Advice for New Devs

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: The episode offers practical, experience-based advice for new developers and those leveling up: accept that code often breaks, learn to debug systematically, embrace repetition and momentum, and focus on fundamentals like command-line comfort and reading docs. It also stresses soft skills, humility, collaboration, and building exciting projects, while cautioning against ego, overconfidence, and us-vs-them thinking.

Main Topics: Mindset for Learning and Growth: Scott and Wes emphasize that progress comes from repetition, persistence, and accepting frustration as part of the process. They frame development as a long-term craft where small gains compound over years. Debugging and Error Literacy: A major theme is learning to read error messages, stack traces, and logs, and to isolate problems methodically rather than panic or immediately ask for help. Debugging is presented as a transferable life skill. Practical Technical Foundations: They recommend getting comfortable with the command line, understanding browser/library errors, learning vanilla JavaScript, and using pseudocode or comments to scaffold complex tasks before coding. Soft Skills and Teamwork: The hosts argue that communication, empathy, rapport with clients and PMs, and a collaborative attitude are essential for career growth and promotions. They warn against toxic, defensive, or elitist behavior. Project Choice and Motivation: They encourage building things that excite you and using just-in-time learning when needed. Personal or meaningful projects help maintain motivation and deepen learning more effectively than generic exercises. Perspective on Expertise and Trade-offs: The discussion reinforces that no developer knows everything, most tools have pros and cons, and developers should understand trade-offs before judging technologies or approaches. Community Advice and External Tools: The episode includes listener-submitted advice and sponsor/tool mentions, extending the themes of developer growth, error tracking, content management, and productivity tooling.

Key Arguments: Code not working is normal; new developers should expect frequent bugs and learn to stay calm while iterating. Progress in development comes from compound learning—small daily improvements create large gains over time. Learning to read error messages, stack traces, and logs is one of the fastest ways to become self-sufficient. Debugging works best when you isolate the issue step by step, whether in code or in real-life systems. The command line is still a core part of web development and should be mastered for everyday tasks like navigation, Git, and SSH. Scaffolding with comments or pseudocode helps break down overwhelming problems into manageable steps. Soft skills matter as much as coding skills; good communication with clients, PMs, and teammates can directly affect career advancement. Developers should avoid an us-versus-them mentality and treat designers, clients, and other engineers as teammates. Nobody is an expert in everything; humility and openness to different tools and workflows are essential. Building projects you care about leads to better learning and stronger motivation than forcing generic practice apps. Vanilla JavaScript and fundamentals remain valuable because frameworks change, but underlying concepts transfer. Knowing trade-offs helps developers make better decisions, especially as they move beyond beginner stage. Taking breaks, walking, or sleeping on a bug can help reset thinking and reveal solutions. You do not need to code for fun to be a good developer, but curiosity and problem-solving outside work can still help. Reading documentation and other people’s code becomes easier with practice and is an important skill to develop. Leaving codebases better than you found them builds trust and improves team outcomes.

Data Points: Twitter replies solicited: 63 - Wes mentions the tweet asking for advice for new developers had 63 replies at recording time. Sanity free usage tier increase: Double the free usage tier - Sanity sponsorship offer via syntax.io/syntax. Sanity API requests: 200,000 API requests - Included in the doubled free tier. Sanity API CDN requests: 1 million API CDN requests - Included in the doubled free tier. Sanity asset storage: 10 GB - Included in the doubled free tier. Sanity bandwidth: 20 GB - Included in the doubled free tier. Sentry free period: 2 months free - Available with coupon code HastyTreat. Podcast advice emphasis: 15 years - Wes references about 15 years of experience when discussing compound learning. Vacation milestone: First vacation since the pandemic - Scott mentions an upcoming family vacation. Phone battery repair cost: $25 Canadian (~$19 USD) - Scott describes replacing an iPhone 7 Plus battery. Phone screen repair cost: $100 - Scott describes replacing an iPhone XS Max screen with an aftermarket kit. Apple screen replacement price: $429 Canadian - Scott contrasts Apple’s official repair cost with DIY repair. Seasonal pricing: Summer sale - Wes mentions course discounts during a summer sale. Course discount: $10 off - Wes offers a coupon code syntax for his courses. Annual savings: 25% - Level Up Tutorials pro annual plan discount.

Pivotal Quotes: "There's no formation without repetition." — Wes: Used to explain compound learning and why consistent practice leads to real growth over time. "We all struggle. This stuff is hard." — Wes: Part of the encouragement to accept difficulty as normal in learning to code. "You're a student forever." — Wes: Explaining why humility and openness to learning matter throughout a developer’s career.

Implications: New developers should focus less on perfection and more on durable habits: debugging, fundamentals, communication, and patience. For teams, the episode argues that collaboration and humility outperform ego and tribalism.