In the words of track and field star Kim Collins, “Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection.” This is true in the case of mastering coding skills as well. It is critical for programmers to improve their abilities in this era of constant changes in the software industry. Upskilling, reskilling and practice are just a few choices available for software professionals to keep up.
So, how can developers improve coding skills in real time? TechGig’s webinar brought together industry experts like Vinayak Ganapuram. After all, Crayon Data’s VP of Engineering is a self-taught programmer, and seasoned tech leader, who is passionate about creating cloud scalable, performant products that delight users. He was joined by fellow industry experts like Manoj Kumar VP – Developer Relations & Open Source, LambdaTest; Sayyaparaju Sunil, VP – Engineering, Aerospike; and Shashidhar Ramakrishnaiah, Chief Architect – Head of Cloud Practice, Fractal Analytics.
The software industry evolved from mainframes to client server, to distributed technologies, to all the latest and the greatest around cloud technologies. There have been so many transitions. However, the basics remain the same. Here are some key takeaways from the chat.
1) Why does everyone need coding skills!
Looking at the innovation or the advancement of technology that’s happening around, coding becomes the backbone of any development, any business that’s happening. So, this is why it is necessary for developers to work on their coding skills at this new rapid development era.
Knowledge is ever evolving. And it’s difficult to keep pace with the sheer number of technologies and frameworks that are coming out. If one builds the right foundation, they can expand on those foundations really well. The advent of digital and data natives where everything is being monetized, every moment is being monetized. Businesses are bringing in changes at a breakneck speed, and the nature of the business has gone global. Everything is digital, everything is accessible 24 x 7, there’s no downtime at all in the systems. All these changes are necessitating a different kind of construct for coding disciplines. So, understanding the full import of how programming is influencing the business is extremely important.
2) Trends in the developer world
DevRel (Developer Relations) is a role that matches the product, the technology, and it uses. To the company, DevRel represents the community, and to the community it represents the company. And in that way, we have the fortunate forums to reach out to developer-user community specifically. External marketing, human computer interaction cybersecurity, data presentation, AI, ML, Metaverse, Blockchain, Cloud, and quality are going to be in demand.
3) Enhancing Learning
Having a broader understanding of the landscape that makes up this software ecosystem can be called full stack.
Earlier, there was no compartmentalization. Somebody used to do data. Programming language and database coding, UI UX, everything was integrated. Now, for a period of time, no compartmentalization happened. And people started, focusing on one particular area. Now, there is again a need for having a broader view of technologies end-to-end. So, everybody has to know, how the UI UX interface needs to be built. How does it integrate with middle tier? How do the API gateways work? And how does that interface with the data systems? Basically, it’s having a broader understanding of operational systems, business systems and relating the entire lifecycle.
Platforms such as Leetcode expose people to all kinds of patterns. From the understanding standpoint, it’s just a question of applying oneself to understand the various moving parts and the fundamentals. Right from fundamentals of learning data structures, algorithms, all the way till understanding the programming language, the object-oriented principles, and trying it out, there is no substitute for real hard coding. As a developer, that curiosity to do something on one’s own should never get compromised. People should enjoy that object-oriented principles never got out of fashion.
4) The PPP Concept (Product, Process, People)
When it comes to collaboration with team members, it is important to open up and always be open to feedback and inputs. Anybody who’s a beginner should be able to learn something from the seniors and try to pick the brain of someone who’s already experienced and hands-on. When freshers start training with a senior who’s been doing it all along, it is important to have the right soft skill, to be able to ask the right question. It is not about getting the right answer. So, one has to first work on the right questions before they try to understand any answers. They should not try to get the answers before getting the right questions. One has to spend a lot of time and energy into framing their questions.
Watch the full webinar here.
