I was looking for tools that could automate tasks, such as scraping websites to obtain certain data every day. I wanted solutions with no coding required due to the availability of open source or less expensive tools in the market. I discovered Zapier but found its multi-step automation pricing to be 18€ per month, which was uncertain for my usage. I then came across n8n, an open-source tool, and began experimenting with it on my machine via Docker.

Since ChatGPT was announced, I have been using it as a pair programming buddy. I bounce ideas, look for pseudo-code, and discuss drawbacks and potential improvements with it. In my work environment, I have access to GitHub’s Copilot, which assists me in my IntelliJ IDE. Initially, I was skeptical about its performance. However, it has proven to be useful, albeit occasionally interrupting when I’m writing code that isn’t the final version and suggesting things I don’t need.

Git plays a crucial role in the life of a software developer. I cannot imagine when code used to be shared by drives or disks with my fellow college mates for assignments. I learnt about git during my internship in 2015. And I thought of it as “yet” another tool to learn. There have been countless posts by more experienced engineers highlighting the advantages of git and how to use it.

During the interviews, it is good to know the salary range of a company. However, not every company puts them in the job listing. Also, the candidate must assess themselves and possess information on the current salary in the industry. It helps you to answer the most common question in the interview, “What is your salary expectation? “. You don’t have to give an exact number, but it signals that you’ve done some research and know your worth.

When working in a team, it is always good to have your code peer reviewed before merging to the main branch. It is always a space for improvements and learning and not about “you”. I have caught multiple issues and prevented unintended behaviour from being shipped to production. I also got valuable feedback from my peers. In this blog, I discuss the knowledge I gained from books such as Clean Code (by Robert Martin) and feedback from my peers and implement them in the real world.

If you are preparing for your next role in the software engineering world, then you know that many companies have take-home coding challenges in their interview process. It is overwhelming because of the long list of requirements and sometimes ambiguous criteria for the candidate to justify if they manage to reach the technical feedback round. In this blog post, I am sharing the process that has worked best for me and received positive feedback.