Things I've been writing on dev.to
Tags: bestofdev, pinned
Published: 2020-02-17 18:38:34

Hello human,

You just landed on my profile and probably don't have time to read the dozens of posts and hundreds of comments I've written here. I've hesitated in doing a list of my "greatest hits", since it doesn't exactly feel humble. On the other hand having to read the articles "latest first" seems a waste of time, so here is a personal selection of things I've written here. 


# Kotlin, Android, Gradle

I've written a lot about Kotlin and will probably continue to do so since it's my default language for everything. If you are getting started, you may find this interesting:

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/best-ways-to-learn-kotlin-from-scratch-or-from-java-with-books-or-tutorials-online-or-in-the-ide-52cm %}

And if you know Kotlin but want to level up, read this:

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/how-to-become-effective-with-kotlin-answers-from-marcin-moskala-22jm %}

This article about Gradle was also very popular

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/how-kotlin-makes-editing-your-gradle-build-less-frustrating-232l %}


I insist on pointing out that Kotlin and Android are not the same thing

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/kotlin-is-not-android-2ojc %}

And the reason for that is that I've had a bad experience learning Android at the start of my career - I recovered since, thanks you for asking.

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/android-s-billion-dollar-mistake-327b %}

# Careers

We developers tend to obsess over the little things, but it's good to take many steps back and think about the big picture. And what could be more important than your own career? I have written this and plan to write more about it:

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/she-was-parenting-two-girls-nevertheless-shecoded-and-lead-a-team-interview-with-julie-vandenabeele-orzea-5642 %}

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/from-marketing-to-backend-developer-in-one-year-the-story-of-adele-carpentier-33fk %}

# Permanent stress? No, thanks

I think we are making it way to hard on ourselves. Can I elaborate? Sure

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/are-you-feeling-overwhelmed-refactor-your-assumptions-46ah %}

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/to-become-a-good-xxx-stop-giving-so-much-fucks-about-things-that-don-t-matter-13pd %}

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/what-s-the-worst-programming-language-to-learn-1f51 %}

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/discuss-are-best-practices-overrated-5b10 %}

Of course there are some good reasons to be stressed. In march 2020, we were in a global pandemy for example. But even then, please try to refactor the energy that makes you stressed into something meaningful to you

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/how-do-we-stay-sane-and-connected-to-others-in-a-scary-world-296n %}



# Open-Source

This weird article is a personal favorite and I keep thinking about it often

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/what-dancing-tango-tells-us-about-hacktoberfest-4kmd %}

I have my own open-source project

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/better-dependency-management-in-android-studio-3-5-with-gradle-buildsrcversions-34e9 %}


# Discussions

I've found dev.to to be a great place to start discussions. Thank you very much to those who contributed here:

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/how-do-you-stay-focused-in-a-distracted-world-3e9m %}

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/what-are-your-favorite-analogies-to-explain-programming-7np %}

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/we-are-all-standing-up-does-it-actually-works-lh8 %}

{% post https://dev.to/jmfayard/how-to-write-a-good-readme-discuss-4hkl %}

# Ask me a question!

This is a standing invitation: 

if you want to talk software, I want to talk with you.

I used to be very shy and afraid of annoying people by contacting them. That turns out unhelpful. I was alone and made bad choices. If my career has learnt me something is that you really don’t want to stay alone.

You can send an email here:

**https://jmfayard.dev/contact**