Ask Experienced Devs Weekly Thread: A weekly thread for inexperienced developers to ask experienced ones
Posted by AutoModerator@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 50 comments
A thread for Developers and IT folks with less experience to ask more experienced souls questions about the industry.
Please keep top level comments limited to Inexperienced Devs. Most rules do not apply, but keep it civil. Being a jerk will not be tolerated.
Inexperienced Devs should refrain from answering other Inexperienced Devs' questions.
Accurate-Screen8774@reddit
my question is about "encryption at rest" for javascript.
im working on a javascript UI framework for personal projects and im trying to create something like a React-hook that handles "encryption at rest".
the react-hook is described in more detail here. im using it as a solution for state-management. id like to extend its functionality to have encrypted persistant data. my approach is the following and it would be great if you could follow along and let me know if im doing something wrong. all advice is apprciated.
im using indexedDB to store the data. i created some basic functionality to automatically persist and rehydrate data. im now investigating password-encrypting the data with javascript using the browser cryptography api.
i have a PR here you can test out on codespaces or clone, but tldr: i encrypt before saving and decrypt when loading. this seems to be working as expected. i will also encrypt/decrypt the event listeners im using and this should keep it safe from anything like browser extensions from listening to events.
the password is something never stored (not in a DB or local storage) the user will have to put in themselves to be able to decrypt the data. i havent created an input for this yet, so its hardcoded. this is then used to encrypt/decrypt the data.
i would persist the unencrypted salt to indexedDB because this is then used to generate the key.
i think i am almost done with this functionality, but id like advice on anything ive overlooked or things too keep-in-mind. id like to make the storage as secure as possible.
lostinthecity111@reddit
I got hired as an intern and I've been working for about a month and a half in a long internship on a relatively small company, fully remote, I haven't done really anything relevant until now and I feel pretty lost, I was not given a lot of instructions and as I have struggled until now through my graduation I'm feeling pretty discouraged as I would take that I got this chance per sheer luck as they didn't test or check my skills beforehand, I'm pondering if I should bite the bullet and give up the carrer or just suffer and learn. I tried reaching out to people and talking about it with my therapist but I need guidance to change for good, and stop blaming myself for my shortcomings and lack of discipline and skills, a reality check of sorts maybe.
Final-Art-3589@reddit
I have been going through the exact same thing. The company I work with already has a very low conversion ratio and 2 months in, I haven't done anything significant. I am lost.
Final-Art-3589@reddit
I come from a tier 3 college and I'm currently in my 7th sem. I was above average at DSA and somehow cracked this 6 month-internship early at the beginning of my final year. The pay was good for an internship but I didn't know that the conversion ratio was really low at this company. And as per my college's placement policy I cannot apply for any other company as well since I cracked this one. Now it's been two months since I joined and I feel no positive support or anything. Moreover the work is remote, I feel that nobody communicates with me enough. Only one task that I have done has been deployed and one is in progress. I don't have any idea how good I'm doing, what I need to improve upon since there is no feedback at all. My teammates that I work with are sde2s and 3s. They are always busy with something or the other and my PRs take 2-3 days to even get reviewed. When I ask them to repeat something that I didn't understand, I feel so stupid as they remind me that they have already explained that to me previously. I am not lazy and I'm not complaining about anything, I am not a procrastinor, I wanna learn but I am clueless. I am always underutilized at work and I don't know that as an intern what can I really do about that. I don't think I will be converted upon the completion of this internship and that makes me feel lost.
bvdevvv@reddit
What's the best way to provide constructive criticism when asked to leave a performance review for a fellow team member? I can't just point out specific things or can I?
(1) does not read story description and A/C which often results in asking questions that can be answered if they just took time to read
(2) often overcomplicates code and has no sense of writing maintainable code, which leads to them writing redundant logic etc; results in a head chasing tail kind of thing
0x53r3n17y@reddit
Constructive criticism isn't just about what you say, but, more importantly, how you package your message. You don't have to sugarcoat, but you do have to show that you can distinguish between the person and their work.
You could start of mentioning that you value them being a member of the team (positive) and then point out that there is room for improvement. You also need to explain the why: reading stories => less questions => time & focus saved of the team.
For the overcomplicating code: that's a hard one. Having worked with my fair share of devs at the different places: not everyone has a a knack for writing code that's readable and to the point. You could suggest that they should be open to actively improving his coding game; but you also have to accept that they might never arrive at a bar you've set for yourself. It helps to set linting, introduce coding standards,... and go from there.
avataw@reddit
How do you enforce architectural consistency in your teams?
What kind of tools or methods do you use? :)
Unsounded@reddit
What do you expect to be consistent and why? I find being too prescriptive and sticking to one pattern might actually be an anti-pattern. What’s the real problem you’re trying to solve?
CompassionateSkeptic@reddit
Oh and where architecture meets infrastructure, a well developed, well documented infrastructure-as-code solution goes a long way.
CompassionateSkeptic@reddit
Project templates and boilerplates. Personally I like to annotate these with things that are conventional for good reason and things that probably ought to change, but there’s value in the consistency to existing projects. Aside: I’ve always worked in enterprise.
There’s other things, too, but I wanted to keep my reply short. Docs, word-of-mouth, learning paths for onboarding, etc.
Interestingly, even when you put all of these things together it’s still a pain in the ass.
Mornar@reddit
Communication when designing solutions, and then thorough code review.
I don't think there's any specific tool that can enforce architectural decisions made by the team better than the team itself. If people are generally in the same page, at least on a disagree-and-commit level, then attempt to break the status quo should be reasonably easy to spot at review time and fixed. If the team isn't on the same page then no tool is going to actually help and effort needs to be made to get the team to the same page.
Frankly_Unbothered@reddit
Looking for career advice here, as a dev who went to uni, worked with modern languages, and is now working in a role that pays well (\~90k) and has nice benefits, but I can't stand looking at my team's 20+ Year code base with plenty of technical debt in a language that is rarely used in the industry.
We are working in Delphi xe/xe10 exclusively on our desktop products and there is such a heavy emphasis on billed work in our chosen language that I am afraid it'll take 5-10+ years to meet our goal of transitioning to C# and that by time we would have, I'll have missed the opportunity to grow as a developer.
All in all, not happy with the position I'm in and seeing what advice I can get.
Thanks in advance,
a tired, very bothered, Dev.
Unsounded@reddit
Is there any path to partial migration? It doesn’t seem like a dead end to me, but I’m just one opinion in the sea. I feel like I would try to find a way to migrate portions at a time so you don’t end up with one big bang.
To me, having to migrate old code into a new language while navigating the legacy code base is an extremely valuable skill. Honestly way more valuable than someone who only worked on brand new random JavaScript nonsense that no one will hear about three years from now.
You have to embrace that you’re paid to solve hard problems, not enjoy “great code”.
ashultz@reddit
that job is a trap, you do not want to have five years of that on your resume
Tomatoies@reddit
Damn I didn't think terrible job choices exist in this career, because, it's frickin' software engineering man
LogicRaven_@reddit
There is plenty of tech debt in all codebase, that's what you'll see at every job you take. So that on it's own is not a red flag.
But Delphi is. If they haven't transitioned by now, then they might never will be able to. And you are too early in your career to settle in a slowly dieing niche.
Keep a side-project with a modern stack. Start savings. Start searching.
Dhamedd@reddit
You really should start interviewing for a new role that helps you grow more
I-Groot@reddit
Any PO/BSA who switched from SWE? I have 6+ YOE and looking to move to Product owner roles.
How can one start ?
ShoePillow@reddit
What's a POBSA?
I-Groot@reddit
I meant product owner/Business system analyst
Unsounded@reddit
I’ve seen a few peers swap by going for an MBA, I think there are a few other avenues as well. If you’re currently a SWE have you discussed with your management chain if there is a path to swap internally?
At larger tech companies it’s fairly common to do that type of transition.
ShoePillow@reddit
Hm, I haven't done this myself. But the typical way I've seen others do this is to switch jobs internally.
Another option I've seen is to get a degree like an MBA.
I-Groot@reddit
I have looked at some certifications like PMP
DroidPsychoPT@reddit
Is a college degree fundamental if nowadays things like online specialisations (coursera for example) or professional schools coursers exist?
Though I have >6YoE, with my job and a degree, a friend of mine wants to change careers and go into programming, though most job posts I see require a degree.
goodizer@reddit
I transitioned to full stack software engineering 3 years ago. But I feel I lack depth in fundamentals like db and os and networking. I know stuff but just not so deep. My question is should I go for courses or read articles or do what exactly? Because I don't want to get stuck at some point in my career.
LogicRaven_@reddit
All of those + put the learnings into practice at work or in a side project.
ivan0x32@reddit
There's probably no reason to even try to emigrate to US at this point? Rhetoric aside, its unlikely Trump will do anything about outsourcing of the jobs and without a viable market, immigrants-wanna-bes like me are fucked probably. As much as I'd be willing to work for lower pay just to live in US, I don't think I'd be able to hold a job and support my dependents in Ukraine. As a side note, I'm aware of all the problems, I wanted to move purely because its a good fit for me mentally, I actually always wanted to "become" an American.
LogicRaven_@reddit
You have nothing to loose by sending out some applications and see if there are catches.
But you might also try Western Europe. If you are from Ukraine, you might get work visa easier. Once you are established, you could stay or try again moving to the US.
RepresentativeBowl25@reddit
At what point of years of experience does the job market get better for software devs? (if it ever does)
InterpretiveTrail@reddit
It really depends on too many factors, and nobody can predict the future. What have you achieved. What skills you bring to the table. What companies are wanting. What companies are even hiring.
Even at my 11 YoE, from like 2half of 2021 to 2023 I wasn't really getting any hits just because the market just purely was barely hiring. From what I've chatted with some more seasoned individuals at the companies I've been at, this happens.
Personally, when I get worried, I just try to double down on my learning and ways of figuring out how to sell myself via my accomplishments and learnings. This way when the market is hot I can strike for jockeying myself to find better opportunities.
ivan0x32@reddit
So I just joined a unicorn and now there are news of hiring freeze and management is using wonderful lingo like "right-sizing" and all of that, for some departments at least. I'm not quite sure my department is part of that (they're talking about right-sizing specific depts and investing into others).
Now I'm Europe and I believe my comp package is below their average for my level, a bit at least. Obviously I'm already worried, but does it make sense to gtfo right away for a lower paying position? I'm frankly just tired of interviewing, getting this job took a lot of time and energy and I don't have that many savings on top of that. Obviously I'm going to be saving up and all that, but should I attempt to ride it out?
I get that not everyone is getting laid off either way and I'm in low-cost area and all that, but what's the probability of a new hire like me getting axed in 3 months in general? For what its worth my skillset is practically an ideal fit for this particular unicorn, though not sure they appreciate that quite that much, I'm working in a unit that doesn't quite utilize my best/rarest skills.
I just want to make this job work and frankly thinking about just focusing on overperforming like crazy and if worst comes to pass I guess I can go to another shittier company or go back to my previous one, I think they would be open to working with me again.
_mangolychee@reddit
> does it make sense to gtfo right away for a lower paying position
No, but you should stay in interview-ready mode and keep an emergency fund on hand
AFAIK department/project-level cuts are less about performance and more about business priorities, so I don't know if overperforming matters that much
ivan0x32@reddit
Can I realistically positions myself as someone who does the next level work but doesn't seek promotion/increased comp necessarily? I feel like my manager is alright but their higher ups are not so keen on promotions.
I really need this shit to work so that I can go in a year or couple of years to other places and advertise myself as ex-Unicorn. I generally never want to work in non-unicorns/non-FAANG companies.
Am I deluding myself and overdosing on copium here or is there a chance this approach could work?
Professional-Cup-487@reddit
Recent hires only.
How long were u searching for a job? Did you intern during uni? Did you get your job through a reference? What kind of projects did you have on resume? What kind of technology is your job working with (langauges/libs/frameworks)?
Professional-Cup-487@reddit
imagine downvoting a question. xD
ShoePillow@reddit
This isn't a sub for who you are asking to answer your question
Professional-Cup-487@reddit
If you think this sub is hard verified to only 5+ yoe online chatters. then idk what to tell you
ValentineBlacker@reddit
You mean like, new grads? But new grads wouldn't be on an experienced devs sub. I got a job in 2023 but like, I had 8 years experience at the time.
(1 month, didn't go to uni, no, none, Elixir.)
LogicRaven_@reddit
Maybe a student/newgrad sub would be a better place for your question.
Professional-Cup-487@reddit
its far too skewed towards unemployed there. Im asking here becuase i figured most people here are employed.
bvdevvv@reddit
What's the best way to point out things when asked to leave a performance review for a fellow team member? So things I'd like to point out about them:
(1) does not read story description and A/C which (less than often, but more than a few times) results in asking questions that can be answered if they just took time to read
(2) does not seem to consider common scenarios that may cause bugs when implementing features, which results in further bug tickets being created in the future
(3) often overcomplicates code and has no sense of writing maintainable code
And so on... Do I include specific examples? How would I go about not sounding too harsh?
nedolya@reddit
tl;dr - has anyone successfully moved from sysadmin to software engineering? especially with limited experience? If I take a sysadmin position with only a few y/o/e in SE, will I make it harder for myself to get back into SE a few years down the road?
For some context, I am currently in an entry level fullstack role, officially "web developer", making much less than I've made at previous tech jobs, where I had short stints as a data engineer (laid off due to covid in 2020) and data analyst (quit after 6mo of hating it to run a bakery for 2.5yr). Because of this, I have a master's and 2 y/o/e since graduating. I have been in my current position for a little over a year and am very unhappy with how my team is treated by the rest of the org & how bad HR is, but like the work.
I recently had someone reach out to me a few months after I applied for a fullstack position saying they had a sysadmin position open and would like to consider me. I just got invited back for a second round, but they keep emphasizing how critical this role is and how they need someone who will be there for 3-5 years.
My question is, given my background that shows me kind of bouncing around a bit.... if I end up with an offer, and taking the sysadmin position, is it likely I'll be pigeon holed out of software development and end up having a hard time breaking out of IT roles if I realize I don't like it? The minimum on the pay bracket is a fairly substantial increase from my current pay, but not incredibly life changing, and definitely less than most software engineering roles even at the entry level. My job hunt hasn't been going so great, though - rarely a follow up/screening.
ShoePillow@reddit
Haven't done this myself, but it can hardly be worse than moving from baking to software.
MrAntMan90@reddit
Not an inexperienced dev, but didn't feel like this required a full thread.
I am working on my resume and my experience looks like this:
I am applying for senior SWE roles and I'm trying to keep my resume to a single page.
Right now I have the first 5 bullet points on my resume. The 3 internships just have 1 bullet point explaining roughly what I did, but I don't focus on them too much. Despite this I feel like they take up a decent chunk of space on the page.
I've received from feedback from people in my network to completely axe the internships from my resume, and just include the first two experiences (and maybe the most recent internship, since it was at the same company).
Would appreciate other perspectives on this. I advertise myself as a Senior SWE with 7 years of experience.
Dhamedd@reddit
Starting a lead role soon. Any tips on onboarding and connecting with the engineers? Planning to do a quick 15 minute sync with each eng my first week, no work talk, just informal hey, who are you, introduce myself etc. then do a more work specific sync 2 weeks after (or after the holidays) to start talking shop a little bit
LogicRaven_@reddit
Start with listening and learning - the business, the technical platform, processes, gaps, people, priorities, tech debt, etc.
Don't try to improve things immediately. There is a reason why things are the way they are. Understand the root causes and start with one improvement at a time after you have trust both from management and the team.
I would think 15 min is too short for intro. 30 min, start with get to know the person and their context. If talk shifts towards work, then use it as an opportunity to learn about the org and the team. What are their goals? What do they like in this team? What are their struggles? Is there anything you could help them with?
You might want regular 1:1s with devs.
You might want to introduce yourself to stakeholders also. Your manager, your skip level manager. Product people, other team leads. Your manager could advise who is relevant for your role. Ask them about their understanding of company and org priorities, and what challenges their role has.
MasterpieceOverall63@reddit
I recently posted here: thread
TLDR, I've worked at two high performing companies -- the first I was successful on paper (good reviews, promo) but failed to feel like a part of the team and grow much as a developer, and the second one has me on PIP within 6 months.
I'm struggling to feel like I've found my footing in this career and feel quite junior, yet on paper I am a 'good' candidate. I'm starting to feel like maybe the bay area tech scene just isn't for me.
My question is for experienced developers that took some more time to really find their footing in their career: what was your story? How did you find the right fit? What sort of things should I be focused on to make myself more successful, both in my current role, and finding other roles that align with my interests/background/skillset and can provide the guidance/support I need to succeed?
LogicRaven_@reddit
Every job is a package of good things, suboptimal things and challenges. What you are looking for and what you can tolerate is very individual.
You could make a stack rank of aspects of what is important for you. Grab the top 3 and try to find a job that covers those. Anything you put into the top 3 will push other things down, so you need to be prepared to have more tolerance on those things.
For example if TC, work-life balance and flexibility (remote/hybrid) are your top 3, then you might need to tolerate more on tech stack, corporate environment, instability of a small company or else.
I have the impression that you are chasing a too long list of criteria, that might not be realistic.
You left a team in a high performing company that promoted you.
You are looking for feeling integrated part of the team, growing, matching your skills, your background and interests. Does it mean you are willing to compromise on TC and work-life balance? Or maybe you try to have it all?
The bay area has a lot of tech opportunities. If the root cause of your problem is having too specific criteria, then moving somewhere else might not help your search.
MasterpieceOverall63@reddit
Thank you for taking the time to give a detailed response. I think you make some good points.
To answer your direct points, I do think I have been historically trying to have it all. However, I am definitely willing to compromise on a couple things. Namely, the most important things to me are team integration (do I feel like an important part of the team, have mentorship/guidance, etc.), and have interesting work and tech stack. I am willing to compromise on the WLB, TC, and pretty okay with fully in-person.
I have felt like the Bay has pushed this hustle/grind culture that I have not been quite successful in, but I think that might be a function of the companies that I choose to go towards. You are certainly correct that the Bay Area has a massive amount of technology opportunities. I am going to try your suggestion of narrowing down my actual criteria. I suspect I have been selecting the wrong things, which lead me to roles that are not true to myself.
ricklevitan@reddit
If any experienced folks have picked up Rust and found employment in the field, I’m wondering how long it took you to get to a point where you considered yourself an employable and productive Rust engineer? Especially would like to know if you came from a C background.