Book Image

Developer Career Masterplan

By : Heather VanCura, Bruno Souza
5 (1)
Book Image

Developer Career Masterplan

5 (1)
By: Heather VanCura, Bruno Souza

Overview of this book

Written by industry experts that have spent the last 20+ years helping developers grow their careers, this book offers invaluable insights and guidance tailored to the specific needs of technical professionals. By discovering the secret of continuous learning and adapting in the ever-evolving field of software development, you’ll explore various learning paths with formal and informal methods, as well as gain an understanding of the value of certifications to validate your skills. This book will teach you the significance of building a strong support network, holding crucial conversations, and taking ownership of your career growth. You'll delve into acquiring both soft and hard skills, becoming a well-rounded and sought-after developer. Packed with practical examples, stories of successful developers, and real-world applications, the chapters will equip you with actionable advice on how to push beyond your comfort zone and embracing communities to enhance your teamwork abilities. Additionally, you’ll uncover the benefits of joining open-source projects, speaking at conferences, and building a personal brand to amplify your visibility and reputation. By the end of this book, you'll have a well-laid-out long-term and short-term plan for your career progression, equipping you with advanced technical skills, strategic thinking, and the ability to effectively manage relationships within your organization.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
1
Part 1 The Basics: Learn and Practice the Technical Skills
7
Part 2 Get Involved: Participate in the Community
13
Part 3 Create Impact: Share and Lead

The value of contributing to open source

The primary value of contributing to open source projects is that it gives you access to awesome software that you can modify for your needs! You also gain the following:

  • Knowledge
  • Skills
  • Opportunities to work on impactful projects
  • Purpose
  • Friendship
  • Opportunities for networking
  • Access to amazing developers
  • A portfolio
  • The ability to build your reputation

When developers talk about open source, they usually mean participating in open source projects or contributing code to libraries or software they use and like.

The definition of open source itself comes from the Open Source Initiative (OSI). It is a set of rules on how to license software in a way that allows people to learn from it by having access to the source code. You can modify the source code for your own purposes and publish the modifications for others. The open source definition creates the basic ground rules that allow all of us...