interview prep VS the actual job
Daniel Moka
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35 viral posts with 46,269 likes, 2,827 comments, and 2,298 shares.
21 image posts, 0 carousel posts, 2 video posts, 10 text posts.
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If you look at your application and you only see folders like these:
ā
š App
|__ šAPI
|__ šModels
|__ šViews
|__ šControllers
|__ šDTOs
|__ šDatabase
|__ ...
Then your app does not tell anything about the problem it solves.
It is driven by technology instead of the domain.
If you want to add a new feature you would need to add files to all these places.
Features are mixed, leading to maintenance hell.
Now look at this folder structure:
ā
š CarRentalService
|__ šAutoPicker
|__ šUserManager
|__ šPaymentProcessor
|__ šInvoiceGenerator
|__ šSupportCenter
|__ ...
It is called screaming architecture. It screams the domain.
It is easy to navigate, with clear domain separations.
If you want to add a new feature, you just add a new main directory.
It has better discoverability, and results in low entry curve for new developers.
A clean folder structure is like a well-organized room; everything has its place, and it's easy to find what you need.
Your folder structure should communicate the domain, not the technology.
--------
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ā
š App
|__ šAPI
|__ šModels
|__ šViews
|__ šControllers
|__ šDTOs
|__ šDatabase
|__ ...
Then your app does not tell anything about the problem it solves.
It is driven by technology instead of the domain.
If you want to add a new feature you would need to add files to all these places.
Features are mixed, leading to maintenance hell.
Now look at this folder structure:
ā
š CarRentalService
|__ šAutoPicker
|__ šUserManager
|__ šPaymentProcessor
|__ šInvoiceGenerator
|__ šSupportCenter
|__ ...
It is called screaming architecture. It screams the domain.
It is easy to navigate, with clear domain separations.
If you want to add a new feature, you just add a new main directory.
It has better discoverability, and results in low entry curve for new developers.
A clean folder structure is like a well-organized room; everything has its place, and it's easy to find what you need.
Your folder structure should communicate the domain, not the technology.
--------
PS: If you liked this post, you will love my FREE newsletter.
Subscribe here: craftbettersoftware.com
You are not paid to write code.
You are paid to solve problems.
Half of the solution is understanding the problem.
When it comes to producing quality software, you need to focus on two things:
- doing the right thing
- doing the thing right
In this particular order.
You are paid to solve problems.
Half of the solution is understanding the problem.
When it comes to producing quality software, you need to focus on two things:
- doing the right thing
- doing the thing right
In this particular order.
You are not paid to write code.
You are paid to solve problems.
Half of the solution is understanding the problem.
When it comes to producing quality software, you need to focus on two things:
- doing the right thing
- doing the thing right
In this particular order.
You are paid to solve problems.
Half of the solution is understanding the problem.
When it comes to producing quality software, you need to focus on two things:
- doing the right thing
- doing the thing right
In this particular order.
Writing bad code feels fast. But it's an illusion.
The cost of writing bad code might be cheaper in the beginning.
But over time, it slows you down more and more, making it worth the effort to write clean code.
Quality costs less. Invest in quality today, win time tomorrow.
The cost of writing bad code might be cheaper in the beginning.
But over time, it slows you down more and more, making it worth the effort to write clean code.
Quality costs less. Invest in quality today, win time tomorrow.
Many software engineering teams don't have time to do it right.
But surprisingly, they have time to do it twice.
But surprisingly, they have time to do it twice.
CI is NOT a build server.
TDD is NOT equal to testing.
DevOps is NOT a role in a team.
Code coverage is NOT a quality metric.
Rewriting is NOT the same as refactoring.
Using feature branches is NOT a best practice.
Software engineering is NOT only about coding.
While most developers think otherwise, we shouldn't be surprised by all the low-quality software products
By changing these beliefs, we can create better software.
TDD is NOT equal to testing.
DevOps is NOT a role in a team.
Code coverage is NOT a quality metric.
Rewriting is NOT the same as refactoring.
Using feature branches is NOT a best practice.
Software engineering is NOT only about coding.
While most developers think otherwise, we shouldn't be surprised by all the low-quality software products
By changing these beliefs, we can create better software.
Programming is 98% thinking and 2% typing.
True skills involve planning, problem-solving, and creativity before your fingers hit the keyboard.
Start with understanding the problem domain.
Think first, code second.
Your best work comes from your thoughts, not from your keystrokes.
True skills involve planning, problem-solving, and creativity before your fingers hit the keyboard.
Start with understanding the problem domain.
Think first, code second.
Your best work comes from your thoughts, not from your keystrokes.
when I spend 1M tokens and the
still isn't centered
If I interview you, I don't care which language or framework you use.
All I care is:
ā¢ how you treat people
ā¢ if you have a broad interest, and empathy for others
ā¢ your curiosity to learn whatever it takes to solve customer problems
If you are good at these, you are hired as we can teach you everything else.
But unfortunately, we can't teach a jerk not to be a jerk.
All I care is:
ā¢ how you treat people
ā¢ if you have a broad interest, and empathy for others
ā¢ your curiosity to learn whatever it takes to solve customer problems
If you are good at these, you are hired as we can teach you everything else.
But unfortunately, we can't teach a jerk not to be a jerk.
A developer should never ask permission for:
ā¢ writing clean code
ā¢ refactoring the code
ā¢ documenting the code
ā¢ writing automated tests
They should be mandatory tasks for every developer.
Producing well-designed code is our territory, and the management should have nothing to say about it.
We should do these as a part of being good software professionals.
ā¢ writing clean code
ā¢ refactoring the code
ā¢ documenting the code
ā¢ writing automated tests
They should be mandatory tasks for every developer.
Producing well-designed code is our territory, and the management should have nothing to say about it.
We should do these as a part of being good software professionals.
The daily standup is NOT a status meeting!
It's a planning meeting and our most important task is to talk about blockers.
It should never be used to report to anyone. It's for the team, by the team, and not for the managers.
It's a planning meeting and our most important task is to talk about blockers.
It should never be used to report to anyone. It's for the team, by the team, and not for the managers.
If I interview you, I don't care which language or framework you use.
All I care is:
ā¢ how you treat people
ā¢ if you have a broad interest, and empathy for others
ā¢ your curiosity to learn whatever it takes to solve customer problems
If you are good at these, you are hired as we can teach you everything else.
But unfortunately, we can't teach a jerk not to be a jerk.
---
Join 37,000 developers to master AI: craftbettersoftware.com
All I care is:
ā¢ how you treat people
ā¢ if you have a broad interest, and empathy for others
ā¢ your curiosity to learn whatever it takes to solve customer problems
If you are good at these, you are hired as we can teach you everything else.
But unfortunately, we can't teach a jerk not to be a jerk.
---
Join 37,000 developers to master AI: craftbettersoftware.com
Every developer must be a tester.
Most QA teams would disappear if devs followed a good testing strategy.
Pushing testing to another team shows a lack of responsibility.
"It's fine, our testers will test it" - they say.
It's time for developers to grow up and take ownership of the quality of their work.
QA is not a separate team. It's part of your team. It includes QA experts who help achieve high-quality culture.
Quality is not something that you fix at the end.
It is something that you build in from day one.
---
Join 35,000+ software crafters to learn AI: craftbettersoftware.com
Most QA teams would disappear if devs followed a good testing strategy.
Pushing testing to another team shows a lack of responsibility.
"It's fine, our testers will test it" - they say.
It's time for developers to grow up and take ownership of the quality of their work.
QA is not a separate team. It's part of your team. It includes QA experts who help achieve high-quality culture.
Quality is not something that you fix at the end.
It is something that you build in from day one.
---
Join 35,000+ software crafters to learn AI: craftbettersoftware.com
Seniors can learn a lot from junior developers.
Juniors have a beginner's mindset.
They constantly ask questions and challenge the foundations.
As you gain more experience, the danger increases.
The feelings of expertise can lead you to be dogmatic against new ideas, resulting in less efficient software solutions.
That's why you should always ask the WHY, question everything, and approach your tasks with a beginner's mindset.
Juniors have a beginner's mindset.
They constantly ask questions and challenge the foundations.
As you gain more experience, the danger increases.
The feelings of expertise can lead you to be dogmatic against new ideas, resulting in less efficient software solutions.
That's why you should always ask the WHY, question everything, and approach your tasks with a beginner's mindset.
Software engineering is the only career where the interview is harder than the job.
Most companies hire for skills instead of attitude.
Thatās backwards.
You can teach skills.
But you canāt teach hunger, humility, and willingness to learn.
Give people a freaking chance.
---
Join 36,000 software developers to master AI: craftbettersoftware.com
Most companies hire for skills instead of attitude.
Thatās backwards.
You can teach skills.
But you canāt teach hunger, humility, and willingness to learn.
Give people a freaking chance.
---
Join 36,000 software developers to master AI: craftbettersoftware.com
The first rule of microservices: Never start with microservices.
People want to scale like Netflix before even getting 10 users.
Kubernetes is cool, but unnecessary complexity for most.
Start with a monolith instead.
Itās faster to build. Cheaper to run. Easier to reason about.
Most your āmicroservicesā could be just a function inside one well-structured app.
Donāt chase hype.
Ship value.
Then scale with microservices only if needed.
People want to scale like Netflix before even getting 10 users.
Kubernetes is cool, but unnecessary complexity for most.
Start with a monolith instead.
Itās faster to build. Cheaper to run. Easier to reason about.
Most your āmicroservicesā could be just a function inside one well-structured app.
Donāt chase hype.
Ship value.
Then scale with microservices only if needed.
Stop hiring developers based on green dots in GitHub profiles.
The best developers I know are not even on GitHub.
They develop closed-source apps on platforms like GitLab.
Git activity shows quantity, not quality.
Measure developers based on the value they bring to a repo, not by how often they commit to a repo.
The best developers I know are not even on GitHub.
They develop closed-source apps on platforms like GitLab.
Git activity shows quantity, not quality.
Measure developers based on the value they bring to a repo, not by how often they commit to a repo.
Most AI code review tools fail for one reason:
They donāt have memory.
You ask.
They answer.
Then they forget everything.
So every time, you start from zero.
CodeRabbit just fixed this with their biggest feature yet: CodeRabbit Agent.
A Slack-native engineering agent that:
- Understands your codebase, tickets, docs, and infra
- Remembers what your team did and why
- Executes tasks directly inside Slack threads
It became our teamās second brain. It handles code reviews without losing context.
Quality code reviews need two things: speed and context.
Most tools give you one.
CodeRabbit Agent gives you both.
Get Started Now: https://lnkd.in/dxEyNAuP
They donāt have memory.
You ask.
They answer.
Then they forget everything.
So every time, you start from zero.
CodeRabbit just fixed this with their biggest feature yet: CodeRabbit Agent.
A Slack-native engineering agent that:
- Understands your codebase, tickets, docs, and infra
- Remembers what your team did and why
- Executes tasks directly inside Slack threads
It became our teamās second brain. It handles code reviews without losing context.
Quality code reviews need two things: speed and context.
Most tools give you one.
CodeRabbit Agent gives you both.
Get Started Now: https://lnkd.in/dxEyNAuP
Career tip: You donāt need much to be a great developer.
Not a CS degree.
Not a $2500 MacBook.
Not 3 monitors, 5 coffees a day, or 12-hour workdays.
You also don't need to work at FAANG companies.
Hereās what you actually need:
ā¢ An average laptop
ā¢ A love for learning
ā¢ And the drive to get a little better every day
Thatās it.
Everything else is noise.
Not a CS degree.
Not a $2500 MacBook.
Not 3 monitors, 5 coffees a day, or 12-hour workdays.
You also don't need to work at FAANG companies.
Hereās what you actually need:
ā¢ An average laptop
ā¢ A love for learning
ā¢ And the drive to get a little better every day
Thatās it.
Everything else is noise.
Clean Code tip: Write clean commit messages
Itās the best tool to document the reason for change in your code.
Here are 5 tips on how I write commits in my team:
1. Explain the WHY
ā Add endpoint
ā Add endpoint to enable users to download purchase history
2. Summarize WHAT the commit does, not HOW it does it:
ā Changed the button color by updating CSS file
ā Update primary button color for better contrast
3. Use present tense with imperative mood
ā I have removed
ā Remove ...
4. Add link reference to the actual work item
ā Fix login bug when user is inactive
ā d342da: Fix login bug when user is inactive
5. Donāt include file names - they are in the Git details
ā Update dependencies in package.json
ā Update dependencies to address security vulnerabilities
Clean commit messages are part of internal software quality.
For more GIT best practices, check out my FREE newsletter: craftbettersoftware.com
Itās the best tool to document the reason for change in your code.
Here are 5 tips on how I write commits in my team:
1. Explain the WHY
ā Add endpoint
ā Add endpoint to enable users to download purchase history
2. Summarize WHAT the commit does, not HOW it does it:
ā Changed the button color by updating CSS file
ā Update primary button color for better contrast
3. Use present tense with imperative mood
ā I have removed
ā Remove ...
4. Add link reference to the actual work item
ā Fix login bug when user is inactive
ā d342da: Fix login bug when user is inactive
5. Donāt include file names - they are in the Git details
ā Update dependencies in package.json
ā Update dependencies to address security vulnerabilities
Clean commit messages are part of internal software quality.
For more GIT best practices, check out my FREE newsletter: craftbettersoftware.com
There are 27 million software engineers in the world.
But most don't know the best technology newsletters.
Here are some must-subscribe newsletters that'll give you incredible value:
1. System Design
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d_7nxBtN
2. Real-life Webdev Tips
ā³ https://markodenic.tech/
3. Engineering Leadership
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d-xW35KH
4. Byte Sized Bets
ā³ https://bytesizedbets.com/
5. System Design Classroom
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dUC7acKZ
6. The T-shaped Dev
ā³ https://thetshaped.dev
7. Coding With Roby
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d4Q7DU9m
8. Top 1% of .NET Engineers:
ā³ https://antondevtips.com/
9. Coding Challenges
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dhkXKCp7
10 .NET WeeklyĀ
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d59U86YA
11. ByteByteGo
ā³ https://lnkd.in/deqzznfs
12. Hungry Minds AI
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dv_kG_6p
13. Optivem Journal
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dYE8eh6E
14. The AI Engineer:
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dihaaDP7
15. The Curious Mak
ā³ https://lnkd.in/da-rx-jU
16. The Polymathic Engineer
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d8D8tP47
Subscribe to them, and I guarantee you won't regret it!
What else would you add to the list?
ā
Also listing the writers so you can follow:
- Neo Kim
- Marko Denic
- Gregor Ojstersek
- Petar Ivanov
- Raul Junco
- Ankur Tyagi
- John Crickett
- Milan JovanoviÄ
- Valentina JemuoviÄ
- Anton Martyniuk
- Alex Xu
- Paolo Perrone
- Alexandre Zajac
- Mayank A.
- Eric Roby
- Fernando Franco
---
Join 37,000 software developers to master AI: craftbettersoftware.com
But most don't know the best technology newsletters.
Here are some must-subscribe newsletters that'll give you incredible value:
1. System Design
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d_7nxBtN
2. Real-life Webdev Tips
ā³ https://markodenic.tech/
3. Engineering Leadership
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d-xW35KH
4. Byte Sized Bets
ā³ https://bytesizedbets.com/
5. System Design Classroom
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dUC7acKZ
6. The T-shaped Dev
ā³ https://thetshaped.dev
7. Coding With Roby
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d4Q7DU9m
8. Top 1% of .NET Engineers:
ā³ https://antondevtips.com/
9. Coding Challenges
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dhkXKCp7
10 .NET WeeklyĀ
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d59U86YA
11. ByteByteGo
ā³ https://lnkd.in/deqzznfs
12. Hungry Minds AI
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dv_kG_6p
13. Optivem Journal
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dYE8eh6E
14. The AI Engineer:
ā³ https://lnkd.in/dihaaDP7
15. The Curious Mak
ā³ https://lnkd.in/da-rx-jU
16. The Polymathic Engineer
ā³ https://lnkd.in/d8D8tP47
Subscribe to them, and I guarantee you won't regret it!
What else would you add to the list?
ā
Also listing the writers so you can follow:
- Neo Kim
- Marko Denic
- Gregor Ojstersek
- Petar Ivanov
- Raul Junco
- Ankur Tyagi
- John Crickett
- Milan JovanoviÄ
- Valentina JemuoviÄ
- Anton Martyniuk
- Alex Xu
- Paolo Perrone
- Alexandre Zajac
- Mayank A.
- Eric Roby
- Fernando Franco
---
Join 37,000 software developers to master AI: craftbettersoftware.com
A good software architect writes code.
There is nothing worse than an architect who hasn't opened a code editor in years.
They are called ivory-tower architects. It is a red flag.
Knowing how to implement solutions with recent technologies is essential to develop a good design.
A good architect works closely with the team to create a design that maximizes productivity and efficiently solves the problem domain.
---
Join 35,000+ software crafters: craftbettersoftware.com
There is nothing worse than an architect who hasn't opened a code editor in years.
They are called ivory-tower architects. It is a red flag.
Knowing how to implement solutions with recent technologies is essential to develop a good design.
A good architect works closely with the team to create a design that maximizes productivity and efficiently solves the problem domain.
---
Join 35,000+ software crafters: craftbettersoftware.com
A senior developer in one stack might be a junior in many others.
But their expertise is not defined by their stack.
It is defined by their language-agnostic mindset.
A mindset that is transferable across all languages and frameworks.
If someone develops this mindset, picking up a new language or framework takes only a couple of weeks.
But their expertise is not defined by their stack.
It is defined by their language-agnostic mindset.
A mindset that is transferable across all languages and frameworks.
If someone develops this mindset, picking up a new language or framework takes only a couple of weeks.