How to create more time for yourself (and your goals)

Aug 18, 2018

How do I manage time for other activities while going to college? How do I complete this side course on React when I have a full-time job and a family? After mentoring 1000s of students through the Udacity platform and spending 4 years in college, I have been asked these questions many times. When asked, I have often replied with what came first to my mind, since it was all so tiring and all repeating the same thing again and again.

Why you should do Competitive Programming, even if a little

Aug 16, 2018

I first started Competitive Programming (CP) in the first year of undergrad college. I should have started sooner. CP has played an important role in my career so far. In fact, it was the major reason I got the freelance contract (Toptal) that I am doing. Simply speaking, being good in Competitive or Sports Programming allowed me to outrank other programmers by a large margin. So yes, CP is important.

Letter to a Computer Science college fresher

Aug 14, 2018

I was recently asked by a Computer Science college fresher about plans and advice for this new adventure of theirs. Here is the exact reply I sent. Hi Slim, I don’t know if this will be a self-fulfilling answer. But here it goes. The truth is, you can’t really plan a lot. At least, that’s what I believe in. Instead, find something that you are interested in, and do it.

Why software shouldn't be free

Aug 13, 2018

People have really a hard-time paying for software, online courses, digital subscriptions, and other similar online stuff. This really saddens me. We have reached this point in our civilization where software (or any code-backed product) are commonplace like any physical goods. So why the discrimination? I will tell you why. People know that software, songs, courses etc can be easily mass distributed. That is, if you do make a software or song, you can almost distribute it for the same cost to 10s or millions of people.

Freelancing - Worth the risks? And how to get started

Aug 12, 2018

I have been asked this many times. How do I get into freelance? Honestly, it’s not that easy. Freelancing comes with downtimes where you won’t get a client for a period of time which can be quite nerving if you are just starting out (and don’t have any savings). But all in all, freelancing is quite a good career option in the long run. Why? Many reasons - Ability to choose your work Location independence - work from anywhere, including your home Higher relative pays if you reside in a third world country (like India) But you can really enjoy all these benefits once you have set your foot in the freelancing world.

Move Fast and Break Things - How it works

Aug 11, 2018

Move Fast and Break Things - such a popular saying in the startup world. Some are so in favor of it that they sing it everyday while there are others that absolutely loathe it. I, for one, used to be not much of a strong believer in this. But then, through my own life experiences, I realized how this works. There are two components to it - (1) Move Fast

How learning modern languages can give you an edge in career

Aug 10, 2018

The new languages coming out these days are amazing, especially when coming from the C’s and Java’s. Go is super fast and a pleasure to code in, thanks to its static typing. Rust has a syntax we all know and love but in bonus, with the speed of C. Dart is nice too, and thanks to Flutter, we can make beautiful native mobile apps using it. And that too, cross-platform.

What Is Dev Letters

Aug 8, 2018

Dev Letters is a new project of mine. Actually, I wanted to blog and all and I didn’t know what I should write about. But then, I remembered that I have been programming for 5+ years and I have my fair share of experiences. So I started this blog. However, there is a twist. This is a mailing-list first blog. Meaning, the post (or letter) first gets sent to the mailing list and then to the blog.