11 Sep 2025 #career #coding #writing
This week, I had the chance to share some of my career lessons with the ALX Africa community.
I joined Shehab Abdel-Salam, a Senior Software Engineer at Proofpoint, to share the mindset shifts needed to land a coding job for the first time.
Here’s the recording of the session—In case you want to watch it, there’s some back jokes:
And here are 15 takeaways from the session—In case you don’t want to watch the recording:
Career Growth
#1. Identify your gray zones vs growth zones.
A gray zone is doing comfortable work.
And a growth zone is doing work that stretches your skills.
To grow your career, do the things that scare you. Comfort zones kill growth.
#2. Forget the corporate ladder.
Hard work alone doesn’t guarantee results.
Instead of chasing the corporate ladder, define your own success metrics and climb your own ladder.
#3. Stand out at work by doing the work nobody else wants to do.
And make sure you’re able to do it.
By the way, that’s only one way to stand out besides hard work. Here are another 9.
#4. Be aware of cultural expectations when working remotely.
Coming from LatAm, when I started working with American companies, I missed the chitchat and off-topic conversations before starting meetings. The American way is direct and to the point.
#5. As a junior coder, stand out by showing you’re able to learn new subjects and follow instructions.
As a senior coder, it’s the opposite. You stand out by showing you don’t need many instructions.
#6. Rely on your personal and professional network to look for your first job.
Shake hands online and offline and skip the hiring lines.
Over ten years ago, I didn’t apply through a job portal to land my first job. I knew someone who knew someone who made an introduction. Then when I left my first job (fired actually), my ex-boss arranged an interview for me. That’s the power of your network.
It sounds like a cliche, but your network is your net worth.
#7. Listen to feedback, say thanks, and act on it.
Avoid the temptation of explaining and justifying your behavior.
Writing
#8. Writing online is one of the most rewarding skills for your career.
It improves your research and communication skills.
For example, my blog has opened many career opportunities. Thanks to a link to my blog on my CV, I turned a failed interview into a content collaboration… And I made some lunch money.
#9. Your writing and online presence can replace your portfolio.
Every time you finish a project (or move to another job or achieve a milestone), write about the lessons you learned and what you would have done differently. And showcase those posts in your LinkedIn profile or CV.
#10. If you’re completely new to writing, start with a worklog.
If you have only written README files for your GitHub repos, you don’t need to write deep dives.
Start with “Today I Learned” posts. That’s exactly how I started writing. My very first post ever was a word vomit pretending to be a coding tutorial about Aspect-Oriented Programming in C#. (I’m so embarrassed by that post, but I still keep unedited to remind me how I started).
Document what you’re learning and the resources you’re using. That’s the easiest way to start writing.
Technical Skills
#11. Build simple apps and projects to practice.
Or even clone existing apps and some of their features.
#12. Understand you don’t need many programming languages to be a good coder.
You can make your way with HTML/CSS/Javascript, one backend language (JavaScript counts here), and SQL.
#13. Read engineering blogs:
#14. Embrace the struggle.
It’s part of the learning process.
When you’re stuck with a coding problem, don’t rush to AI for a quick answer. Try solving it yourself and don’t hesitate to ask for help.
#15. Don’t be scared of AI.
Use it wisely. Otherwise, your coding muscles could atrophy.
If you’re starting out, keep learning and having fun. This is the best time to learn coding. Always be a beginner.
Starting out or already on the coding journey? Join my free 7-day email course to refactor your software engineering career now–I distill 10+ years of career lessons into 7 short emails.
10 Sep 2025 #misc
AI is the new buzzword of the day.
Add “AI” to a company or product name to join the hype. It’s all over the news. AI is the new contender for coders. Yes, we coders are always the ones being replaced.
But Ibrahim Diallo made a good point in his post AI is Not a Technology, It’s a Subscription Company:
Swap “AI” for “subscription company.” And all AI those headlines make more sense. “%X of code at $BigTech is generated by a $SubscriptionCompany” has a new meaning.
AI isn’t a product we own. It’s subscription companies profiting off our data. And that isn’t innovative or disruptive at all.
09 Sep 2025 #coding
You spent days on your JIRA ticket… only to be told to redo it after your team lead reviewed your code?
A few years ago, I was working on a hotel management tool. My team lead asked me to redo an apparently trivial task. I had to store emails before sending them. It wasn’t a full rework, but I had to change my approach. We had completely different expectations from the same task. Two days of work almost wasted.
If I had only asked one single question before starting… “Hey, I’m doing it like this, are we on the same page?”
If you’re like me, eager to jump into the code, confident in your solution, hold your horses and follow these four tips:
#1. Always ask why. Don’t start coding if you don’t understand what needs to be done. Ask: Why this task? What’s the real problem? Why solve it now?
#2. Read the existing code before starting. Your changes might be simple, unless you have to refactor some legacy code first. If you rush to code without knowing that, you’ll give the wrong impression you’re taking too long on a simple task. Yes, estimates are hard.
#3. Outline your solution with comments. Start by sketching your plan in comments. That’s your blueprint. Of course, once you’re done, don’t forget to delete them.
#4. Write a one-page spec. Draft a summary of the changes you need to implement, just for yourself. It’s for you to think clearly before writing a single line of code.
A simple question would have saved me from wasting two days of work. Make sure everyone agrees on your solution before you start. It could save you from building the wrong thing.
It’s better to annoy people by asking too many questions than by making mistakes for not asking any questions at all. Strive for context before coding. Always.
08 Sep 2025 #books
I’ve been binge-watching Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic YouTube channel lately.
If you don’t know about his work, he reads and writes books for a living. He wrote The Obstacle is the Way and Life of the Stoics. And just the other day, I watched his appearance on Joe Rogan’s show.
After watching his videos with reading advice, here are 8 lessons I learned:
#1. Read physical books. That’s an excuse to spend less time in front of screens.
#2. Prefer old books. Focus on books that have stood the test of time. If they have survived this long, they will survive a whole lot more.
#3. Reread. I had to change my mind about rereading. I was against it when I tried to grow a large list of books I’d read. When we reread a book, our circumstances have changed. Every time we revisit a book, it’s an opportunity to learn or notice new insights.
#4. Have mentors to point you to more books. If you can’t find one, find a not-mentor instead.
#5. “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.” That’s a quote attributed to Harry Truman, one of the U.S. presidents.
#6. Don’t speed read. To read faster, we need to read more. Simple as that.
#7. Interact with the book you’re reading. Reading a book is like a conversation with the author. Highlight, fold corners, and take notes in the margins.
#8. Use notecards for notes. After a break, go back to the parts you highlighted or the pages you folded, and turn those interesting passages into notes. Ryan’s note-taking system sounds like Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method.
And if you want to read more, here are 8 easy-to-implement tips to read one book a week.
07 Sep 2025 #misc
I’ve been binge-watching Ryan Holiday’s videos.
YouTube took me to his appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience
I watched the whole 2-hour video over a couple of days. It’s long and not always about stoicism and books. But there was a gem I found really inspiring.
Joe shared his “secret:” he only invites guests he finds interesting and his only metric is if he does something engaging and entertaining for his audience.
He started the podcast to meet interesting people. And even after it made money, he kept the same strategy.
I’ve been writing online for years. A big follower count seems attractive. But that interview reminded me to stay grounded. Do interesting things and have fun. Everything else is a plus.
Oh, this reminded me of the creative rules from the guys behind Field Notes.