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.
No WiFi. No Bluetooth. No speedometer. No heart sensors. No notifications.
It only has an alarm, a countdown timer, and a stopwatch. But it beats any smartwatch. It’s water resistant and only needs a charge every 10 years. And like crock roaches, I bet I’ll survive a nuclear catastrophe. I bought a Casio AE1600H.
Because sometimes you don’t need faster or brighter, but reliable. Sometimes you don’t need more beeps and noise, but to walk alone with your thoughts. And because corporations already know a lot about us to hand them our vitals via a a smart watch.
The most important bit of my experiment so far, being a multi-passionate, I found my next mission:
Create a healthy and purposeful lifestyle free from burnout, CVs, and interviews.
That goal covers exercising, nutrition, writing, money creation, and digital minimalist. And that’s what I’m interested in these days.
For the next week, I’m sticking to sharing 1 notes, leaving 5 comments, and liking 10 notes. Or whatever happens before 15 minutes. That’s how I use social media consciously as a writer.
#2. Are you anti-AI or pro-AI? Here’s a tech shop that refuses to use AI for anything (8min). This line stayed with me: “Only people are intelligent, creative, capable of actual thought. We can’t let this unique gift go to waste.”
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Street-Smart Coding Manifesto. A case against syntax obsession. Because real impact comes from skills outside your IDE.
