Software Engineering isn't a solo activity

Often as engineers we like to go for it alone. It’s me versus the machine. Yet, involving others can be helpful with us in our career. In my course “craft for software development” I challenged my students to think of ways to add a social component to their software development experience. Here is some of their feedback: (list is unsorted)

  1. Ask a friend to review your code
  2. Pair program with a friend
  3. Pair program with a stranger (there are websites that do this)
  4. Attend a meetup or an unconference. Meet beginners, intermediates, and experts.
  5. Find out where people in your community hang-out (mailing list, IRC, etc)
  6. See who is around you that you might not be considering. (For example, students in a different masters program, PhD students.)
  7. Post to CMU SV facebook group.
  8. Contact alumni who might know working professionals with the expertise in the field.
  9. Posting code for review online. Post on a blog and have people comment on it.
  10. Attend a “hackathon,” “hackernoon,” or spend time at a software dojo
  11. Use linked-in to do a search on appropriate skill to see who is in your network
  12. CMU has a mentoring program in the bay area

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