I have been thinking about the topics to spend time on over the next 18 months or so, what my goals should be for those topics as well as for the larger programming effort, and what kind of job do I want.
Topics
Of course, I'll study HTML/CSS, data structures, and some form of OOP. Perhaps Javascript/JQuery, too? I have a bit of Python, and quite a bit of Ruby. Should I do more? Should I be looking at understanding more network and operations topics? I haven't really a clue. Maybe I should be looking at a curriculum from a university to guide my pursuit.
What experiences do I want to gain? We have considered setting up our own server and hosting our own pages for the experience? What contributions do I want to make? Lots more questions than answers here. Once I know more about my goals and the specific types of jobs I want, I will know more about what topics to pursue.
Goals
A yoga teacher once asked me, "if you never improve your practice beyond what you do today, would you still practice?" This is one of the most profound questions I have ever had to answer. If I modify the question for this path, it would go something like, "if you never change careers, would you still pursue this knowledge?" The answer here is yes. I would probably not be as focused as I currently am, but I would definitely be interested in these topics even without the career-change motivation.
So then, what can I accomplish with these tools beyond a career change? What do I want to do with these new tools? I have some ideas, don't you know, and I am exploring this more :)
Jobs
Luckily, I have a better idea of the type of job I would prefer. I find design discussions horribly boring. I really don't give a rip about the type of font, or its freaking color. Serif or Sans-serif? Is there a difference I actually give a crap about? Can I read it? Good enough! I tend to gravitate to the backend of systems, and it seems like the place for me. I don't think I am a deploy or build engineer, but I would like to learn more to make the determination.
While I think test devs are the unsung heroes of the SDLC, they just seem to deal with a ton of crap from all sides and a frequent de-valuing of their piece of the process. Maybe it depends entirely on the place?
2 comments:
One suggestion: get Django (or Rails) and build something you have thought up, front to end. Then load test it (jmeter or Locust or whatever ruby has), at that point you have done the job of everyone in your future tech company, from UI to QA. load test it with jmeter or locust (or whatever is used for ruby). At that point you have done the work (at experimental level) of every functional dept. in your future company, including QA. Oh, and btw in good companies test devs are not devalued at all: continuous deployment and all that.
Funny though, I love product management and find almost all design issues fascinating. Possibly I have known first hand some companies where that stuff was/is completely ignored :)).
Thank you muchly for the advice. I am developing a plan of action, and I will include these, especially the test bits.
I should maybe have clarified that design is important; it is just the case that I find it horribly dull :)
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