Boot.dev Blog - Pg. 11

Guide to Getting a Certificate in Computer Science

Dec 15, 2020 by Zulie Rane

There are so many reasons to want to get a certificate in computer science in 2021, especially when you compare it to alternatives like getting a degree or attending a coding bootcamp.

6 Computer Science Resume Examples

Dec 14, 2020 by Lane Wagner

It’s really hard to get your foot in the door for engineering interviews, especially if you have no experience and are looking for an entry-level position. Often times, more experienced candidates looking to find a higher-paying job can also have trouble. As an employer myself, I can tell you that one of the biggest mistakes I see in 75% of resumes is using a visually boring template. When I’m sifting through forty or fifty applicants, it’s really easy for my eyes to glaze over. Think of your resume as your website landing page. You need to catch your employer’s attention by calling out your biggest accomplishments and selling points at a glance.

The Highest-Paying Computer Science Jobs

Dec 09, 2020 by Lane Wagner

There are many jobs within the software industry, and most of them are easier to land or are higher-paying once you land them, if you have a solid grasp of computer science fundamentals. You don’t need a degree from an accredited university in 90% of cases, but you do need to learn the material, whether it be online, on the job, or in a formal setting. Let’s explore the most common computer science job titles and their associated compensation, details, and duties.

Computer Information Systems vs Computer Science

Dec 03, 2020 by Winston Wagner

As technology continues to advance, the need for professionals who are capable of utilizing and understanding computers continues to grow. This demand creates a strong job market, with excellent pay and exclusive opportunities. However, there are two fields of study when it comes to working with this technology: Computer Information Systems and Computer Science. Both are useful areas of study with in-demand skills, but what are the benefits of each, in comparison to each other? We explore that below.

The History of Computer Science - A Timeline

Dec 03, 2020 by Winston Wagner

Prehistory 🔗 The Antikthyera Mechanism For as long as humans have needed to count, they have endeavored to find ways to make that process simpler. The abacus, first invented in Sumer sometime between 2700 and 2300 BCE, was more a rudimentary counting assistant than an actual computer. It did, however, represent the first stride humans took towards using tools to assist with mathematics. Much later, around 100 BC, the Antikythera Mechanism would be used to calculate astrological positions, for the purpose of sea travel. Unlike the abacus, it is likely that the mechanism was, in fact, the earliest form of an analog computer. As time went on, analog machines such as this would be used to keep track of the stars, and eventually, to keep track of time.

Certificates vs Diplomas in Computer Science

Dec 02, 2020 by Zulie Rane

When I was looking into getting my first job related to programming, I had no idea what the difference between a certificate and a diploma was. I was terrified that I’d have to go back to school and spend 2-4 years getting a degree in computer science before an employer would even blink in my direction. Unfortunately for me, two degrees in conservation biology aren’t enough to attract any serious coding employers. Then I learned about boot camps, which eased my concerns some, but I didn’t have the time or money to spend on a 15-week program.

Examples of Heuristics in Computer Science

Nov 30, 2020 by Winston Wagner

Heuristics in computer science and artificial intelligence are “rules of thumb” used in algorithms to assist in finding approximate solutions to complex problems. Often, there’s simply too much data to sift through to come to a solution promptly, so a heuristic algorithm is used to trade exactness for speed. However, because heuristics are based on individual rules unique to the problem they are solving, the specifics of the heuristics vary from problem to problem.

How to Create a Custom Checkbox Form in Vue

Nov 25, 2020 by Lane Wagner

You have a problem. The browser’s default checkbox form is ugly and outdated, but importing an entire library just to change the styling seems like overkill. Instead, let’s build a custom checkbox form component from scratch. It will take 15 minutes to type up, or just 3 if you just copy and paste my boilerplate code.

How to Make a Custom Slider Component in Vue

Nov 24, 2020 by Lane Wagner

Creating a custom slider component can be tricky, especially if you want to create a lean standalone Vue component. In this quick article, you’ll learn how to build a fully customizable slider component in Vue. Feel free to swap out the majority of the CSS to get the styling you want, but I’ll give you a good jumping-off point.

Why Students Struggle Getting a Job After Coding Bootcamp

Nov 19, 2020 by Zulie Rane

Imagine, like so many folks, that you decide what you want to study when you’re just 18. You go to college, finish a four-year degree in mechanical engineering, and then realize what you actually want to do is get a job in coding. There are tons of benefits - pay, flexibility, personal satisfaction. It’s a no-brainer.

Comprehensive Guide to Learn Computer Science Online

Nov 18, 2020 by Lane Wagner

Be careful about deciding the best way to learn to code. Not all paths are equally effective. Self-taught developers and bootcamp graduates often struggle a lot to find their first coding job. In my experience, it’s much easier to get your foot in the door when you spend the time learning the CS basics that so many “crash courses” skip over when trying to get students to dive directly into the deep end of application code.

Should You Commit the Vendor Folder in Go?

Nov 16, 2020 by Lane Wagner

If you’re asking “should I commit the vendor folder in my Go project to Git?”, the answer is “almost always”. Let’s talk about why committing is generally better than not.

How Long Does It Take To Learn To Code?

Nov 10, 2020 by Zulie Rane

There are so many obvious reasons to learn to code: freelancing opportunities, career advancement, salary increase, and personal satisfaction among others. The advantages are so many that it’s worth the investment, no matter how many obstacles you might encounter.

How Much Do Software Engineers Make?

Nov 09, 2020 by Lane Wagner

Software engineering continues to be one of the most lucrative career paths in the tech industry. The rewards go well beyond a high salary, corporate health insurance plans, and an increased opportunity to advance. Software engineers often receive benefits like unlimited time off, not needing to have shifts covered, lax or no dress code, and cool office amenities like free drinks, snacks, ping pong, etc. It can be a really great work culture.

JavaScript vs Java - Differences, Similarities, and History

Nov 06, 2020 by Lane Wagner

The naming of Java and JavaScript confuses many new programmers. They sound so similar, so one might think they have the same use-cases, similar properties, or maybe the same company created both languages. None of those assumptions are true! JavaScript is primarily used as a front-end in-the-browser language, like how we use it for boot.dev’s courses. Java has been used for everything from games, to desktop apps, to backend APIs. Let’s go over the differences between JavaScript vs Java in this quick read.

Top Web Development Programming Languages; A Comparison

Nov 04, 2020 by Lane Wagner

The software development industry is growing at a break-neck pace. Currently, there are close to 19 million software developers in the world, and this number is expected to double by 2030.

Base64 vs Base58 Encoding

Nov 03, 2020 by Lane Wagner

Base64 is one of the most popular encoding formats for representing data. Have some binary data? Base64 encodes it for convenient readability and parsing. Base58 is just another encoding format (with 58 characters instead of 64, and has gained popularity largely due to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Also, if you came here confused, encryption and encoding are not the same! Take a look at this article for more information on encryption vs encoding.

Learn Go Fast - Top Courses and Resources

Nov 02, 2020 by Lane Wagner

Want to learn Go fast? The good news is that Go is one of the simplest programming languages out there. It was designed to have a compact feature set, which means you can learn it much faster than most other languages.

Best Practices for Commenting Code

Oct 29, 2020 by Lane Wagner

I often hear that we need more and better comments in the code we write. In my experience, we frequently need better comments, we rarely need more, and we sometimes need less. Before you crucify me for my sacrilege, let me explain by giving you some of the “rules of thumb” I use for deciding when I should add a comment to my code.

How to Restart All Pods in a Kubernetes Namespace

Oct 26, 2020 by Lane Wagner

Where I work, we use a repo-per-namespace setup and so it often happens that I want to restart all pods and deployments in a single Kubernetes namespace. Maybe I want to see the startup logs, or maybe I want to shut down production for a few seconds. Don’t question my motives.

The Nuances of Constants in Go; Go Isn't JavaScript

Oct 22, 2020 by Lane Wagner

Constants can be confusing and easy to misuse in Go if you are coming from an untyped language. Let’s take a look at some of the nuanced details of how they work in Go. It’s probably unsurprising, but Go’s constants are almost nothing like JavaScript’s bastardized version of the concept.

6 Things to Avoid When Contributing to Open-Source Projects

Oct 21, 2020 by Lane Wagner

With #HacktoberFest being a thing, there has been an influx of devs desperately trying to contribute to their favorite Open-Source projects. Unfortunately, many of these pull requests have been a waste of time, with the maintainers ultimately unable to use the contributions. Maintainers don’t want to waste their time reviewing bad PRs, and contributors don’t want to waste their time writing code that will never make it into production.

Functional Programming Course Released

Oct 19, 2020 by Lane Wagner

We just launched our new “Learn Functional Programming” course, and frankly, I’m a bit exhausted (more on that later). This course is an interactive code-in-the-browser course that teaches the basics of FP in JavaScript and PureScript.

How To Correctly Validate Passwords - Most Websites Do It Wrong

Oct 15, 2020 by Lane Wagner

You’ve probably visited a site and attempted to sign-up only to be met with errors such as:

6 Tips for Hiring Developers

Oct 13, 2020 by Lane Wagner

So you want to hire a developer? Or maybe you just want to know what is going through the heads of employers like myself. Either way, let’s dive right into what I think are best practices for hiring programmers. I’ve found my opinions to be quite controversial, but I do put them into practice in my own career and at boot.dev. When you inevitably disagree with some of my points, feel free to @ me.