[BAWD #105] OSCAFEST 2023 and LiFT Scholarship

Apr 02, 2023

Hello 👋🏾,

I trust you had a blissful week. Btw, here’s a friendly reminder that people are visual creatures, so demo it, or it doesn’t exist (always “show—visually” people your work as much as possible).

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Featured Technical Articles ✍🏾👩🏽‍💻

Unlocking the Potential of Cloud Computing with AWS SageMaker by Abdulsamod Azeez.
Single-sign on with Commerce Layer using Next.js and Auth0 by Matteo Alessani.
2023 State of Databases for Serverless & Edge by Lee Robinson.
Help your team sustain a healthy work-life balance by Lisa Vanderschuit.
How to model product catalogs by Filippo Conforti.
Improve productivity through incremental automation by Jess Pomfret.
An Interactive Guide to Flexbox by Josh Comeau.
How to Ask Effective Questions: A Practical Guide for Developers by Bolaji Ayodeji.
How to protect your calendar against unnecessary meetings
by Harry Guinness.
Artificial intelligence is driving misinformation through deep fakes by Johnstone Kpilaakaa.

Featured Productivity Articles ✍🏾🦅

The productivity tax you pay for context switching by Elaine Meyer.
Screw Finding Your Passion by Mike Manson.
Good Enough Is Just Fine by Lawrence Yeo.
No More Miscommunication by Zef Hemel.
A Different Way of Thinking About Productivity by James Clear.

Product of the Week ✨

MyTherapist.ng is a platform that offers quality and affordable therapy services to everyone desiring a healthier and happier life.

Good Tidings 🔊

Want to speak at the largest Open Source conference in Africa? You can now apply to speak at the annual Open Source Festival until 24th April. Also, if you’re interested in sponsoring the event, you can explore this deck and reach out.
The Linux Foundation is hosting the 12th Linux Foundation Training (LiFT) Scholarship Program to provide opportunities to promising up-and-coming Developers and SysAdmins that do not have the ability to attend training courses or take certification exams. You can learn more and apply for the program in this form.
Twitter recently open-sourced the algorithm that powers their tweets recommendation (the-algorithm and the-algorithm-ml). Basically, Twitter fetches the best tweets from different recommendation sources, ranks each tweet using a machine learning model, and applies heuristics and filters. Since the release, there have been tons of troll and spam issues/PRs.
You can use this algorithm rank validator tool to see how your tweet performs against the open-sourced Twitter algorithm.
Here’s a curated list of interview questions for different programming languages, frameworks, and technologies.
Here is a collection of universities, companies, and organizations that offer free online courses with certificates.
Here’s a complete computer science study plan you can use to become a software engineer.
Looking to network with other student community leaders and professionals or level up your skills and give back to your community? You can join the GitHub Campus Experts program now and expand your connections!
If you’re a student (at any level), you can apply to get the GitHub Student Developer Pack and access the best developer tools, resources, and courses for FREE.
Here’s a curated list of project-based programming tutorials you can use to learn how to build applications from scratch.
Need support for your learning? Every month, you can get funding for your learning needs (internet subscription, computer device, or courses) from anonymous people who care.
Here's a recommendation of the top five websites to find remote jobs for different fields in tech.

Book Recommendations 📚

All of Grace by Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Simplified JavaScript for VIPs by Ebenezer Don.
The Pragmatic Programmer by Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt.
Engineering Management for the Rest of Us by Sarah Drasner.
Building Python Web APIs with FastAPI by Abdulazeez Adeshina.

Featured Tweets and Videos 😍

Here are some tweets I think are cool and some of my favorite videos from YouTube this week.

Ebenezer Don @ebenezerDN

As a programmer, you will never know everything, but that's okay. There's no need to look down on yourself or feel inferior when you hit a knowledge gap. The thrill of discovery is what makes tech exciting! 🚀

Osaretin Victor Asemota @asemota

Nigeria’s greatest resource is people and not oil. A doctor who has gone through the Nigerian system to qualify has gone through Hell and is ready for anything. This is why they keep coming.

Alex Brogan @_alexbrogan

ChatGPT is free education. But 99% don’t know the best prompts on its virtual campus. Here are the top prompts to accelerate your learning:

Ian Coldwater 📦💥 @IanColdwater

just reviewed a resume from a very junior dev, and I've been on both sides of this now: it's common for people trying to break into the industry to be like "I just want a job! I'll do whatever!" but as a hiring manager that actually makes it harder to know what to do w/ you. 1/🧵

⬇️: Harvard CS50’s Web Programming with Python and JavaScript – Full University Course

⬇️: Nine Passive Income Ideas

⬇️: Nigerian Expats Talk About Cost of Living in the Netherlands

⬇️: Mankind In The Image Of God

Quote of the Week 💙

“Never admire quietly… it’s important to give people their flowers while they’re here” –Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Shout out to my amazing Patrons: Maya Shavin, Angie Jones, Sarah Drasner, Samson Goddy, and Obinna Odirionye.

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That's all for this letter. See you next time, and stay safe!

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Bolaji Ayodeji's Weekly Digest