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How Many Hours Do Software Engineers Work?
The world of software development has a strange reputation, both for insiders and outsiders. One thing many people have wrong ideas about is how many hours software engineers work, or should work. I’d like to dive a little deeper into this subject: What is the reality and what should you do? What Many People Think Many people think that software engineers work almost all the time. When you ask about average work hours per week, numbers between 60 and 80 hours per week are not an uncommon response. This idea lives among both developers and non-developers. Among some developers, there is also a strong feeling that you can only be…
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Do Programmers Use Mac or PC?
In this post, we tackle a question that troubles many an aspiring programmer: Do programmers use Mac or PC? The question does have a short, straightforward answer. Here it goes: Some programmers use Mac, while others favor PCs running Microsoft Windows. Still others prefer to use one of the many Linux distributions. Last but not least, some use some combination of the options above. Are you satisfied with this answer? I wouldn’t be. As it often happens, the short answer turns out to be too short. Despite being technically correct, it doesn’t tell the whole story. I bet there are more things you want to know about this Mac vs.…
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Lessons From a Veteran: Approaching Things From a Different Direction
This post is part of a series interviewing veteran developers, asking them questions about their journey to tech mastery and sharing the advice they have for those getting started. Today Eric Goebelbecker is telling us about what really matters for programmers. Eric is a developer, DevOps engineer, system administrator, and whatever else he needs to be for the small trading firm he works for. He’s also writes fiction and enjoys cycling in his free time. You can catch up with him here. How long have you been a programmer? What Stack do you work with? I’ve been working as a developer in one form or another for just about 28…
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Do Programmers Need a Degree?
In today’s job market, many of you look for ways to improve your employability and earnings potential. And you may have noticed articles pointing out the apparent shortage of programmers, along with information on the amazing salaries and benefits they receive. Combining all these things, you may be one of the many people who are now trying to break into programming. And for those of you who are trying to break in, one of the most popular questions revolves around degree requirements. Mainly, you want to know if degrees are required. And you want to know if the degree has to be in a specific field of study. Today we’ll…