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Created August 11, 2011 13:32
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Programming Achievements: How to Level Up as a Developer

Programming Achievements: How to Level Up as a Developer

  1. Select a particular experience to pursue.
  2. Pursue that experience to completion. (Achievement unlocked!)
  3. Reflect on that experience. Really soak it in. Maybe a blog post would be in order?
  4. Return to Step 1, this time selecting a new experience.

This gist is a fork of the gist from this blog post.

Current in bold. Completed in strikethrough.

Learn a variety of programming languages

  • Write a program in Python
  • Write a program in C
  • Write a program in Java (Android)

Learn a variety of programming paradigms

  • Write a program in assembly language
  • Write an application in a functional language
  • Write an application in an object-oriented language
  • Write an application in a prototype-based language
  • Write an application in a logic programming language
  • Write an application using the Actor model
  • Write an application in Forth

Experience the ins and outs of programming for different platforms:

  • Write a nontrivial web app
  • Write a nontrivial desktop app
  • Write a nontrivial mobile app
  • Write an embedded app
  • Write a realtime system

Enhance your understanding of the building blocks that we use as developers:

  • Write a networking client (e.g., HTTP, FTP)
  • Write a device driver
  • Write a B-tree database
  • Wrap an existing library to provide a better (more pleasant) user experience
  • Write an application or framework that provides a plugin model
  • Write a testing framework
  • Write a programming language

Enlighten yourself with koans, katas, and the wisdom of ages:

Program in the open:

  • Contribute to an open source project
  • Have a patch accepted
  • Earn commit rights on a significant open source project
  • Publish an open source project
  • Perform a Refactotum of on open source project

Learn by teaching others:

  • Present a lightning talk
  • Present at a local user group
  • Present at a conference
  • Deliver a training course
  • Publish a tutorial
  • Publish a constructive code review of an open source project
  • Write a programming book

##Learn about algorithms:

  • Determine the asymptotic running time of an algorithm
  • Implement basic Sorting Algorithms: Bubblesort, Heapsort, Quicksort... Understand their tradeoffs.
  • Implement basic Graph algorithms: Prim, Kruskal, Dijkstra, A*...
  • Create and implement a dynamic programm
  • Proof a problem NP Complete
  • Understand the halting problem

##Learn tools:

  • Try a different SCMs for a projects (Git/Mercurial...)
  • Try a different IDEs for a projects
  • Set up a project with a Build Tool (Make, Rake, SBT, Ant, Maven...)
  • Set up a CI server
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