[BAWD #124] Jack of All Trades, Often Better Than Master of One

Oct 07, 2024

Hello 👋🏾,

I trust you had a blissful past few days and are keen for the week ahead. I missed writing to you 🥺, and I’m glad I could share this letter with you today 😃! I’ve been working on some new stuff lately and look forward to sharing it all with you soon. Btw, here’s a friendly reminder that:

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Nerd Memes of the Week 🥲

Featured Technical Articles ✍🏾👩🏽‍💻

Better than a master of one by Ire Aderinokun.
‘Give Away Your Legos’ and Other Commandments for Scaling Startups by Molly Graham.
Exploring software design problems and solutions: Transactions and side effects by Shalvah.
Create Interactive Digital Logic Circuits in React by Vivisa Ganesan.
Using data science to tackle land degradation by Data4SDGs.
How to Build Design Editing Apps using Nextjs, Clerk, and IMGLY’s CE.SDK Engine by Bolaji Ayodeji.
Introduction to Open Source for Nonprofits and Social Sector Organizations by GitHub Social Impact.
Six ways countries are implementing safe, inclusive, and interoperable DPI with open source by DPGA.
How to Create an Automated Profile README using Nodejs and GitHub Actions by Bolaji Ayodeji.
The 10 Commandments of Navigating Code Reviews by Angie Jones.
Forked Communities: Whose Property Is It Anyway? by Stephen Walli.

Featured Productivity Articles ✍🏾🦅

Good Enough Is Just Fine by Lawrence Yeo.
Why Growth Requires Struggle by Mike Manson.
Hard work vs. Long work by Seth Godin.
What I Do When I Feel Like Giving Up by James Clear.

Product of the Week ✨

Puter is an advanced, self-hostable open-source internet operating system designed to be feature-rich (many use cases), fast, and highly extensible. You can explore the source and contribute here.

Good Tidings 🔊

Sarah shared this excerpt from the introduction of the book “A Philosophy of Software Design” by John Ousterhout, and I loved it.
You can now add a CITATION.cff file to the root of your GitHub repository to help users correctly cite your software.
Confused about the "right way" to fetch data in React? Here’s a nice diagram showing you the different options.
Switzerland 🇨🇭 has introduced the Federal Law on the Use of Electronic Means for the Fulfillment of Government Tasks (EMBAG), which requires all public bodies in the country to open source the code of all software developed by or for them. This approach aims to enhance government operations' transparency, security, and efficiency (love it!).
Here’s a mini-course designed to help React developers learn Vim commands and apply them to real-world scenarios by fixing and editing React code.
Here’s a good opportunity (w/ a monthly stipend) for anyone interested in Nigerian history (historians, ethnographers, journalists, artists, technologists, researchers, writers, filmmakers, and content creators). The fellowship is a multidisciplinary six-month programme designed to enhance the world’s understanding of Nigerian history in engaging and meaningful ways. Applications are closing by October 10th; please hurry.
If you’d like to learn how to commercialize your open source project from a VC and YC-backed startup founder who has invested $500M+ in 100+ startups, including OSS devtools like Nginx, you should watch this video.
Here’s a free React 19 cheat sheet you can take a look at.
The Principles for Digital Development are nine living guidelines that are designed to serve as a compass for those working to promote sustainable and inclusive development in today’s complex digital landscape. Using these Principles as a starting point, policymakers, practitioners, and technologists will be better equipped to ensure that all people can benefit from digital initiatives and from the broader digital society.

Lists and Collections 🗂️

You can take over 2,500 MIT courses from various fields online for free through MIT OpenCourseWare.
Here’s a curated list of project-based programming tutorials you can use to learn how to build applications from scratch.
Here’s a complete computer science study plan you can use to become a software engineer.
Here is a collection of universities, companies, and organizations that offer free online courses with certificates.
Here’s a collection of the best promotional deals for developers to level up your skills, workspace gadgets, etc.
If you’re looking to get started with technical writing, you should check this for a curated list of articles, books, videos, tools, podcasts, etc.
For managers, here’s a collection of engineering leadership resources that you’d find helpful.
Are you 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!
Here's a recommendation of the top websites to find remote jobs for different software engineering and product fields in tech.
Here’s a curated list of interview questions for different programming languages, frameworks, and technologies.

Book Recommendations 📚

All of Grace by Charles Spurgeon.
Developer Experience (DX) by Addy Osmani.
Fluent React by Tejas Kumar.
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 cool tweets and my favorite videos from YouTube these past weeks.

⬇️: Stanford Computer Scientist Answers Coding Questions

⬇️: Open Source Stories - Episode I | Hello World

⬇️: Unlocking Career Success: The Secret to Thriving in Tech

⬇️: Digital Public Goods Decoded

Quote of the Week 💙

“You can carve out a very good career simply by being the most reliable person on the team. You would not think that always showing up on time, hitting every deadline, and responding quickly and professionally to all communication would be such a differentiator, but these traits are always in short supply.” —James Clear.

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Shout out to my amazing supporters: Angie Jones and Obinna Odirionye. Their support enables me to keep writing these letters, teaching, curating resources, and supporting others. Thank you!

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Bolaji Ayodeji's Weekly Digest