Lori M Olson OPED — Lori’s Unvarnished Opinion
“Empowers second career developers to find work. Second career developers have a superpower: pivot skills. Find and hire these superheroes for your company.”
I found this site while convalescing, so today I’m going to take a step back and mention what I was told about a computer science degree when I first chose that profession as a career. I was told that a computer science degree, standing alone, was simply useless, and that I would have to take a second degree in some other field so that I could usefully apply my computer science skills in that other field. This didn’t bother me much at the time, and as it happens that wasn’t true, because of the explosion of need for software professionals. I got a job at <big oil company> immediately out of university. But that oil company spent a lot of time and money training me in the oil industry, and that training was necessary.
And that is something that we lack for the people coming out of college programs and computer science degrees today. Everyone wants ‘experienced’ developers, and people are struggling to get that first job.
But this is even more of an issue for the graduates of boot camps and certificate programs, because they lack that rubber stamp of a degree, and their resumes often get dumped for that lack. Most of these people have a wealth of experience in diverse fields and they can apply some of that experience with their newfound tech skills if someone would just give them a chance. I think that wealth of experience can be worth a lot more than a computer science degree when it comes to boots on the ground building features, and actually understanding what they are building and why.
So next time someone you know is trying to hire an ‘experienced’ software developer for a position, consider if someone with a wealth of experience in that field but no software experience other than their boot camp might not actually be a more effective choice.
FITS — Featured in the School
It’s true! And signing up for courses does no good, unless you actually take the time to review the material. So this week think about the courses you’ve signed up for and never used…then rediscover your passion and get going!
And, by the way, if you want want a fresh start and need help figuring out which course to take in the first place, may we make some suggestions?
TALK — Talk of the Tech
Here are the latest curated nuggets from the two chat spaces where DragonRuby-istas regularly congregate:
- Slack — Manuals or other formal documentation can still be inadequate when trying to solve the most intractable problems. Like, for example, troubleshooting universal binary apps. Would it be nice if you could listen in on two experts discuss the solution. [Oh, but you can](https://motioneers.slack.com/archives/C055RS2D8/p1649180025656429), as is the case in this recent thread.
- Discord — It seemed like yesterday that this newfangled thing called the DragonRuby Game Toolkit (DRGTK) was rolling off the assembly line for the first time. So it therefore comes as a shock that it just celebrated its [third anniversary](https://discord.com/channels/608064116111966245/815289039338340414/966468773643178035). Also, did you know that over 1280 people have taken the The WNDX School's [DRGTK Tutorial](https://wndx.school/p/dragon-ruby-game-toolkit-tutorial)?
GAME — All Things Gaming
It took us a while to realize that Justin Collins (AKA President Beef) has published his article API Levels in DragonRuby Game Toolkit which methodically goes through the different methods of rendering images. It’s just the first part of a six part series on DRGTK.
From the Ministry of Oxymorons comes word of this huge niche which is being overlooked. So you’ll want to fill up on jumbo shrimp while you broadly focus on it, lest you be clearly confused.
APP — All Things App
Need to inspect the DOM to see what styles are being applied? Sure, you say, that’s easy—there’s a web inspector built right into most browsers. But did you know it works equally well on mobile devices? Ben Dodson explains in Web Inspector on iOS Devices and Simulators.
With over 3,300 (and counting!) SF Symbols at your disposal, it’s understandable that you might need a little assistance tracking down exactly the one you want. Don’t worry, now there’s an app for that from Geoff Hackworth. And by the way, with a name like that it as almost inevitable he would wind up in code, right?
SPOT — Spotlight On…
Our friend Akzidenz is back with a great example for the currently-running Boss Battle: A DragonRuby Game Jam. And given how similar so many games seem these days, it’s great to see the beautiful, dreamy, hand-painted, watercolor look of Caterkillar. Insect violence has never looked so good. If you’re keen to see how it was done, check out the source code.
TWIL — This Week I Learned…
We can’t believe it has taken this long for us to discover this: Twitter Advanced Search. But don’t settle for Mr. Musk’s fill-in-the-blanks form, take the six feature, Twitter-based tutorial from Tessa Davis instead. You’ll be searching up a storm in no time.
HAHA — And They All Laughed
No, it’s not from that other publisher which name begins with O-apostrophe, but rather that lesser known publisher O’RLY (pronounced ‘oh really?’). Thanks so much to DEV Community Twitter feed for bringing this very useful manual to our attention.
Other people’s code…it’s the worst!
That’s a Wrap!
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“Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when first I considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn’t any good reason to refer to it.” — Amelia Earhart