Develpreneur: Become A Better Developer And Entrepreneur

Accounting may not be the most exciting part of a business, but it is an integral part of success.  We primarily keep score for our business based on how it generates revenue.  More importantly, a company needs to gain a profit on that income.  When we do not track the ins and outs of our funds, we are more likely to have more going out than in. Accounting As A Means of Protecting Ourselves When a business is a means to pay our salary or those of others then revenue and profit is seen as critical.  However, a side hustle is often done for fun or extra spending money instead of paying bills.  Thus, it is easy to gloss over the costs that go into that side-hustle.  At the end of the day, we find our selves with a little more money in our pocket.  Unfortunately, the cost of producing that money is sometimes more than it is worth. Track Costs For Smart Investing No matter your situation, your time is worth money.  You also need to be aware of the incidental costs involved in your projects.  Everyday things like g

System security is a big business.  We see hackers in the news all the time, and no one wants to be the next victim that has to admit to a breach.  This allows security firms to charge top dollar for their services and consultation.  However, there are a lot of simple and inexpensive steps we can take to dramatically reduce the odds of being the next victim System Security Through Smart Procedures The first thing to consider is that most security breaches come about through human error.  The well-known breach of the DNC started with a phishing email.  The victim responded and gave up important credentials.  No high tech skills were needed.  This is buttressed by most famous hackers highlighting how they used social engineering instead of code hacking.  Why spend time hacking a password when you can easily guess it or can be given it through a well-worded email? Best Practices This is not to say that hacking does not occur.  There are pirates and coders with ill intent that can penetrate systems.  In fact, it

We have looked at a few ways to improve productivity through the early podcast episodes.  However, we have only touched on the idea of rhythm and how it can make or break us.  Habits are hard to break, whether good or bad and those are the things that drive our natural rhythm Know When You Are At Your Best The first step in getting productive is to determine what works for you.  There are some variations each of us can embrace.  Unfortunately, what works for you, may cause me all sorts of problems.  In general, we need to determine whether we work better in the morning, mid-day, evening, or late night.  Then we need to determine the good "blocks" of work for our schedule.  Some of us do great with long periods of focused work.  However, others do good in short spurts of an hour or two with some breaks in between. Experiment With Your Rhythm Life hacking is all about finding ways to make improvements through trial-and-error.  Finding your best rhythm is the same exercise.  Most of us know what works for us, bu

I have to admit that the Develpreneur icon and banners are not designed by me.  I used a site called 99 Designs for this work.  I have a few skills and none of them are brand design.  Thus, I outsourced that work so I could have something that was effective. Brand Design: Play To Your Strengths Many (maybe even most) of us have passable design skills at best.  We are visionaries or technicians, but not very good at creating appealing artwork.  There is no shame in this.  We all have our strengths and weaknesses.  In fact, the sign of a good manager and leader is the ability to delegate weaknesses to those that can offset them.  If you are great at design then you might want to skip this episode.  However, the rest of us can gain a lot from the resources covered here. Help From Friends The best part of the process of building a brand through outside resources is that you can always get other opinions.  For example, I am only mediocre at picking a good design.  Nevertheless, I was able to make some good selecti

When best practices are considered for development, version control has become a normal facet of any modern coding.  Many integrated development environments now include integration to some version control by default.  In fact, Git is often assumed as the tool of choice.  That being said, we still need to use these tools properly. Version Control Requires Regular Usage The most common failing I find with new developers is a lack of actually using the tool correctly.  Although committing code is rarely more than a few button clicks and providing a comment, it still seems too much for many coders.  I say this because may shops have code commits on a weekly or less frequent basis.  I also see comments that are empty or useless (e.g., "fixed some bugs") in too many repositories. Good use of version control includes meaningful comments on every commit and daily commits at least.  This approach does not mean code must be working when for each commit, just that the changes are submitted. Branches and Tags Modern ver

Burnout is a big stumbling block to productivity. It is a bit like clinical depression where you are not sure it is coming, but when it hits, recovery is painful.  In this episode, we look at some of the signs of burnout and even some warning signs.  However, we do not stop there.  We also look at ways to stay productive, push hard, and still avoid burnout. Burnout Comes in Many Forms There are many ways that burnout will appear.  It may be a lack of getting up in the morning and a constant feeling of exhaustion.  However, it often is much more subtle.  The ability to focus may become difficult and productivity slumps rather than crashes.  There may also be a trend towards doing work on the edges that is easy, but busywork rather than truly useful.  For example, when you spend hours on getting a button on one screen to look right rather than address the functionality launched when it is clicked. Finding Balance The key to avoiding burnout is finding a routine that does not drain you at the end of the day, wee

Of all the skills I have learned, business communication has paid the greatest dividends.  This is not a difficult skill to learn.  However, practice, experience, and honest feedback are the key ingredients to become a master. Business Communication - Short and Sweet The old phrase "short and sweet" is a great way to sum up what I have learned.  The audience for any business communication (email, documents, presentations, etc.) value time and clarity.  They start with the assumption that you know what you are talking about.  Thus, it is up to you to confirm that assumption or prove them wrong.  Of course, that is not the only measure of successfully communicating your ideas.  There is also a need to convey the idea in a short time with absolute clarity. Confusion Equals Failure Although delivering your message in a timely manner is important, clarity is critical.  When you deliver an excellent message that is understood by no one you have wasted everyone's time.  This sort of botched communication can cost yo

When we get serious about development we have to use enterprise tools.  These include version control, defect tracking, change management, and multiple development environments.  These development environments range from pure development to testing, staging, and finally production.  In this episode, we explore how to build and use each of these. Development Environments Cover the Full SDLC A good series of environments will address the various areas of the software development lifecycle.  There might be one for design, prototyping, and clickable demos.  As you progress through the SDLC the demo environment can grow into your sales environment.  Thus, features can be mocked up and shown to customers.  There should always be at least one development environment.  Preferably there is an environment for each developer.  That allows the developers to "play" with their changes.  They can focus on debugging without worrying about impacting others.  That being said, a test environment for the latest builds is separat

We all have busy lives.  That is just a part of modern life.  However, those of us in the develpreneur world can have it even worse.  Sleeping well can be quite a challenge when you are facing deadlines and always trying to push for that next goal.  Nevertheless, sleep is a critical factor in health and even long-term productivity so let's look at ways to get some rest without sacrificing productivity. Sleeping Well Vs. Sleep Hacking Sleep hacking is a popular topic among those that value productivity and squeezing everything they can out of life.  The downside is that the goal of sleep hacking is finding ways to limit our downtime instead of maximizing it.  Over time this focus may lead to health issues and even a loss of productivity we are not aware of.  Just as drunk people are not always aware of how much they are impaired, sleep-deprived individuals can be the same.  We discuss the hacking options and how they can be effective, but a better goal is sleeping well when we do. Nature Always Finds Rhythm Sl

A Side Hustle will typically earn money by trading hours for dollars.  There is a hustle or level of work that is required.  However, there is also income related to that hustle.  This is a good step towards total success and we need to move forward from hustle to passive income.  In other words, do not simply invest in your career and skills, invest in future revenue. Side Hustle Vs. Passive Income A typical side hustle is either doing work for hire or a service that pays you for your time.  An Uber driver is a good example of this.  Also, a developer that works extra projects is an example of this.  Passive income is where your income is not tied to your work.  There is some work to get started, but then the sky is the limit.  The most common form of this is earning interest on savings or investments.  Your money is earning money at that point.  You (and your time) have been removed from the equation. Transition From Side Hustle I think the biggest factor in moving to Passive Income is that you drive the pr

Across the hundreds of programming languages, there are some similarities.  These even fall into types of development language families.  When you are looking at how to expand your technical skills these complementary languages can speed your growth.  The key is to start with fundamentals and use those to grow to less common problems that are solved with code. Start With a Good Foundation The key to rapid learning and mastering of languages is to start with core or general purpose languages.  The ones that fall into this category include popular languages like C, C++, C#, Java.  Also, there are lesser-known ones like ADA, Fortran, and Pascal.  These general purpose languages are perfect for learning concepts like logic, data structures, file interactions, data manipulation, and the list goes on.  Once you are comfortable with these ideas, it becomes a matter of syntax as you move to new languages. Different Ways To Think About Code Once the fundamentals are covered, it is time to move into the various ways to

We have a full schedule and are always busy.  That is no excuse for skipping exercise.  In fact, staying healthy is a critical key to success.  In this episode, we look at some ways to keep your body healthy.  Better yet, how to do this without sacrificing too much of that all-important resource: time. Staying Healthy is About Habits We have seen how success in any area is best predicted by good habits.  Health is no different.  When we are intentional about our health, we can find ways to build practices that achieve that goal.  The good news is that we can do simple things like changing our work venue.  Thus, we can get some exercise while we work.  An excellent example of this is walking and talking.  Instead of taking a call in your chair, go for a walk.  You might be a bit winded at times, but that just means you are walking uphill or entirely out of shape. Physical Hobbies There are many business deals completed on the golf course, but that is also a great way to get some exercise.  Luckily for those of

There is an old saying that we should underpromise and overdeliver.  This may seem obvious to us, but it is worth considering in our career and business.  In fact, this approach is one of the best recipes for success in both your individual career and that of your company or employer. Underpromise and Overdeliver to Separate from Competition There are many ways to appeal to customers, but this concept is not often put forward.  The underlying message follows these lines, but it is rarely stated.  Instead, we often see marketing focus on quality, features, and other things that are easy to market.  Value does touch on this concept, but it does not rise to the same level in my mind.  However, part of the problem is how to market this idea.  A good example of this idea is to promise that a customer always gets more than they expect.  How many companies promise to always exceed expectations?  This promise sets the bar too high for most of us.  Instead, business runs on setting expectations and meeting them. A Pra

Like any area of technology, there is a lot to know about databases.  We are not going to cover all of them.  In this episode, we will look at popular modern databases and keep to a non-technical overview. Databases Come In Many Types There are many database solutions available on the market.  These range from the familiar relational databases to lesser-used ones like object databases.  Each of these has its own set of strengths and weaknesses to be assessed for your needs.  The only way to be capable of this sort of assessment is to become familiar with the types out there and the projects that are best for each. They Are Easy To Use The good news is that we have a large number of free and open source options that are available.  There are also a similar number of tools including Toad and DBVisualizer that helps us abstract everyday database administration tasks.  When you combine these avenues for easy access, there is no excuse for integrating a database in your application and building your experience. Ho

It may be my background in technology, but I find automation to be the greatest way to improve productivity.  This time-saving mechanism is not new either.  We can look back a hundred years to see where assembly lines and automation allowed us to progress rapidly.  In fact, computers are made for automation. Automation is Not Just Technology Even though computers have given us a wealth of automation options, there are low tech methods available as well.  At its essence, automation is the concept of "killing two birds with one stone."  When we combine efforts or tasks through batching we get extra work done in the same time frame.  Thus, we automatically have less to do.  For example, I automate mail delivery by having my kids check the mail each day when they return from school.  It is no extra time for them and allows me to have mail delivered right to my desk automatically. However, Technology Should Be Embraced The goal of nearly every software application is to either save or consume our time.  For exampl

There are many ways to monetize the work we have been discussing.  For example, advertising is a typical avenue for a revenue stream.  However, it does not have a high likelihood of being substantial in most cases.  Instead, offer a product or service to generate real revenue quickly.  The problem is that finding work is easier said than done.  Never fear, here are a few suggestions to get you started. Finding Work on the Internet The Internet is an excellent resource for finding work.  The best place to start is work sites like Guru and Upwork.  These sites are built to connect job seekers and job providers.  However, they do require some effort and patience to find a good project for your skill set.  These sites often have small to medium size projects that can be done in days or a few weeks.  The requirements for these projects are small and well-defined in many cases as well.  Thus, you can look for needs that you can address without fear of learning new technologies. That being said, there is an art of s

The primary communication method and tool of a developer is code.  There are hundreds of such languages in use.  Thus, learning development languages is an essential part of a development career.  No matter when you started developing there were languages that existed, and new ones pop up each year.  This situation only gets more complicated when you consider frameworks and libraries for many of these platforms. Learning Development Languages is Never Ending A true developer is always going to be pushed to grow their skill set.  This fact applies to libraries and frameworks, new technologies, and learning development languages.  The biggest challenge of this need for continuous learning is to do so while still keeping up with the demands of our primary job.  We simply do not have enough time in a day, week, or month, to attend the boot camps or read the books required to accomplish these goals. Slow and Steady Wins the Race THere are many ways to overcome this obstacle of time vs. the need to learn.  Personal

We live in a world full of distractions.  That fact does not go away just because we have a goal or focus.  In fact, those little distractions can be harder to identify when they are in line with our primary goal.  These are the small time wasters and productivity thieves that hide as helpers. Focus Must Be Guarded Any entrepreneur lives with a steady stream of new ideas.  However, too many of us underestimate our natural creative state.  In fact, we all are creatives to some extent and have to deal with a steady of temptations to drift from our primary goal.  Our struggle can be with big and common time-wasters like Facebook or the latest Netflix series, but these are not the most dangerous.  In this episode, we look at the tasks that feel like they are helping, but are taking us away from our goal.  These functions are not a waste, they often have value and may even be essential.  They just are not worth pursuing at the moment.  Thus, we look at how to regularly review our focus and how to remove those dist

Whether you are just getting started or your business is decades old, customers are critical to success.  In fact, without your customer base, there is no business.  So let's look at some ways to build loyalty and grow your core of customers. A Strong Customer Base When we look at a customer base, we look beyond the numbers.  A core of 100 purchasers of your product is better when they are loyal customers and not one-time buyers.  Thus, we have to provide an experience and build a relationship, not just provide a product or service.  This challenge can seem to be a huge hill to climb when we start.  However, there are some tools and channels to start and grow our base no matter what we offer. This episode may seem aimed at those starting out.  That is not exactly the case.  We can grow to a point where we are comfortable with our size and reach.  At this point, we may think that our base is constant and needs less time and attention.  Unfortunately, that situation is never real.  Competing products and servic

Any good developer has to start with an environment for their work.  These requirements can be an expensive obstacle to overcome.  However, Amazon has made their extensive network and resources available to all of us.  There is a cost, of course, but it is easy to scale.  They even have a free tier of services. Your Personal Data Center The suite of services provided by Amazon called Amazon Web Services is often called AWS.  These offerings cover dozens of needs of modern developers.  Better yet, these tools are easy to use and secure by default.  This topic is a great place to start your development roadmap.  It is also where any company should turn as they are being launched.  This episode looks at some of the essential first steps and features to review so that a secure foundation can be built. The Free Tier The bulk of the services and usage of AWS are not free.  The costs vary on a sliding scale based on usage.  Thus, even the highest end services are made affordable.  However, we do also touch on the fr