February 02, 2024 - Six-month check-in on Coding -> Programming
Google Bard Generated Image: An image of a person walking toward the horizon on a path made of matrix-like code symbols
On 2023-07-26, I wrote about starting a journey from just being a hobbyist coder with no formal education in software development, to becoming a programmer. The journey is mostly semantic, as the distinction between the two is optics. Still, for me the difference matters as a point of pride and maybe even future career prospects.
Since that declaration, I've accomplished a lot, but I have no external signals on if it is enough. Since then, I've:
- Become fairly comfortable on the Linux command-line
- Learned the basics of the Rust syntax by working through The Rust Book.
- Adopted git / Github concepts and workflows.
- Applied the basics of Rust syntax by making a "Dumb Computer Game"
- Contributed to an Open Source Project in Rust and recorded a tech demo.
- Built an "AI" LLM app on my home local computer
- Completed the two projects in the book Hands on Rust by Herbert Wolverson
- Deployed one of the projects (Dungeon Crawler Roguelike) to my website.
- Completed a software architecture assessment as part of an interview process for a Rust Developer job.
- Reviewed and recapped the value of several of the coding projects I've done at work, but never as a professional software developer:
To support my journey, I've also:
- Found and subscribed to several developer-centric email newsletters and RSS feeds
- Started attending a monthly Rust meetup in Redmond, WA
- Subscribed to the This Week in Rust email newsletter
- Identified a list of books and projects I want to work through in the coming months.
My plan for the year:
- complete a project in each of the following areas:
- A "game" using the Bevy game engine
- A project using embedded code
- An "AI" LLM project
- A CLI app
- Stretch goals:
- More Open Source contributions
- Build Web Site/App in Rust (Using Shuttle.rs or ?)
- Build a Web Server app with an API
- attend Rust Conference which looks like it will be held in Montreal this September.
The idea with completing a project in each of the above coding projects is to:
- Demonstrate skill and knowledge in a topic area to prospective employers
- Experiment with what type of programming projects I like most and then focus on those
- Work toward a generalized 'full stack' experience, but specialize in one area
To formalize these goals, I've also baked them in to my annual goal setting framework and set up a goal in Daylio to code and commit every day.
I'm happy with my progress, enjoying my current project (more to come on that), and looking forward to future projects.
If you are someone who wants to help me on this journey, I'd be interested in:
- Rust Code Review - I can write code from scratch that compiles and does something useful, or at least something I wanted it to do, but I don't know if it is production-quality code.
- Job Mentorship - What are the competencies of a programmer that don't get listed in a job description? I'd assume it includes technical things like Git, but also softer skills like technical writing, documentation, etc.
- What are the job prospects for Rust programmers in the next 2-3 years?
- What areas of the 'stack', what verticals or industries, etc?
- Positioning: How do I effectively demonstrate that a former marketing/revenue -operations person in their mid-career is a competitive choice for a hire?
- Open Source Collaboration - if you have a commercially-viable open source Rust project and don't mind the help of a "green" developer, then please let me know!