For a new software engineer, getting familiar with these essential concepts and tools will help to smoothly land in the software industry.
Debugging: Debugging is key to solving issues in web development. Use IDEs (like IntelliJ, VS Code) to step through your code and inspect variables. For front-end development, tools like Chrome’s Network Tab allow you to track API calls and troubleshoot data fetching issues.
- Git and Version Control: Branches: Always create separate branches for features or bug fixes. Pull Requests (PRs): Raise a PR to have your code reviewed before merging. Fetching/Updating: Regularly fetch updates from the main branch to avoid conflicts.
- Understanding API Calls: Web developers often need to interact with APIs. You can use Chrome’s Network Tab to inspect request and response details, making debugging easier when dealing with data exchanges between front-end and back-end systems.
- Agile Methodology: Many web development teams use Agile practices to manage projects. Sprints: Short cycles (1-2 weeks) where specific tasks are completed. User Stories: Descriptions of new features or functionality. Backlog: A list of tasks and features that need to be worked on.
- Ticketing Systems (Jira) In tools like Jira, tasks are tracked through tickets. Each ticket represents a piece of work, whether it’s a bug fix, a feature, or a user story.
- CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment): CI: Automatically tests and integrates code changes to avoid integration issues. CD: Automatically deploys your code to production after passing tests, ensuring frequent and reliable updates.
- Code Coverage: Code coverage measures how much of your code is covered by tests. A higher percentage of coverage ensures that more code paths are tested, reducing the risk of undetected bugs.
- Best Practices in Programming: Following best practices helps ensure that your code is efficient, readable, and maintainable. Some best practices include: Writing clean, understandable code Keeping functions and methods short and focused Avoiding duplication Using meaningful variable names Writing unit tests to catch bugs early
- SonarLint Tools like Sonar Lint help you catch potential issues early by identifying code smells, bugs, and security vulnerabilities directly in your IDE. It helps maintain code quality by warning you about issues before they reach production.
- Code Reviews Code reviews are an essential part of the development process. They ensure that your code follows best practices, meets team standards, and is free of major bugs.
- Environments
o?? DEV (Development): Where developers write and test code.
o?? QA (Quality Assurance): Where testers verify that code works as expected.
o?? PROD (Production): The live environment where the application is used by real users.