Pinned — 28 Oct 2025 #codingStreet-Smart Coding: 30 Ways to Get Better at Coding Without Losing Your Mind
I spent five years in college learning to code.
A stupid dissertation delayed my graduation. But that’s another story.
Most of my five-year program didn’t prepare me for real-world coding. My real coding journey began at my first job, with one Google search: “how to get good at coding.”
I found a lot of conflicting advice:
“Use comments”
“Don’t use comments”
“Do this”
“Don’t do that”
Arrggg!
It took years of trial and error to learn what worked.
I had to survive on-call shifts, talk to stakeholders, and say “no” politely. More importantly, I had to learn that coding takes more than just syntax.
That’s why I wrote Street-Smart Coding— a roadmap of 30 lessons I wish I had when I started. For every dev who’s ever typed “how to get better at coding” into Google or ChatGPT. (Back in my days, I didn’t have ChatGPT… Wait, I sound like a nostalgic grandpa…)
Preview of the first ~12 pages
Inside “Street-Smart Coding”
This isn’t a textbook. It’s a battle-tested guide for your journey from junior/mid-level to senior.
Some lessons are conventional.
Others were learned the hard way.
And a few are weird.
One lesson comes from a TV show. Nope, not Mr. Robot or Silicon Valley. That’s on Chapter #29. It will teach you about problem-solving.
You’ll learn how to:
Google like a pro
Debug without banging your head against a wall
Communicate clearly with non-tech folks
…and 27 more lessons I learned over ten years of mistakes.
Forget LLCs or investors. Starting a business is simpler.
Being an entrepreneur is often mistaken for hustling and grinding long hours. In Purpose and Profit, Dan Koe, a millionaire creator, shares a different view of entrepreneurship.
#1. Entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be complicated
No more working long hours. No more growing a business while paying with your health. Entrepreneurship is building skills to help others.
#2. Entrepreneurship is self-help and others-help
Being a CEO is a title. But being an entrepreneur is a mindset.
You’re an entrepreneur when you solve your own problems and share your solution to help others.
Nobody will pay you unless you help them. To earn more, become more valuable: solve bigger problems or help more people. As an entrepreneur, money is the result of your personal development.
“If entrepreneurship is about solving problems and self-actualization is solving your own, you can combine both into a meaningful way of life”
#3. Become a one-man media company
Your product is what you created to solve your problem. Your audience is people with the same problem. Your platform is the internet.
At first, nobody will care about you and what you do. To make them care, you need to position your solution as valuable. Learn persuasion to reach the right audience—people like you.
#4. You’re the niche
When you solve your problems, you’ll find new and bigger problems. You won’t be limited by a social media bio or a tagline. As you solve them, your niche will evolve with you. “Your life’s work is getting paid to be yourself.” Entrepreneurship is evolving.
#4. Last week’s cool tool: twitchroulette I spun the roulette a few times and only found game streams. Maybe you’ll be luckier and find coding streams.
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Street-Smart Coding, 30 lessons to help you code like a pro. From Googling to clear communication, it shares the lessons to help you stand out in the age of AI.
No coding tip today. Just celebrating a small win that remind me why I started writing.
Street-Smart Coding got a review on dev.to that made my day.
Here’s the original post in Spanish. Let me translate the gist of it:
“…It is written from experience. In other words, it doesn’t tell you how things should be done, but rather how the author personally learned how things should be done.”
That’s exactly the point! I wrote the guide I wish I had. A proven roadmap from junior to senior coder. I wanted it to feel like a conversation over coffee.
With a couple of prompts or searches, you could find tutorials on syntax. I’ve written my own. But inside Street-Smart Coding, you’ll find 30 lessons to level up your coding skills:
Some conventional
Some learned the hard way
And a few… weird ones
All tested in the real world.
I wrote it for my past self and for every coder who’s ever asked “how to get better at coding.”
A podcast interview with Seth Godin, the godfather of daily blogging, led me down a YouTube rabbit hole.
During the interview, they mentioned The Practice, one of Seth’s books. Curious, I Googled it and found Fabio Cerpelloni’s channel.
He interviews writers, reviews books, and inspires others to write tiny books. His questions to discover the book inside you gave me ideas for at least two more books.
His videos feel like an unscripted conversation, like asking a friend about writing books.
#2. The Kings Hand
Doomscrolling is bad, right? It’s a black hole for our time and attention.
This channel is about creativity in visual arts and music. Its official description is cultural strategy and creative psychology breakdowns for ambitious creators.
Binge-watching The Kings Hand made me ask about my visual identity. A silhouette of a tuxedoed man leaning forward with his hand in his hat instantly recalls Michael Jackson. That’s the power of visual identity.
