Introduction

I have always loved sharing knowledge, as it is my way of appreciating everything the tech community has given me. Writing personal blogs or articles is a great way to practice writing, consolidate our knowledge, and, of course, help others.

When I decided to write a book, my first goal was to reach beginners in software development. I wanted to share the tips and knowledge I had acquired throughout my journey. I also invited other professionals in the field to contribute their perspectives, which added even more value to the book.

In my book “Dev Career Habits: How to Advance in Software Development Beyond Code”, I discuss the importance of software developers understanding not only technology but also the business context. I share some tips for developers who want to advance in their careers, highlighting that a developer’s role today goes far beyond writing code. We need analytical thinking, effective communication, mastery of modern tools, and a solid understanding of business.

The Writing Process

It took me two and a half years to complete this book. The journey required extensive research, and I learned immensely during this process. Writing a book is challenging - sometimes I had no ideas or inspiration, and the hardest part was expressing my thoughts clearly and coherently so readers could understand my message.

I contacted Casa do Código, a Brazilian publishing company specializing in technology books, and sent them some chapters I had written. They liked my concept and decided to publish the book. The entire process of writing, reviewing, and publishing was completely digital. The publisher created a GitHub repository with the complete book structure and README file. From that point forward, whenever I finished a chapter, I would flag it for review. The reviewer would make corrections and changes to the branch, followed by final processes including spelling checks, structure revisions, and cover design.

Chapter division

I divided the book into three parts:

In part one, I explained the IT area and compared it with a restaurant business, by finding some similarities in the roles of some IT professionals and some jobs we find in this kind of business. In the second part, I shared some habits that can help other people improve their careers. I wrote about the importance of communication beyond code, where developers need to develop both soft and hard skills. A programmer requires practice, and I shared some ideas on how developers can practice more and better their abilities.

In the third part, I wrote about the job market, how companies are investing in technologies with AI, and the growth of AI. I also wrote about how professionals can prepare for the job market, different technical interviews, and behavior.

Chapters that I want you to focus on

In part two of my book, I could focus more on habits that can help beginners to improve and advance in their careers. For example, I wrote about the importance of challenging yourself by using small projects and increasing their complexity over time.

Communication and the importance of soft skills

There is a chapter where I reinforced the importance of soft skills, mainly for developers. Soft skills are just as important as hard skills, especially nowadays when there are a lot of AI tools that help us with the technical aspects. For this reason, we need to focus more on that.

Developers need to improve their communication skills, that is important because our job is to solve business problems using technology. Therefore, understanding exactly what the user needs is essential. This way, we can prevent conflicts and maintain clarity in what needs to be done and delivered.

Learn to learn

In the second chapter, I wrote about habits. I gave some tips on how to learn to learn. Technology changes a lot, and we need to recycle and to learn all the time. It doesn’t matter how many books or articles you read if you don’t know how to absorb the content. In this chapter, I explained how our brain works, how to facilitate learning, and how developers can maintain their knowledge.

Tech community

In this part, I shared some ideas about the tech community and how people can contribute with their knowledge and help others. You can, for example, create collaborative projects, train your speaking skills, and check on the job opportunities in your area. For me, the tech community is a great place and opportunity to improve our hard skills and make connections.

Conclusion

To sum up, my objective when I decided to write this book was to help beginners with strategies and facilitate their studying process, making their time more productive.