What you need to know for your first developer job that you won’t learn in school
There’s a lot of important topics to learn as a developer. Algorithms, data structures, programming languages, there’s too many to count. That’s before we start on programming languages. Go is trending right now. JavaScript is the most popular language of 2018. 3 billion devices run Java (since the 90’s apparently). It’s hard to pick a language when you don’t know what it’s used for.
This article isn’t about these topics, because these are often taught at computer science schools and similar courses. This article is about the tools and skills that aren’t taught at schools and will make a huge difference when you get your first job. You’ll be able to apply these no matter if you end up being a web developer or a data scientist.
Git
This is as much of a tool as it is a skill. Doesn’t matter what kind of developer you are or what language you use, you’ll use it almost every day.
Git is a Source Control Manager or SCM for short. In other words, it allows you to work with different versions of your code. Git provides tools that make working with many people on the same project a less painful experience.
If you’re working on a project by yourself it’s a great idea to use Git for many reasons. The obvious one is that you can store your code in the cloud for free. Many companies offer free public repositories, such as Github, Gitlab and Bitbucket. But if you’re working in a team odds are you’ll end up using Git sooner or later, so it’s better to learn it beforehand.
A great way to learn git is by using learngitbranching. The fact that it uses a visual canvas to explain how the commands behave is incredibly helpful. You can learn the basics in less than a day, but you’ll be learning new powerful commands for a long time.
