Getting Started in Software Engineering

Since I wrote an essay about how to become a software engineer, people regularly email me for more advice. Here is a reply I wrote this morning:

The great thing about working in software engineering is that you only need three things:

1. a computer
2. reliable Internet access
3. the will to learn and expand your skills every day

The bad news is, #3 cannot be bought, and it cannot be given to you. But, assuming you have those three things taken care of, you get started by choosing a platform, downloading (in some cases, purchasing) your development tools, and seeking out some tutorials.

When I say choose a platform, I mean the kind of system that your software will run on. All the tools you use, tutorials you follow, books you read, and conferences you attend will be relative to the platform. Right now, there are only a handful of real choices: the Web, Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, and maybe soon the Palm Pre.

Often, these platforms overlap. For instance, I develop Web applications on a Mac with Java, but the finished software runs on Linux servers.

If you haven't already chosen a platform, and you want to see the quickest results with the least hassle, use Google App Engine. It's a framework for hosting web applications which takes care of all of the infrastructure effortlessly. In other words, you don't have worry about setting up a server or figuring out to get everything online. You just write the code, and Google ensures that it will run on the Web.

And here's a book about it that will come out later this month. Charles Severance is a friend of mine: Using Google App Engine

Before you can begin programming for a career, you need to get some code under your belt. There's no time like the present.

Kindle 2, also WTF?!

Amazon just announced the Kindle 2, and I’m pretty sure there’s going to be one in my house at some point. It looks awesome.

On the other hand, feast your eyes on this “Kindle exclusive” Stephen King opus they’re hawking for merely $2.99:

Written exclusively for Kindle, Stephen King reminds us why he’s still the master at the top of his game. In his new novella, UR, King is at his unsettling best as he examines the future of the written word—for better or worse. Following a nasty break-up, lovelorn college English instructor Wesley Smith can’t seem to get his ex-girlfriend’s parting shot out of his head: “Why can’t you just read off the computer like the rest of us?” Egged on by her question and piqued by a student’s suggestion, Wesley places an order for a Kindle. The device that arrives in a box stamped with the smile logo—via one-day delivery that he hadn’t requested—unlocks a literary world that even the most avid of book lovers could never imagine. Get it only on Kindle.

Um, yeah … I’ll get back to you on that one.

Overheard (2)

Overheard in the corridor at the San Marcos Activity Center:

He’s really not a bad president — he’s just stupid.

Nebraska Woman Needs Better Coffee

This photo appears on nytimes.com today with this caption:

Chris Kouba, the owner of the Downtown Coffee Shop, expressed frustration with the bailout: “Do you see my restaurant filled? Is anyone going to come save me?”

I think I can help. The problem may be the Folgers you’ve got behind the counter there:

Photo: Monica Almeida/The New York Times

Google Chrome

Zowie! Google has published a technical document all about their new web browser, drawn by Scott McCloud of “Understanding Comics” fame.

Google Chrome: Behind the Open Source Browser Project

A beta of the browser for Windows is supposed to be available today!

Productivity Manifesto

I have begun distilling and synthesizing approaches to productivity (also known as “effectiveness”) from various sources into a structure that makes sense for me. I have a lot more to learn on this subject, but I’m starting to see the framework.

I have learned a lot from Stephen Covey’s “7 Habits” and David Allen’s “Getting things Done.” If I had to boil it all down to two pithy lines, they would be these:

1. Decide what is important
2. Nurture the important

Ok, but maybe that’s a little too pithy. Here are some more specific guidelines I’m trying on for size. Notice that the scope for everything is a day. This is really a manifesto about how to run a day:

1. Whatever else has to give, you will not sacrifice your diet, exercise, and sleep.
2. Every day, you will decide what deserves doing and honor that choice.
3. You will fight the twin productivity gremlins: Fake Urgency and Fake Industry.
4. With the understanding that to achieve something dazzling takes more than a day, take a step toward dazzling every day.

I’ll have more to say about each of these in turn in future posts.

Greatest New York Times Headline Ever

“Monkeys Control a Robot Arm With Their Thoughts”

Flying (And Landing) in Google Earth

I feel like I was the last to know: Google Earth 4 has a built-in flight simulator.

Here’s a page with all the controls.

But as soon as I figured out how to fly, I wanted to land! I made a tutorial showing how to make it much easier and more fun. If the idea of pretending to land an airplane in exotic locales around the globe appeals to you, bon appetit: