Potluck - Career Switch at 33 × Cover Letters × Kids × Learning Quickly × More!

It’s another potluck! In this episode, Scott and Wes answer your questions about career changes, preprocessors, moving, “the gap”, hip hop and more! Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your errors, track them with Sentry. Sentry is open-source error tracking that helps developers monitor and fix crashes in real time. Cut your time on error resolution from five hours to five minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners can get two months for free by visiting Sentry and using the coupon code “tastytreat”. Sanity - Sponsor Sanity.io is a real-time headless CMS with a fully customizable Content Studio built in React. Get a Sanity powered site up and running in minutes at sanity.io/create. Get an awesome supercharged free developer plan on Sanity. Show Notes 1:54 - Q: I am 33 with a wife and two young daughters, and am trying to change careers. My job pays $80,000 a year, but I hate it. My wife is ok with me doing university, but she wants me to stay at the job I don’t like. Should I stand my ground? Any tips on achieving my goals to make me happy, but also keep my family happy? 10:10 - Q: What is your advice to very junior/junior devs in writing cover letters for jobs? I wonder what to say without sounding canned and fake. 14:35 - Q: Scott, what was the stack you were using at Ford? 17:09 - Q: Other than reading the docs, how do you guys go about learning/trying out new technologies? Do you rebuild similar applications or pick out individual features you think are “sIcK”? 22:32 - Q: Is it always necessary to use setState in react when storing data (for example, a form input) even if you don’t intend on re-rendering the page, or can you get away without using state? 25:04 - Q: Development has a stereotype for being a young person’s game. As someone who started their career out of university, I often wonder how long I can sling divs for? Do you think you could make it to retirement age or do you think the game will change out from under you? 30:34 - Q: Scott, you’ve mentioned you love hip hop. Would you be willing to share any playlists of your all-time favorite hip hop artists? 32:08 - Q: What are your thoughts on HTML pre-processors? If you use one, which one(s) do you prefer and why? 36:04 - Q: What advice would you have for someone considering to “level up” their career by moving from a city with few tech jobs to a city with more opportunity for tech jobs? What are some of the biggest things to consider when moving possibly cross-country to further a career? 42:11 - Q: What are your recommendations in terms of resources for first time dads (and moms) like books, podcasts, etc. and generally good co-parenting advice for working professionals? 46:45 - Q: Loved the show with Travis. Had a question about “the gap”. Similar to design ambitions/taste surpassing current skill, when did you feel like your code had “grown up” and that you could actually DO what you envisioned with Javascript? Links Syntax 044: How to Learn New Things Quickly Scott’s Spotify playlist - “Rap Music To Code To = Level Up Tutorials” Scott’s Spotify playlist - “Golden Era” Scott’s music picks Apache - Apache Ain’t Shit MF DOOM - MM…Food Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly GZA - Liquid Swords Gang Starr - Daily Operation Slick Rick - The Ruler’s Back Redman & Method Man - Blackout Q-Tip - The Renaissance Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)[Expanded Edition] - Wu-Tang Clan Pete Rock on Spotify Preemo on Spotify Codeland Conference Syntax 142: Travis Neilson on Skills Gap, Design, Focus and Working at Google ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Oculus Quest All-in-one VR Gaming Headset Wes: Marpac Rhom Portable White Noise Sound Machine Shameless Plugs Scott’s new course - “Dev Tools and Debugging” Wes’ Courses - Use the coupon code ‘Syntax’ for $10 off! Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets