is putting up with having to read walls of text. They’d rather click away and move on to something else.
Make most of your paragraphs between 1-3 sentences long. If you use plenty of white space in your articles, you’ll do your readers a big favor. And they’ll reward you by consuming more of your content.
Don’t Make Your Content Area Too Wide
If your sentences stretch too far across the page, they’re too hard to read. Try to stick to a content area that’s 850px or less, so people have an easier time scanning your article.
Write Engaging Content
Don’t try to write scholarly articles on your website.
Yes, people come to your programming blog to learn something. But that doesn’t mean you should sound like a college textbook. That’d be just another reason for them to tune out. Your readers want you to explain things as simply as possible. And if you can make it more personal, fun, or even tell a relevant story, that’s even better.
Here are a few ways to make your writing more engaging:
Talk to your audience like they’re a friend
Keep your sentences short & sweet
Avoid using “big words”. You won’t sound smart – but boring
Sell them on the benefits of what you’re going to tell them
Start your article off with something exciting or intriguing: A smart question, surprising statistic, or a hint at something interesting you’re going to reveal in the article
Create Your Home & About Pages
To make your programming blog look complete and professional, be sure to create these important pages:
Home
This is what people see if they just type your blog’s URL into their browser, or they follow a direct link from somewhere to your website.
Think of your home page as the sales page for your personal brand. It should be a great introduction to your content and showcase your expertise as well as your best articles.
In the beginning, it’s fine to keep it simple:
A “hero shot” image of yourself up top
A few lines about what the blog is about and what makes you unique
Some social proof of what people are saying about you and places you’ve worked or your work has been featured
A display of your best and / or most recent articles
About
Your about page is where you can get more personal – go into your story and how it relates to your reader.
You can go into detail on your accomplishments.
State your motivation for starting this blog, and what people can expect from you in the future.
Contact
You should have your business address on your website, as well as a way for people to contact you.
Not only does this increase trust, but as your blog grows more popular, you’ll be contacted with valuable feedback, enlightening questions, and business opportunities.
Analyze Your Content
To see how your coding blog’s content performs over time, set up Google Analytics and start monitoring your website traffic.
But – don’t obsess over these metrics, especially in the beginning. It’ll likely take six to eight months before your new content reaches its final ranking position.
So it doesn’t make sense to check your Analytics all the time when you’ve just started.
Promote Your Blog
Besides writing great content on your programming blog, there’s another way you can get more readers and increase your site’s authority.
The main way search engines judge the authority of your site is the number and quality of external links pointing for it.
As you publish more and more content over time, you’ll naturally have more people linking to your blog – especially if your articles are of exceptional quality.
But with the right promotional strategy, you can speed this up and gain more links in less time.
Guest Blogging
This is where you’ll reach out to other blogs in the coding or tech space and offer to write an article for them for free in exchange for a link back to your site.
You can increase the chance they’ll say yes if you do some keyword research beforehand and pitch them a topic they could be ranking for, but don’t yet have an article on.
Also, when reaching out, make sure to mention any of your credentials and accomplishments to make it more attractive for them to feature you on their blog.
Link Building
While guest blogging is a common and effective way to build links back to your site, there’s other ways to do it, too:
One example is partnering up with other programming bloggers: Whenever they write a guest post on another site, they’ll link to your site, and you’ll do the same for them
Another way to potentially gain new links is to use a tool to check for broken links on a site you’d like to get a link from. You then tell them about it and ask them to link to one of your articles instead
Finally, you can check your competitor’s backlinks and ask those sites to link to you over them, in case you have a higher quality post on the same topic
How You’ll Monetize Your Programming Blog
Now, how are you going to get paid for all the hard work you’ve put in solving coding problems and publishing great content on your blog to help out other programmers?
Here are 5 ways you’ll earn money from your programming blog:
Display Advertising
Once you have thousands of visitors per month to your blog, it’s worth it to put display ads on it to monetize some of that general traffic.
It’s especially useful for those short info-articles that answer a specific question. Your readers will just get the info they need and then bounce – they won’t buy any affiliate offer or join your email list to potentially buy your course later. Display ads are perfect to make at least some money from those people as well.
The most popular ad companies, sorted by how much they’re paying, are: Google AdSense, Ezoic, Adthrive and Mediavine. The higher-end ad networks have strict requirements for joining, such as 50,000 page views per month for Mediavine.
Affiliate Marketing
As you’re reviewing tools and hardware related to coding, you can link to those recommended products and earn a commission.
Especially for software products, those can be highly attractive because they’re so-called ‘recurring’ commissions – you get a cut for every month the user stays subscribed to the service.
Additionally, you can earn good money affiliating for high-priced coding hardware, online courses and bootcamps.
Selling Courses & Other Informational Products
With your programming blog, over time you’ll establish yourself as an authority on certain subjects.
Your readers are loyal – they know, like and trust you. That’s when you can start offering your expertise in the form of ebooks, courses, or a coaching service.
The best way to do this is to first get people on your email list, where you keep giving them even more valuable content.
Once it’s time to pitch your new info product, you’ll have a warm audience willing to buy from you.
Sponsorships
If your blog has become popular and it’s bringing in some good traffic, you can also reach out to companies you like and sell them banner ad space or sponsored placements in your posts or emails.
The advantage of this tactic over standard display advertising is that you directly control which kind of ads your audience are seeing on your blog.
Sponsored banner ads also pay better.
Time to get started!
That’s a wrap! Now you’re armed with all the info you need to set up your site, create your content strategy, start writing, and publish your first post!
I wish you the best of luck with your new programming blog.
P.S.: If you’d like an even more in-depth course on how to start your blog as a software developer, make sure to enroll below for free:
If you’re thinking of becoming a software engineer (or developer – they’re very similar, as we’ll talk about below) … this guide will teach you all about it.
You’ll get a complete step-by-step path for how you’ll achieve that goal.
Enjoy your 15-step software engineer roadmap!
Is this you?
You love to crack tough problems…
As a software engineer, you’ll use your intelligence and creative ability to tackle difficult problems and provide a ton of value by solving them for your employer or client.
You enjoy immersing yourself in the study of a topic…
To become a software engineer, you need to learn a number of complex skills. You’ll also never stop learning after that. If you’re all about expanding your knowledge and bettering your skills, this could be the perfect career path for you.
You want to work with others to achieve ambitious goals together…
The basement-dwelling developer working on coding problems all on his own is a myth. Most of the time you’ll have to lead others or collaborate with them on a solution. You’ll also actively take part in meetings and do presentations about your work.
And you’d like to make more money than most of your peers by doing that…
Then why not become a software developer or engineer?
What is a software engineer, exactly?
A software engineer is a computer expert who uses engineering principles to design, create, debug, test, deploy and maintain the systems and code of software applications.
Working in tandem with a team, software engineers create effective software solutions to costumer’s problems in various fields.
Software Engineer vs Software Developer
Most use Software Engineer and Software Developer interchangeably.
In fact they’re very similar.
Software Engineers analyze and shape (read: engineer) a project from a wider point of view. They’re highly involved in planning and directing, on top of the software development tasks.
What do software engineers do?
What software engineers do in a nutshell: As a software engineer, you’re engineering all parts of the software development life cycle.
Defining problems and objectives. Implementing code. Assessing and measuring the deployed software programs. Changing systems and improving programs. Providing ongoing management and support.
15 examples of what you’ll do:
Identify a customer’s problem to solve through a new software application
Manage software engineering projects – often multiple at the same time
Use models to understand and present a project in detail
Create overview diagrams of a project
Iterate new versions of code
Perform quality control on your team’s output
Document your team’s processes
Research information and tools to help complete your tasks
Communicate with customers or clients
Write efficient code yourself
Be a mentor to younger developers
Offer help to anyone on your team who needs it
What’s it like to be a Software Engineer from day to day?
If you become a software engineer, your working day could look like this:
You prepare your schedule. Whether you’re working at an office or remotely – you want to have your and your team’s tasks for the day all scheduled out.
You start working on a software engineering problem. You’re outlining and modeling a software solution to a customer’s problem – complete with guidance for your team on how to implement this solution.
You attend a meeting. As a software engineer, you’re working with programmers and testers who assist you in realizing the solution you’ve modeled. You need to hold frequent meetings to coordinate this work.
You fix issues with the application you’re working on. By way of testers’ feedback, or your own assessment, you’re constantly facing new challenges. You spend parts of your work day troubleshooting: Fixing ineffective code, debugging and resolving security issues.
You launch a new piece of software. While closely watching how it performs, you’ release a finished application to the world.
You service a live product. In your work for customers or clients, you keep measuring the performance of your finished products. You provide technical support, fix any issues that come up, and continue updating the software.
How hard is it to become a software engineer?
It’s hard to learn software engineering from scratch, go through the challenging interview process and manage the varied, intellectually demanding tasks on the job.
But if you’re willing to do what it takes, you’ll overcome these hardships and enjoy a fulfilling career as a software engineer.
Here are the top 3 challenges you’ll face:
1. You have to have patience & persistence to finish your education
There’s much to learn for an aspiring software developer / engineer. Basically, if you choose to become a software developer, you’ll be a student forever, and you’ll have to be constantly improving and keeping up with your education.
As you learn your first programming language, you might feel especially challenged. You can’t get discouraged if everything doesn’t click right away.
Sometimes you have to work through a learning problem many times over. You also can’t get complacent after you’ve successfully added a skill to your repertoire – there’s many more to be acquired!
But if you keep at it day after day, you becoming competent enough to start applying for your first developer job is inevitable.
2. You’ve got to work hard on your communication, team work, and leadership skills
Against all stereotypes – as a software engineer, you’re not a lone basement dweller!
You’re taking responsibility at work
You’re coordinating with and delegating to team members
You’re communicating with customers
If you haven’t honed your communication, presentation and public speaking abilities much until now, you’ve got your work cut out for you. These things can be a challenge for personality types that are attracted to coding.
But let me tell you, it’s exhilarating once you get better at these skills – and that’s what they are, learnable soft skills any developer can acquire. Not only can you now engineer solutions to your customers’ problems, you can communicate them well and lead your team to a successful implementation.
Your life as a software engineer will be 10x easier and more enjoyable.
3. You need mental rigor on the job
First off, the ‘systems thinking’ that you need for any project takes a lot of brainpower. But, it’s what sets you apart as a software engineer, so you have to invest that energy again and again.
Secondly, you must be able to battle through challenges. Whether you’re self-educating (takes the most willpower), or getting your degree (deadlines loom), or taking a course or bootcamp (long hours and peer pressure) – you’re choosing a hard path here. Interview prep is hard.
Juggling multiple projects on the job and solving problem after problem on the job is hard, too. You have to have the mental strength to push through all those obstacles. But maybe you’re the kind of person who thrives when challenged?
Should You Become a Software Engineer? The Pros & Cons
Cons
You’ll spend hundreds of hours relentlessly studying
It’ll take you months to learn the programming language(s) you’ll need to work in this profession. And it’ll take months to prepare for your job interview.
If this sounds too daunting to you, maybe you shouldn’t become a software engineer.
You’ll invest thousands into your education
Especially if you go to college, you’ll be spending tens of thousands to become a software engineer. And while you can go the completely self-taught path (we’ll talk about this later):
Even if you opt out of going to college, by spending some money, you’ll be able to speed things up, and get a deeper education in less time.
You’ll work a decent amount of hours
But, this is normal for any higher level job. Unless you work as a freelance software developer and only take on a limited number of clients – you should expect to work full-time hours at your software engineer job.
You might end up paying the opportunity cost of ‘having a great job’
This is if you consider the long-term outlook of becoming a well-paid software engineer vs. starting your own business(es). It’s easy to stay in that cushy job forever instead of taking the chance to make even more money in business.
Pros
You’ll be in high demand
The demand for software engineers has doubled in recent years, and it’ll continue to increase. The amount of jobs is going to grow by 22% until 2030 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics – which is a lot higher than average. This means you’ll have an excellent chance of snatching an good job in this field.
You’ll make good money
Salaries for software engineers ranke between $36k and $265k per year. The average is $120k in the US – that’s over $50 per hour for a salaried employee. Depending on the client, freelance software developers can earn $100+ per hour. This will put you in the upper rank of professionals working in the US. And it’ll afford you a lifestyle most can only dream of!
The estimated total pay for a Lead Software Engineer is $150,667 per year in the United States
You’ll do exciting work and help a lot of people
If you like a challenge and you love being a high-level problem solver, you’re choosing the perfect profession. What’s more, you’ll be helping your customers get their projects off the ground.
In many cases this means you’re improving the lives of tens of thousands of users – either directly by them using a software you wrote, or indirectly by your code facilitating a product or service they benefit from.
How to become a software developer from scratch with no experience: 15-Step Roadmap
Maybe you hate your current job as a salesman, or accountant and want to become a developer. You want to work for a cool new tech company and get the nice salaries of a software engineer.
I’ve seen a number of people stop programming because they felt it was too hard to continue, but if you have a strong “why,” it’s easier to keep pushing than to simply give up when you face an obstacle.
Otherwise, you’re actually just not going to do it. It’s difficult. It’s difficult to go from knowing nothing about anything and becoming really good at it.
It doesn’t mean you don’t have to love every minute of coding.
But you’ve got to love tackling and solving difficult problems.
You also can’t be turned off by working with and leading other people.
If you really want it, and you’re willing to go all in on this career – you’ll be able to make it as a software engineer.
2. Pick Your Career Path
There’s different specialties of software engineers. As a specialist you’re more likely to get hired for a job. And you’ll be able to command an even higher salary, because your expertise is rare.
So pick a field you’d like to specialize in, and start working towards becoming excellent at it.
Here’s 4 steps to succeed with starting to learn your first language:
1. Start with the language most useful to you
Pick a single programming language that you think you would be likely to base your career around. The programming language itself doesn’t matter all that much, since you should be thinking for the long term here. What I mean is you shouldn’t try and learn an “easy” programming language to start.
Just learn whatever language you are interested in and could see yourself programming in for the next few years. You want to pick something that will have some lasting value.
2. Start your learning journey properly
Once you’ve picked the programming language you are going to try and learn, try and find some books or tutorials that isolate that programming language.
What I mean by this is that you don’t want to find learning materials that will teach you too much all at once. You want to find beginner materials that focus on just the language, not a full technology stack.
Expect to go through a book or tutorial three times before it clicks. You will not get “programming” on the first try–no one ever does. You need repeated exposure before you start to finally get it and can understand what is going on. Until then you will feel pretty lost, that is ok, it is part of the process.
Just accept it and forge ahead.
3. Start coding right away
As you read through the material or go through the tutorial you have picked out, make sure you actually write code. Do exercises if you can. Try out what you learned. Try to put things together and use every concept you learn about.
Yes, this is a pain. Yes, it is easier to read a book cover-to-cover, but if you really want to learn, you need to do.
When you’re writing code, try to make sure you understand what every line of code you write does. The same goes for any code you read. If you are exposed to code, slow down and make sure you understand it. Whatever you don’t understand, look up.
Take the time to do this and you will not feel lost and confused all the time.
4. Start building your first small project
Now that you have a basic understanding of a single programming language, it’s time to put that understanding to work and find out where your gaps are. The best way to do this is to try and build something.
Don’t get too ambitious at this point–but also don’t be too timid. Pick an idea for an application that is simple enough that you can do it with some effort, but nothing that will take months to complete.
Try to confine it to just the programming language as much as possible. Don’t try to do something full stack (meaning, using all the technologies from user interfaces all the way to databases)–although you’ll probably need to utilize some kind of existing framework or APIs.
For your first real project you might want to consider copying something simple that already exists. Look for a simple application, like a To-Do list app and straight out try to copy it. Don’t let your design skills stand in the way of learning to code.
The Languages You Need to Become a Software Engineer
The top languages used by software engineers are Python, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, C#, C++, Go, HTML, Ruby and Kotlin. They are of varied difficulty – as mentioned, pick the one you’ll need for your desired job. You can find this out by looking at job postings, for example.
You could even call in to companies advertising jobs and ask them exactly which skills you’d need to be considered for the role.
4. Understand programming fundamentals & best practices
You need to learn how to write good clean code that is easy to understand and maintain. In order to do this, you’ll need to read a lot and see many examples of good code.
Beef up your library with the following books on coding fundamentals:
Code Complete
Clean Code
Refactoring
Working Effectively With Legacy Code
Programming Pearls – (do the exercises)
And language-specific structural books like:
JavaScript: The Good Parts
Effective Java
Effective C#
At this point you really want to focus your learning on the structural process of writing good code and working with existing systems.
You should strive to be able to easily implement an algorithm in your programming language of choice and to do it in a way that is easy to read and understand.
5. Learn a database technology
Most software developers will need to know some database technology as most series applications have a back-end database. So make sure you do not neglect investing in this area.
You will probably see the biggest benefit if you learn SQL–even if you plan on working with NoSQL database like MongoDB or Raven, learning SQL will give you a better base to work from. There are many more jobs out there that require knowledge of SQL than NoSQL.
Don’t worry so much about the flavor of SQL. The different SQL technologies are similar enough that you shouldn’t have a problem switching between them if you know the basics of one SQL technology. Just make sure you learn the basics about tables, queries, and other common database operations.
I’d recommend getting a good book on the SQL technology of your choice and creating a few small sample projects, so you can practice what you are learning–always practice what you are learning.
You have good knowledge of SQL when you can:
Create tables
Perform basics queries
Join tables together to get data
Understand the basics of how indexes work
Insert, update and delete data
In addition, you will want to learn some kind of object relational mapping technology (ORM). Which one you learn will depend on what technology stack you are working with.
Look for ORM technologies that fit the framework you have learned. There might be a few options, so you best bet is to try to pick the most popular one.
6. Decide how you’ll become a developer
Choose one of these 5 ways to be a software engineer:
Get a college degree
Take an (in-person) coding bootcamp
Earn a certificate
Complete an online course
Learn entirely on your own
Degree
This is your longest and most expensive option.
You’ll go deep on mathematics and fundamentals like data structures and algorithms. Coming out of college, you’ll have more knowledge about fundamental computer science concepts than someone who chose a more DIY path. You’ll have studied computer architecture, databases and source control.
But you might not have as much practical coding skill as someone who’s gone through a bootcamp, for example (which is 90+% hands-on practice).
Even if you go the traditional college route, keep building things in your free time on your own. Applying those theoretical learnings is where real growth happens. It’s how you make sure you’re more than prepared to work a software engineering job ‘in the real world’.
What degree you need to be a software developer
When you study to be a software developer / engineer, you can do an associate degree, bachelors and masters, or even a doctoral degree.
The most popular fields of study for developers are computer science – a more theoretical line of study – and software engineering, which is a bit more practical with more time spent actually coding.
Courses
Today there’s hundreds of online courses teaching you aspects of software engineering within a timeframe of weeks or months. Courses are great if you are someone who can learn individually, but still wants guidance and resources in an easy-to-consume online format.
What’s missing is the community aspect of college or bootcamps. On the other hand, online courses are often more affordable and easier to complete successfully.
Certificates
If you’re not sure you want to commit to an expensive multi-year degree, you could opt to earn a certificate in software engineering first. These are cheaper and you only need six to twelve months to complete one.
Coding bootcamps
Go all out for one to six months and be ready for your first job. That’s the promise of coding bootcamps.
Along with other like-minded aspiring software developers, you immerse yourself in studying and coding – for 8-12 hours per day.
Because they’re so focused on having you execute everything you learn right away, you can expect to become a competent coder after only a few months of bootcamp.
Self-Taught
Can you really become a software developer without a degree?
It’s absolutely possible to become a software developer or engineer without a degree.
You could argue that skipping college puts you at an advantage: The time and money you’re saving can be put into your self-start projects, practical intensive courses, and interview prep. Some employers do require you to have a degree, while others are focused only on which skills you can demonstrate.
Again, as a self-taught developer, you’re often ahead when it comes to practical application – though you might not be as well-versed in computer science concepts, math problems, data structures and algorithms.
7. Get Experience with an Internship
I’d recommend that as soon as internship opportunities are available to you that you start prepping and applying for those, so that you can be ready and get your foot in the door.
Because one of the most difficult things is even if you have the knowledge, even if you understand how to program and programming language and how to use the tools and technology: No one is going to give you a chance.
It’s hard to get your foot in the door without experience and internships are a good way to do that.
8. Stay Informed
Never stop learning. Never stop reading. Always be working your way through a book. Always be improving yourself.
Your learning journey is never done. You can’t ever know it all. If you constantly learn during your career, you’ll constantly surpass your peers.
These are the top ways you can stay informed about trends and developments in the software engineering profession:
Events and conferences
News
Podcasts
Books
9. Work on all software engineer Skills
Make sure you’re improving on all the hard and soft skills it takes to be a great software engineer.
Start with small projects and move up to more challenging ones as you grow your skills. All the while, document everything you’re doing so you can show it off and use it to build your authority and personal brand as a developer.
Think of a blog as an advertisement for you that works all day and night without you having to do anything other than feed it every once in awhile.
Aside from the external opportunities blogging offers you, it offers some great personal development opportunities as well. I don’t think there is any better way to improve your communication skills than writing.
Writing teaches you to organize your thoughts clearly in a way that other people can understand. The more you write, the better of a communicator you’ll become in general.
Blogging also helps you keep track of your own career and progress, as well as provides some historical documentation and reference material which you can look back on to see how you solved a particular problem in the past.
Every software developer should have their own blog: it’s like a lightsaber for a Jedi.
Figure out how to create a personal brand for yourself and build a reputation for yourself in the industry and you’ll never be at want for a job.
You’ll get decide your own future if you learn to market yourself. It takes some work, but it’s well worth it.
11. Create your Resume
When it comes down to it, resumes are more about advertising than anything else. You can think of a resume as a one-page advertisement for you. In fact, if you want to have a good––nay, a great––resume, you have to think of it that way.
The simple truth is, for most jobs you apply for, the only thing anyone will ever see is a quick 15-second glance at your resume. It’s in those 15 seconds that the course of your life literally can be determined. Interview or rejected.
Ultimately, you want to portray very clearly what your skills and expertise are, how you’ve used them in the past to achieve great results, and how those skills might be transferred to the future position you are applying for.
12. Apply for your first software engineering Job
There’s another hurdle that you’re going to face – and that’s actually getting a job.
This might even be the most difficult thing out of everything I mentioned today. Even if you follow everything I’ve talked about and are truly a great programmer, no one’s going to give you a shot unless you position yourself properly.
The whole time you are learning things, you should be teaching them as well. It doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or expert, you have something valuable to teach and besides, teaching is one of the best ways to learn.
Document your process and journey, help others along the way.
15. Continue your Education
I’ll say that no matter how you learn how to become a software developer, it still requires taking action, writing code. Just reading academically – going through the motions – is not enough.
You need to be creating some real applications and there’s opportunities today in the mobile development world. It’s easy for someone to create their own mobile application. Even web applications are fairly easy compared to what they used to be in the past.
You could actually create a working application that you could actually sell and make some money,and build a business off of.
How long does it take to become a software engineer?
It could take you three months to four years to become a software engineer. With courses or bootcamps, you could be ready to start applying for jobs after 3-6 months. College is going to take 2-4 years to finish. Being self-taught software engineer takes months or years depending on your effort.
Can you become a software engineer when you’re older?
Yes, it’s absolutely possible to become a software engineer when you’re 30 or older. You can go through the same steps that someone younger would. After investing a few years into your new career, you can be exceptional at it – even if you’re not so young anymore!
In our undeniably digital modern world, to remain competitive, organizations must have the right cloud computing strategy. Cloud adoption has been expanding in the past years and accelerated even more due to the pandemic. In the first quarter of 2020, cloud spending rose 37% to $29 billion, reports PwC. According to Gartner Research, the worldwide public cloud revenue had seen 23% growth in 2021, to $332.2 billion.
As a result, cloud computing jobs are among the highest-paid in the Information Technology field. The specialists in cloud support, cloud architecture, and cloud software development bring a lot of value.
The tremendous rise in demand has been creating new cloud roles, which leads to a significant skill gap in the industry. Whether you’re starting out or you want to move on to the next thing, being a cloud computing expert will help you advance your career.
There are a lot of courses that can get you started with a certification. If you’re wondering where to start, the list below can help. We’ll look at what courses specific vendors offer, as well as some general courses, and give you some background on the test to help you make the right decision.
Why Certification Matters
If you are just entering the world of cloud computing, you should start thinking cloud. Certification might be the number one choice to get basic cloud knowledge.
If you consider becoming an IT pro, taking courses is less time-consuming and cost effective than a university education. Remote studying is convenient and up-to-date, and it also gives you a choice of what to learn and when.
Certifications do not guarantee you the job, but they are definitely door openers. Showcasing your cloud certificates on your CV, blog, or LinkedIn profile demonstrates your interest and inclusiveness in the topic. Not to mention, having cloud certificates gives your prospective employer the impression that you have spent time studying and faced examination challenges.
Indeed, employers seek IT pros with specific expert-level skills which can be obtained in the courses, such as:
Cloud architecture and design
Cloud concepts
Cloud solutions
Security within the cloud
Automation and virtualization
The public vs. private cloud
Big data, Data science
Improving your expertise through certifications not only updates your experience in the cloud but allows you to get better and higher-paid jobs.
How To Choose the Best Cloud Certification in 2022
The choice of certification in cloud computing depends on your level of expertise and the job you are aiming for. Whether you are experienced in other clouds, changing IT specialization, or just starting a career in cloud computing, working in a new cloud environment might be challenging. Consider obtaining vendor-specific cloud certifications to get the necessary skills and understanding of the individual technologies and infrastructures.
Let us look at the most popular certifications, how much they cost, and how long it takes to master them. A quick note: All exam fees are listed in USD and may differ for your country or region where the exam is proctored. Please refer to the official certification provider to check the current pricing in your area.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Certifications
Amazon Web Services offer a variety of certifications for foundational and expert level professionals. With 33% of market share and strong presence in the global network, AWS is on top of the list of vendors to consider when choosing your cloud platform, and therefore it generates the most demand in cloud specialists.
AWS certifications are a fast and affordable way to validate your cloud knowledge. High level certifications may be more difficult to obtain and require years of prior experience in cloud technology.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner. This entry-level certification will check your understanding of basic AWS architecture, the value proposition of the cloud, and other core principles. Exam length: 90 minutes Exam Fee: $100
AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate. Take it if you have some experience in designing distributed applications. You need to know how network technologies work in AWS, the design of performant systems, implementation, and deployment in AWS. Above that, the exam includes AWS-related data security and cost optimization practices. Exam length: 130 minutes Exam Fee: $150
AWS Certified Developer – Associate. The exam covers basic AWS architecture and the core AWS services. You will apply the working knowledge of applications that utilize AWS services. To pass the exam, you need to know how to write code that uses AWS software to access AWS applications from within your custom business application. Exam length: 130 minutes Exam Fee: $150
AWS Certified SysOps Administrator – Associate. The exam, specialized for system administrators, requires you to have both technical expertise and knowledge of the operational aspects concepts within the AWS platform. The test format is multiple choice, multiple select, and exam lab (a scenario composed of tasks to perform in the AWS Management Console or AWS CLI). Exam length: 3 hours Exam Fee: $150
AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Professional. That is the peak of general AWS expertise. The exam is intended for pros with over two years of hands-on experience designing and deploying cloud architecture on AWS. Exam length: 3 hours Exam Fee: $300
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) Certifications
Google Cloud remains one of the three top cloud platforms, with 8% market share, rapidly expanding its global presence. There are currently ten certifications to choose from. GCP exams may be more difficult to pass, as some may have higher requirements for the candidates (e.g., developer background).
Associate Cloud Engineer. Google recommends taking the exam for those having over half a year of hands-on experience with Google Cloud. It ensures you have a strong foundation, allowing you to proceed with Professional certifications. Exam length: 2 hours Exam Fee: $125
Professional Cloud Architect. You should be proficient in cloud computing and have at least one year of working within the Google Cloud environment. The exam checks your abilities to design a cloud solution architecture and manage its infrastructure. Moreover, you need to be familiar with data security and cost optimization practices. Exam length: 2 hours Exam Fee: $200
Professional Data Engineer. According to Google, the data engineer enables data-driven decision-making by collecting, transforming, and publishing data. The exam evaluates your ability to design data processing systems, secure and monitor data processing systems, and operationalize machine learning models in particular. Exam length: 2 hours Exam Fee: $200
Professional Cloud Developer. This exam requires cloud developers to be experienced with cloud-native applications and design highly scalable, available, and reliable applications using Google-recommended practices and tools. In addition, the developer should be proficient with at least one general-purpose programming language to complete the exam. Exam length: 2 hours Exam Fee: $200
Professional Cloud Network Engineer. The successful examinees can design a Google Cloud network. They also should be able to implement Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) instances and hybrid interconnectivity. Exam length: 2 hours Exam Fee: $200
Professional Cloud Security Engineer. The exam assesses the ability to configure access and manage operations within a cloud environment and ensure network security and compliance. Exam length: 2 hours Exam Fee: $200
Microsoft Certified Azure Certifications
Microsoft Azure is right there on the leaderboard of the top cloud platforms with 21% market share. There are 12 cloud certifications that you can choose from. Microsoft-certified cloud specialists are in high demand.
Azure Fundamentals. Azure is the world’s second-largest cloud provider. Thus, it should be on your short list of cloud computing certifications for beginners. The exam is designed for those with technical and non-technical backgrounds. The Azure Fundamentals covers the basics of cloud computing and allows proceeding to more advanced Azure certifications. Exam length: 45 minutes Exam Fee: $99
Azure Administrator Associate. The candidate is recommended to have 6+ months of hands-on experience administering Azure and be able to implement, manage, and monitor an organization’s Microsoft Azure environment. Exam length: 3 hours Exam Fee: $165
Azure Developer Associate. The examinee’s core skills to be tested are: designing, developing, building, testing, deploying, performance tuning, monitoring, and maintaining cloud applications and services on Microsoft Azure. The candidate should have practical knowledge of PowerShell, Azure CLI, Azure portal, and Azure Resource Manager templates. Exam length: 3 hours Exam Fee: $165
IBM Cloud Certifications
IBM has its established Center of Cloud Training, where you can choose your learning path and prepare for the examination in one of 12 certifications. IBM regularly updates its exams and training. You can continue learning and retake exams every 1-2 years to keep your proof of knowledge up to date.
IBM Certified Advocate v2. The training for the exam provides essential knowledge to the cloud computing beginner. The certified Advocate can describe the history and nature of cloud computing and distinguish between cloud services and deployment models. The format of the test is multiple choice and multiple select. Exam length: 90 minutes Exam Fee: $200
Cisco Certified Network Administrator Cloud
Cisco offers two kinds of certifications, CCNA and CCNP. The exams are somewhat expensive compared to other vendors. However, Cisco provides role-based curricula, meaning the certification is practical, task-oriented, and aligned with in-demand skills of a cloud professional. Cisco certifications prepare you for the SME work environment, and even government jobs.
Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA). The training course and exam build the foundation for implementing and administering networking and IT infrastructure. The certification is for associate-level network engineers and designers, cloud engineers, and cloud administrators. CCNA exam covers networking fundamentals, IP services, security fundamentals, automation, and programmability. Exam length: 2 hours Exam Fee: $300
Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) Data Center. The professional-level certificate might be the next on your shortlist after the CCNA. It asserts your skills with data center solutions. To earn the CCNP Data Center certification, you choose a core exam or a data center concentration exam, according to your technology area preferences. Exam length: 2 hours Exam Fee: Core exam $400, Concentration exam $300
Vendor-Neutral Certifications
Non-vendor-specific or vendor-neutral certifications are a way to validate your cloud knowledge and expertise without regard to the platform. These are foundational certifications for building your expertise in cloud technology.
However, there is generally a poor variety of certifications offered and they are comparably more expensive than vendor-specific certifications. You may want to opt for vendor-neutral certifications if it’s the best option for your specific field of work, e.g., cloud security.
Cloud Security Alliance: Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK). The CCSK certificate is a standard of expertise for cloud security. It is the necessary foundation for building your expertise in vendor-specific cloud services. Exam length: 90 minutes Exam Fee: $395
CompTIA Cloud+. As the non-profit association states, this “is the only performance-based IT certification that views cloud-based infrastructure services in the context of broader IT systems operations regardless of the platform.” Cloud+ is an entry-level exam. Still, the examinee is assumed to have hands-on experience with computers, networks, and cyber security. Exam length: 90 minutes Exam Fee: $348
CompTIA Cloud Essentials +. This certification utilizes business principles and fundamental cloud concepts required for IT and non-technical professionals. Exam length: 1 hour Exam Fee: $130
Cloud Certified Professional (Arcitura Education).The exams assess cloud computing concepts, models and business considerations, proficiency in fundamental technology, and security-related areas of cloud computing. You can choose workshops and exams relevant to your cloud computing job or career demands. Duration and pricing vary. For example, Cloud Technology Professional Combined Certification Exam lasts 90 minutes and costs $199.
Cloud Instituteprovides vendor-neutral and leading Cloud Computing online Certification programs. You can start with the Cloud Open Exam to test your cloud computing knowledge and prepare yourself for future assessments for free. If you want to test your knowledge in designing and implementing Cloud Computing services, proceed to Certified Cloud Architect certification. Exam length: 1 hour Exam Fee: $95
Which Cloud Certification Is for You?
Cloud certification can help you stand out and make yourself more competitive in the job market. It is proof of your knowledge and skill.
Whether you start a new career in cloud computing or expand the scope of your profession, choose the certification wisely. To narrow your choice, research which cloud platforms are more widely used in your target geographical region and industry. Know what certifications are relevant to your line of work and make sure to keep them up to date.
Developers are always learning, but they may not know how to turn that knowledge into more significant earnings. For example, you know you know a lot and have the scars to prove it, but the rest of the world doesn’t acknowledge it. If only they could look inside your brain and figure out what you are worth.
I wish that were so. This blog post will talk about sharing your learnings, when to share, where to share, and how you might turn those learnings into more significant earnings both as products you can sell or as space to sell advertising.
Why Share
Why is sharing your learning important?
First, it reinforces your learning. Before you can explain something to someone else, you have to make sure it’s straight in your head. Stickiness is great in case you have to respond to a technical question at the team building tiki bar.
Second, it allows you to provide value to others and position yourself as an expert. The people who are seen as experts earn more money.
When you can show others that you know what you are talking about, they are more likely to:
Pay attention to you
Value your opinion
Seek you out for advice and mentorship
Offer you opportunities
Promote your ideas
And finally, it’s a way of giving back to the community that has helped you so much. We have all been there, and someone helped us when we started, and now it’s our turn to help others. It feels good, and it’s the right thing to do.
Step One: Identify When You are Learning
The first step to translating your learning into earning is to realize you are learning. How many times a day do you have to look something up or work out a tricky problem? Each of these times is you learning something.
The main idea here is to be aware that you are learning. So, in the beginning, note it in your mind. In the book Atomic Habits, James Clear lets us know that we can start to build impressive habits by consistently doing the tiniest possible things first.
Throughout your day, look out for times when you:
Have an “Aha!” moment.
Think to yourself, “That’s funny.”
Look something up
Think to yourself, “Well, it works on my machine.”
Work out a tricky problem
Discuss with a co-worker on solving an issue
Tell someone else how to do something you just learned
Each of these times, note it’s something you learned. Then, if you can get in the habit of recognizing when you are learning, you can start to take action and turn that learning into earning.
Earnings: Very little as all this is happening in your head.
Step Two: Capture Your Learning
After you have developed a habit of acknowledging when you have learned something, start keeping notes on what you learned. Jot down the problem and how you solved it, so you don’t forget later.
Keeping notes has three benefits:
It reinforces the learning for you immediately. Reinforcement means you are less likely to forget the solution, and in this way, you strengthen your knowledge.
You have notes to allow you to reinforce your learning in the future. If this is a critical concept, you should place the idea in a Spaced Repetition System (SRS) like Anki.
You have a reminder of things you have learned so you can share them publically later.
Once again, take this tiny step, and this step only, building on the previous phase of acknowledgment until you are consistently doing it over 2 weeks.
Earnings: Small. If you are only capturing it in a physical notebook it is the start of something you could turn into earnings, but you aren’t there yet.
Step Three: Share Your Learning In a Small Way
The best way to start sharing in little ways is on a platform that constrains the size of what you can share, Twitter.
Twitter is the perfect platform for sharing little snippets of information, or what I like to call “micro-teaching.”
The next habit to build is to share one thing you learned on Twitter each day. Please take one of your notes, condense it into a Tweet, and put it there. Do this every day or every workday for a few weeks.
If you aren’t brave enough to expose your ignorance to the world (guess what, everyone is ignorant of something), you can anonymously start a Twitter account and post there.
After a few weeks of this, you have built up a small but steady habit of sharing our learning with the world in a very low-risk way.
Earnings: Small to medium. You aren’t going to earn much, if anything, on Twitter but if you do this long enough you could position yourself as an expert and turn it into a new better fulfilling or paying job.
Step Four: Consolidate Your Sharing Into Something Larger
Next, you take one of our learning notes that is not condensible to a single Tweet and build it into a Tweet thread.
Or you could provide a summary of the previous 4 or 5 days of tweets if they are all related.
Let’s plan to do this once a week, in addition to our daily tweets.
Lists are great things to present in tweet threads. For example, think of the initial tweet as saying: “The X Best Tools for Y,” or “X Good Things and Y Bad Things about Product Z I Learned This Week.”
People like lists, it’s easy to get their head around, and it makes it easier for you to structure what you want to say. Making things easier for you to produce them means it’s more likely you will make these tweet threads a habit.
Another thread type is the “How-To.” These are more difficult to produce, but they provide immense value to your followers if you can make them a habit.
The last thread type is the story. If you have a good story related to your work or learning that would be interesting to others, share it! Stories are great because they are entertaining and provide a great way to share your learning in an easily digestible format.
The key with these thread types is to make sure you are providing value to your followers, not just promoting yourself or your product.
If you can do that, people will appreciate it, and you will build a following of engaged users who are happy to see your content.
As you can see, we have now built on the previous two habits to get to a point where we are sharing our learning with the world more substantially, once a week.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Earnings: Small to Medium. Still the same reasons as above, but showing people you are willing to work harder at sharing increases the chance of opportunities coming your way.
Step Five: Consolidate Your Consolidations to Something Larger Still
Now we can start to look at ways of turning our micro-learning into something that has more value.
The next step is to start writing articles. Article writing is a big one and will take some time to get used to, but it’s worth it. The main idea is to take one of your tweet threads, or a selection of them, and turn it into a longer article.
Articles are easier to build than you think, as you already have the content created. You need to expand on your tweets and tweet threads and link everything together.
Articles are a great way to share your learning in a more permanent format with the world. They also benefit from being easily shareable on social media and other platforms.
Suppose you can write one article per week, 52 articles per year! And if each of those articles helped just one person, that would be 52 people whose lives you have made a little bit better.
Think about how good that would make you feel in addition to who might get exposed to it and who might like your work enough to want to work with you via consulting, a job offer, writing a book together, or something else.
We want to build this habit of writing an article once a month to start and eventually bringing it down to once a week.
Where do you publish these articles?
Medium (Or Other Places)
Medium is a great place to start. You have a built-in audience, and if you start getting traction, you can redirect them to your blog (below).
The downside of Medium is they own the content, and they own your subscribers.
Other great places to post these are on sites like Hashnode, freeCodeCamp, and dev. These websites already have large audiences of developers interested in reading this type of content.
Posting on other people’s sites is a great place to start, but if you want long term control and success, you are going to have to:
Start A Blog
A personal blog is a great way to share your learning with the world more substantially.
Not only do you control everything, but you can also go as deep into topics as you like and show off what you know. There are no editors, no style guides, and no limits. There’s also little support. I only suggest this after you have developed the habit of writing regularly and have an audience willing to follow you.
It’s also a great way to build an audience of people interested in what you have to say.
WordPress.com is a great place to start if you want to go this route, as it’s free and easy to set up. You can get your domain and host for around $48/year if you want more control. There are lots of tutorials out there on how to get started blogging.
You can start earning money on your articles with affiliate marketing or ad revenue, but the real money comes in the next step.
Earnings: Medium to Large. Ad revenue and affiliate marketing can be very lucrative in the right niches and with the right programs.
Step Six: And To The Earnings
Once you have gotten into the habit of writing articles, you can move on to even larger projects to share with others. At this point, it should be easy to take this next step. You have all the accumulated knowledge from the previous actions ready to package into a more extensive offering. The best part of this step is it is when you really start seeing the money. With all these things you can either sell them directly or generate ad revenue off of them.
Here are some ideas:
Write a book
Start a podcast
Make a video course
Create templates or project starters
Give a talk at a conference
Solo consulting
The world is your oyster!
Earnings: Large. In addition, a lot of these are passive income streams that allow you to continue learning and sharing and the cycle repeats itself.
Now You Know, So Go Share and Earn
Learning and sharing is the path I have chosen to greater financial freedom, and it’s the one I recommend you take as well.
The key is to get started and make sharing your learning a habit – that is, you do it consistently. Focus on habit building, small steps at a time, recognize you learned something, write it down, share it on Twitter, share longer Twitter threads, then write articles, and finally, start creating your own courses or products. The sooner you start, the sooner you will reap the rewards of greater earnings. Why are you waiting? Go out there and start sharing your excellent learning with the world!
As a newbie Java programmer, you might want to know how you can build a large application without using tons of similar code that can exhaust you.
Building a large application on Java that includes multiple layers requires models like domain, persistence, and data transfer objects (DTOs). Applications usually consist of different but similar object models where the data may be similar but the structure and objectives differ. It is crucial to converting different types of data or objects for business decisions or data hiding while executing a large application.
With object mapping, it becomes easier to convert one model to another while isolating separate models.
Although it is common to map one object to another object, it can often be iterative and tedious as both the classes have similar or the same mapped properties. Fortunately, there are several Java mapping frameworks that one can use to copy data from one object to another recursively.
But before moving on to the mapping frameworks, let’s get started with the basics of mapping in Java.
What is JavaBean?
JavaBeans are Java classes that encapsulate different objects into one object or bean. Beans should be serializable (i.e. conversion of the object state into a byte stream), should have a public no-arg constructor, and the properties must be private with public getter and setter methods.
Let’s look at an example that shows how a JavaBean class is structured.
Now to access JavaBean, getter and setter methods are used as follows:
package mypack;
publicclass Test{
publicstaticvoid main(String args[]){
Student s=new Student(); //object is created
s.setName(“Anna”); //setting value to the object
System.out.println(e.getName());
}}
Although JavaBeans can be exposed to other applications to reuse the software components, JavaBeans are mutable (i.e. can be changed after creation) so they cannot benefit from immutable objects (like Strings in Java that can’t be changed after creation). When you want to encapsulate (hide) data, it requires a get method to return its values and set methods to sets or update its value. However, creating getter and setter methods for every property can lead to repeated code in multiple areas with few to no variations also known as boilerplates.
That’s where the bean mapping framework comes to play its role in project development.
What is Bean Mapping Framework?
Sometimes building enterprise-level projects can be difficult due to unstructured, broad goals and nonlinear workflows that make the app more complex. Besides, completing certain functionalities of external systems’ legacy components requires the transformation of objects with similar structures like external service response to domain objects and domain objects into external service requests which is difficult to obtain manually.
Let’s look into a real-world scenario, these requests and response objects might include numerous columns. To copy one bean/object into another with manual code will require tons of code lines such as destination.setABC(source.getABC()) which is recursive and error-prone.
If you want to overcome the complexity and repetitiveness of writing similar lines of code for copying data from one bean to another, a bean mapping framework is highly useful as it offers simple configuration and fewer lines of code that streamlines your work.
The Top Frameworks For Mapping in Java
Now that you know what JavaBean and Bean mapping frameworks in Java are and why they are being used in the first place. It is time to learn the top Java Bean Mapping frameworks that you can use for mapping while working on your next project.
dOOv
Domain Object Oriented Validation (dOOv) is an API used for domain model validation and mapping. dOOv uses code generations, annotations, and type-safe Domain-specific language (DSL) to make mapping and validation easier and more rapid. Saving you both time and effort.
dOOV is composed of a dOOv core, dOOv generator, and dOOv assertions where the core contains Abstract Syntax Tree (AST), DST, and annotations, generator consists of code generators for field information and model-map, and assertions include AssertJ assertions.
For the following sections on recommended frameworks, I will offer an overview explanation of the framework and then coded segments for you to get started with whenever you’re ready.
Annotate Domain model
public class User { @TestPath(field = TestFieldId.FIRST_NAME, readable = "user first name") private String firstName;
@TestPath(field = TestFieldId.LAST_NAME, readable = "user last name") private String lastName;
@TestPath(field = TestFieldId.DATEOFDATE, readable = "user date of birth") private LocalDate birthDate;
}
Generate DSL code with elements like userFirstName, userLastName, and userDateIOfBirth
You must write code in the instantiated model to execute it, where the instantiated model is the creation of a real instance or particular realization of abstraction such as a class of objects.
// Execute the DSL on the modelDslModel model = new SampleModelWrapper(sampleModel);Result result = rule.executeOn(model);if (result.isFalse()) { // do stuff on the model that didn't validate}
Map
To map an object with others using dOOv you will write codes as:
Two instantiated models can then be used to execute the mapping code.
DslModel model1 = new SampleModelWrapper(sampleModel1);
DslModel model2 = new SampleModelWrapper(sampleModel2);
Context context = mappings.executeOn(model1, model2);
// do stuff with model2 new values
Test validation rules
Assertions are available in the doov-assertions jar. Since AssertJ is required, you can use the assertThat syntax.
JMapper is the Java mapping framework based on Javassist that uses byte code manipulation for fast mapping. JMapper offers the benefits of both dynamic conversions, relational mapping, and static code performance at zero memory consumption. It takes input in two classes, Destination (instance that will be created or modified) and Source (instance that contains data). So before mapping, you need to configure one class between Source and Destination and then invoke the method Get method.
Annotation
class Destination { @JMap String id; @JMap("SourceField") String destinationField; String other; // getter and setter } class Source { String id; String SourceField; String other; // getter and setter }
To invoke the GetDestination method, you will create and use an XML file as follows:
JMapperAPI jmapperAPI = new JMapperAPI() .add(mappedClass(Destination.class) .add(attribute("id") .value("id")) .add(attribute("destinationField") .value("SourceField")));
MapStruct
MapStruct is one of the most used Java annotation processors for performant and type-safe JavaBeans classes mappers. It comes with built-in conversions and sensible defaults that don’t bother you while implementing or configuring specific behavior.
MapStruct simplifies mapping by automating it as much as possible. It generates bean mappings compile time to ensure high performance, thorough error checking, and fast feedback.
MapStruct, an annotation processor, is plugged into the compiler of Java and can be used in your preferred Integrated Development Environment (IDE) or command-line builds like Gradle and Maven.
To use MapStruct, you need to define the mapper interface declaring all the required methods of mapping.
Let’s assume you have two classes one that represents cars and the other accompanying data transfer object (DTO) as below:
Car.java
public class Car { private String make; private int numberOfSeats; private CarType type; //constructor, getters, setters, etc.}
CarDTO.java
public class CarDto { private String make; private int seatCount; private String type; //constructor, getters, setters, etc.}
Both the classes are almost identical except the attributes for seat count have different names and the enumeration type attribute in the Car class is the plain string in the DTO.
To create a mapper for carDTO, the mapper interface will be defined as:
Using the interface you have created for the mapper, object mapping can be done easily in a type-safe way as:
@Testpublic void shouldMapCarToDto() { //given Car car = new Car( "Morris", 5, CarType.SEDAN ); //when CarDto carDto = CarMapper.INSTANCE.carToCarDto( car ); //then assertThat( carDto ).isNotNull(); assertThat( carDto.getMake() ).isEqualTo( "Morris" ); assertThat( carDto.getSeatCount() ).isEqualTo( 5 ); assertThat( carDto.getType() ).isEqualTo( "SEDAN" );}
ModelMapper
An intelligent mapping library, ModelMapper is capable of mapping objects automatically. It provides a simple refactoring safe API and uses a conventional approach to handle certain use cases.
ModelMapper is a great Java Bean Mapper as it makes the object mapping easier by determining how one object can map to another through conventions automatically, so you don’t have to worry about manual mapping.
To map an object with others using ModelMapper you can create source and destination model codes as:
Source Code:
// Assume getters and setters on each classclass Order { Customer customer; Address billingAddress;}class Customer { Name name;}class Name { String firstName; String lastName;}class Address { String street; String city;}
For executing ModelMapper implied map, use something like:
ModelMapper modelMapper = new ModelMapper();
OrderDTO orderDTO = modelMapper.map(order, OrderDTO.class);
At the time of the calling map method, the source model and destination model codes will be analyzed to identify the properties-simplicity based on the matching configuration and strategy. Only after that data is mapped to other objects.
reMap
ReMap is a Java mapping library that helps developers in simplifying object conversions attribute by attribute while reducing the mapper classes unit testing.
ReMap is easily accessible through JCenter and Maven Central. Below is how you will map source and destination type in-app.
Orika is a JavaBean to Bean mapping framework that iteratively copies data from one object to another. It is highly recommended while developing a multi-layered web application, because of how Orika builds effective, comprehensive, and robust solutions for Java Bean mapping.
Orika makes the mapping of Java Beans much faster by using byte code generators with minimal overhead.
To map two beans or objects with each other first declare destination and source classes as follows:
class BasicPerson { private String name; private int age; private Date birthDate; // getters/setters omitted}class BasicPersonDto { private String fullName; private int currentAge; private Date birthDate; // getters/setters omitted}
Orika mapping can also be customized if you create custom Mappers, Convertors, and ObjectFactory types where mappers can be used to apply properties of an object to another; ObjectFactory can be used to construct an instance in context to mapping, and Converter takes complete control of mapping process. Make an efficient Jave Bean Mapper for your next project.
Selma
Stupid Simple Statically Linked Mapper (AKA Selma) is an annotation processor-based bean to bean mapper for Java. It generates Java Code to handle field to field mapping and also works as a runtime library to invoke generated mappers.
SelmaMapper mapper = Selma.mapper(SelmaMapper.class); OutBean res = mapper.asOutBean(in); // Or OutBean dest = dao.getById(42); OutBean res = mapper.updateOutBean(in, dest); // res is the value for the bean destination
Dozer
Dozer is a Java mapping framework that copies data from one object to another using APL/XML configuration and annotations. It is an open-source, robust, flexible, configurable, reusable, and generic mapping framework that supports complex, simple, implicit, explicit, bi-directional, and recursive mapping of JavaBeans. Dozer is ideal if you want to avoid unnecessary codes used while copying data from one bean to another. It not only supports the mapping of beans but also converts data types for mapping classes with DTOs automatically.
Using Maven, you can add Dozer in your project simply through:
Java Mapping frameworks are remarkable and crucial when it comes to developing software or web applications tailored to meet the needs of large-scale businesses.
Adopting Java Mapping frameworks will make it easier to copy data objects from one bean to another at a fast pace with more accuracy and minimum effort.
These top frameworks of Java Mapping like MapStruck, reMap, dozer, and dOOv will help you in acquiring a professional advantage in the future.
Key takeaways:
With object mapping, it becomes easier to convert one model to another while isolating separate models.
Bean mapping frameworks are highly useful as it offers simple configuration and fewer lines of code that streamlines your work.
Java Bean Mapping frameworks that you can use for mapping while working on your next project are dOOv, JMapper, MapStruct, ModelMapper, reMap, Orika, Selma, and Dozer.
To map two objects you need to create source and destination classes.
Java Bean Frameworks are easily accessible through command-line builds like Maven and Gradle.
Yet it comes with its own set of stress and workload. If you’re a programmer—or considering becoming one—you need to know how to prevent daily burnout and find ways to manage your work-life better.
But what is daily burnout and how is it different from general burnout?
General burnout typically builds up over time and then reaches a breaking point. However, daily burnout is different in that each day is a battle. You may feel broken and might get overwhelmed easily.
This happens on a day-to-day basis, rather than as a build-up over a long time.
Burnout is way too common when it comes to programmers. About 83% of software engineers reported burnout. Among these, 55% said that they felt burnt out to a great extent.
Image via Haystack
Even if you haven’t faced burnout yet, it’s important to know what you should be doing to keep it that way. It is important to not only recognize burnout, but also to find ways to prevent it.
Why Do Programmers Face Burnout?
Before we delve into how you can prevent daily burnout, it’s important to understand why programmers face burnout in the first place. Here are some of the reasons:
High Pressure. You might face daily burnout as a programmer because of immense work-related pressure and stress. Programming is a stressful job and can cause mental fatigue, as it’s cognitively intense. And short deadlines can make things worse for programmers.
Low Mobility. Unlike other non-desk jobs, programming requires you to be seated at a single place for hours. You have to sit in front of a computer all day every day, and this physical inactivity can make you feel lethargic and tired. In turn, this could lead to unhealthy lifestyle habits, which could cause resentment and lead to feelings of burnout.
Unrewarding Job. You may have joined your current job for a range of reasons. However, there’s a chance that you might not find it very fulfilling. In such a case, you might start experiencing daily burnout simply because you don’t like your job. But even if you do, you might start feeling burnt out if you don’t have the right set of colleagues or the company has a toxic environment.
With these in mind, it’s time to see some warning signs that indicate you might be experiencing daily burnout.
Signs You’re Experiencing Daily Burnout
There are some glaring signs that start to appear when you’re experiencing daily burnout. Here are some common ones that you might experience:
Lack of Motivation. You might start feeling demotivated and may feel that your passion for programming is dropping.
Fatigue. Whether physical or mental, if you’re experiencing fatigue, it could indicate that you’re getting burnt out.
Depression. If you’re feeling depressed or anxious with relation to your work.
Feeling disconnected. The feeling of being disconnected from your work can also mean that you’re getting burnt out.
Isolation. If you’re working in a team and start to feel isolated, it could point towards daily burnout.And if you’re a woman, your burnout could be a lot different than that of men. You can refer to Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle to understand all about it.
Now that you know all about what burnout feels like, let’s take a look at the things you can do to prevent daily burnout.
How To Prevent Daily Burnout as a Programmer
Here are some methods that you can use to stop getting burnt out daily when you’re working as a programmer.
Prioritize Your Tasks
You’ve got limited time in a workday, so you need to make it count. Prioritize all the tasks at hand so that you know exactly what needs to be done next.
And how can you do that?
Start by creating an Eisenhower matrix with importance on the Y-axis and urgency on the X-axis. This way, you’ll have four quadrants (in decreasing order of priority): urgent and important, urgent but not important, important but not urgent, and not urgent or important.
You can then segregate your tasks into these four quadrants and take them up based on the chart below.
Image via Flexjobs
It’s also important to consider the effort that you’re putting into doing a task. Those tasks which can make the most impact and require the least effort can help you sort out your workday better. Completing these tasks would ensure that you get a feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.
What’s more?
If you must skip some tasks, they wouldn’t be the most important ones. As a result, pressure won’t build up as well.
Manage Your Time Better
Time is of the essence when you’re working as a programmer. As mentioned earlier, it can be easy to stretch your work hours to get work done. However, that could lead to burnout.
If you feel that you’re constantly short of time, you can start leveraging tools for project management and plan your work using them.
It also helps to incorporate a time management software solution, as that could help you track the time you’re putting into a particular task. Tracking the time you take for each task can help you remain on top of your work without overworking—all while sticking to deadlines. It’s also one of the best hacks to stop yourself from working all day when you’re working remotely.
Have Some Fun
One of the things that can stop your job from getting the better of you is to experiment and add a fun aspect to programming. You don’t necessarily have to do coding related to your tasks all the time.
Instead, you could take a short time out to do something fun, related to coding but unrelated to your work. From building new websites or goofing around with your new libraries, there’s so much that you can do.
While you may take these breaks during working hours, these short time outs can play a great role in reducing the chances of daily burnouts. You could even use your employee engagement platform to connect with fellow employees and take a break from work.
Get a Good Working Environment
It can be easy to get bogged down if you don’t have the right set of equipment or software solutions at your disposal.
Poor quality equipment can make coding a sluggish and slow process. The same goes for software solutions as they can come with few or many features. These, in turn, can speed up or slow down your working efficiency.
And if you’re a freelance developer or a remote worker, you should invest in the right furniture as well. The reason here is that a lot of remote workers (nearly 59%) tend to work from home.
Image via Buffer
Take Ample Breaks
To ensure that your work doesn’t become a chore, start taking short vacation breaks. Taking breaks will help you put your mind to things other than coding, and will help you indulge in other passions as well. And these breaks could be weekends too.
Some of the things you can do are sports, socializing, photography, reading, fishing, and more. Indulging in these activities can help you get fixed in a rut and this might be all that’s needed to reduce your stress at work, which, in turn, can reduce your daily burnout.
Even during your working hours, you should consider taking short breaks away from your desk, as they can refresh your mind and improve your productivity. You should try to take a 10-minute break after every hour or two to give your mind some rest. These breaks can reduce the chances of feeling burned out as well.
Change Projects
Working on a single project for a long time can start becoming dull beyond a point. You might find the work repetitive and uninspiring.
To avoid such a situation, you should consider changing your projects every now and then. Perhaps you could work on a project for a few months and then switch to another.
With each project, you’d experience new challenges and would have to come up with different approaches to tackle them. Working on different projects would help you break the rut and may infuse new life into the work you do, which, in turn, would reduce the chances of getting burned out.
Exercise and Sleep
Your body and mind deserve sufficient rest after a long day of work. That’s why it’s essential to ensure that you get ample sleep. Additionally, you should try to exercise at least twice or thrice a week. Exercising would help keep you healthier as well.
Some of the other things you can do include:
Don’t work until late in the night
Try to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep
Use the night light mode on screens
Stop Getting Burned Out at Work
The job of a programmer is a high-pressure one and there may be times when you might feel burnt out. That’s why it’s essential to identify the causes behind it and understand how to identify burnout as well.
Based on these causes, you can figure out what needs to be done to prevent a stage where you’ll experience burnout.
Some of the things you can do are plan your time better, create a good working environment, prioritize your tasks, and take breaks to have some fun.
Now you know how you can prevent daily burnout as a programmer with these simple methods. So, go ahead and have a more fulfilling time while working.
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Developers are always learning, but they may not know how to turn that knowledge into more significant earnings. For example, you know you know a lot and have the scars to prove it, but the rest of the world doesn’t acknowledge it. If only they could look inside your brain and figure out what you are worth.
The best way to start sharing in little ways is on a platform that constrains the size of what you can share, Twitter.
Once you have gotten into the habit of writing articles, you can move on to even larger projects to share with others. At this point, it should be easy to take this next step. You have all the accumulated knowledge from the previous actions ready to package into a more extensive offering. The best part of this step is it is when you really start seeing the money. With all these things you can either sell them directly or generate ad revenue off of them.
As a newbie Java programmer, you might want to know how you can build a large application without using tons of similar code that can exhaust you.
A programmer’s job may be a dream for many.
