When I was a Computer Science student, I dreamt about working at a FAANG company. With their strong global influence, I would've been thrilled to be welcomed into either of the five tech giants of FAANG (or MAANG): Facebook/Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, or Google. After years of

This blog was originally published on Substack. Subscribe to ‘Letters to New Coders’ to receive free weekly posts. Imagine a game of billiards. An intermediate player teaches a total beginner how the rules work, and they play a round. The beginner wins. This is a classic case of beginner’s

This blog was originally published on Substack. Subscribe to ‘Letters to New Coders’ to receive free weekly posts. As a Computer Science student, I hit a bit of a hiccup while I was working on my first slightly bigger project involving data structures and pointers. It took me a day

This blog was originally published on Substack. Subscribe to ‘Letters to New Coders’ to receive free weekly posts. Within a few weeks of starting my university computer science program, I hit a pretty demoralizing “coder’s block.” This hiccup was agonizing at the time — but ended up giving me one

This blog was originally published on Substack. Subscribe to ‘Letters to New Coders’ to receive free weekly posts. Building great software. Having a fulfilling career. Solving challenging problems. These are the aspirations that inspired me to learn programming in the early ’00s. They have likely also influenced you to want

This blog was originally published on Substack. Subscribe to ‘Letters to New Coders’ to receive free weekly posts. Many aspiring developers ask themselves: “Am I smart enough to become a developer?” I actually hate this question. It’s rooted in myths about what it takes to be a developer — not

This blog was originally published on Substack. Subscribe to ‘Letters to New Coders’ to receive free weekly posts. My daughter just turned 12 and will learn to drive in a few years. When I picture her getting behind the wheel, I can't help but think about how different