EN 68: October update

After a few more weeks than originally planned, I’m back. Starting a new job is always somewhat chaotic, and it’s taken me a full month to come back to a resemblance of a routine and sufficient energy levels. Many days in the first two weeks felt like I was completely drained, and just wanted to lay down doing nothing or go to sleep until the next day.

New people, new codebase, new technologies… The technology aspect is the easiest to tackle, dedicate some time to learning it on the job or on your own time—always preferably on the job—and you’ll pick it up. With pair or ensemble programming, it can be easier. You work with other developers side by side, benefit from their internalised knowledge of the system, and feel supported from the start without having to struggle for hours, trying to figure things out solo. There’s a benefit in the struggle, though, information about the codebase becomes easier to remember, but pairing or mobbing allows you to ease in and rely on the context and guidance of your teammates.

The perennial challenge is to get to know the people well enough—enough not to feel like an outsider—and get used to the way things are in that particular company. If there’s something I don’t find comfortable, no matter how many times I do it, is starting over and building new relationships. Every so often, it takes less time to feel comfortable and that you can lower the defences a bit or swap the mask to a more familiar one. In a way, it’s like going back to high school again. Possibly, I’ve also got better at faking it and being at peace with the discomfort. Experiencing this comes with a benefit: when I’m the one in my element, and new people join the team, I try to make them feel welcomed and supported.

How’s the learning lately? Things are moving slowly, but moving nonetheless. I’m shooting for at least half an hour of learning time in the morning. If it doesn’t work out, going over my flashcards is enough. The guiding idea is to keep dedicating some time to learn, no matter how short it is. The goal’s still to learn Rust, but instead of trying to swap between books and exercises, which worked great when I had more time, I’m sticking with 100 Exercises To Learn Rust. It’s a fantastic course to get started with the language, you learn the fundamental concepts and put them in practice via the exercises.

I also need to learn Python for work and I got Python Crash Course and Fluent Python. Currently, I’m working on the first one to go over the basics. The book doesn’t teach me anything revolutionary, I’m skimming the chapters and only stopping when I find something worthwhile—a different syntax, a different way of doing things compared to other languages, neat functionality—but I’m also doing many of the exercises, no matter how easy they are. One thing is to read and believe that you can do it, and another is to actually do it. For intermediate Python, Fluent Python seems to be a decent book, judging by the reviews online. Of course, the language itself is not the whole picture. Learning about the tools, common libraries, the environment surrounding the language, the specific domain you’re working on… is a big part of the puzzle. My expectation in the short term is not to become a Python guru, it’s only to be skilled enough to do a decent job. If you’ve worked with Python, and have recommendations, I’m all ears.

Interesting links

• Why Agile and UX Still Don’t Get Along (Charles Lambdin)

• How I use git (Thorsten Ball)

• Home Baked Abstractions, Store Bought Implementations (Hazel Weakly)