Fred Lee, CIO/CTO of Enova, gave a presentation to recent graduates summarizing the key skills needed for software engineering in the real world. He discussed that the ability to learn, use proper coding practices like testing code, and understanding existing systems are the most important skills, rather than what is traditionally taught. Real-world programmers must have humility to keep learning from doing, communities, and going to events. They should focus on testing code over design and spend more time reading code than writing it to understand existing systems that software needs to integrate with.

1. @Dev Bootcamp
Winter Is Coming. You are not ready.
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2. Enova
Fred Lee
CIO/CTO
fred@enova.com
@fredlee
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3. Closing the World’s Credit Gap
Helping hardworking people to fulfill their financial
responsibilities with fast, trustworthy credit
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4. Company
Founded in 2004.
Online financial services in the US, UK, AU, CA and MX.
80 million page views
Over 3 million customers
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5. Employees
440. 170 in Technology.
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6. Values
Customer First.
‘Best’ Answer Wins.
Accountability and Results.
Top Talent and Teamwork.
Operate as an Owner.
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7. IT & Systems Engineering
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8. Software Engineering
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9. !9

10. PostgreSQL
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11. Linux
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12. The Survey
Asked recent graduates at Enova. It was totally
scientific.
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13. How has your undergraduate
studies NOT prepared you for
doing software engineering in
the real world?
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14. Think of the best real world
programmer you know. What
skills or traits do they possess?
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15. What skill is MOST important in
the real world?
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16. A Pie Chart
Bringing the Big Data!
11
2
9
5
14
1
Good Code
Communication
Existing Systems
Experience
Intelligence
Learning
Coding Practices
7
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17. Three Things
What I will talk about . . .
Learning
Coding
Practices
Existing
Systems
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18. Learning
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19. “Ability to learn new things quickly
(complemented by a desire to keep
learning).”
U of Chicago
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20. “The ability and willingness to learn.”
Rose-Hulman
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21. Peter Drucker
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong
process of keeping abreast of change. And the
most pressing task is to teach people how to
learn.”
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22. Peter Drucker
“We now accept the fact that learning is a
lifelong process of keeping abreast of change.
And the most pressing task is to teach people
how to learn.”
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23. The ability to learn is more
closely tied to humility than
anything else.
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24. 3 ways to learn
Watch out! You are gonna have to get humble.
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25. Do
Learn to learn by doing.
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26. Skill + Tenacity
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27. Skill + Tenacity = Skillnacity
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28. Skill + Tenacity = Skillnacity™
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29. Sophocles
"One must learn by doing the thing; for though
you think you know it, you have no certainty, until
you try."
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30. Sophocles
"One must learn by doing the thing; for though
you think you know it, you have no certainty, until
you try."
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31. 3 ways to learn
Watch out! You are gonna have to get humble.
!
First: Do
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32. Co(mmunity)
Community. Find people who are better than
you. Now, surround yourself with them.
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33. Pat Metheny
“Be the worst guy in every band you’re in.”
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34. 3 ways to learn
Watch out! You are gonna have to get humble.
!
First: Do
Second: Co(mmunity)
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35. Go
Meet-ups. Conferences. Jobs. Opportunities.
Tech Talks. Dev Bootcamp.
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36. Places to Go
Chicago Tech Community
Chicago Ruby
http://chicagoruby.org/
@chicagoruby
73 “Internet & Technology” Meetups near
Chicago, IL
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37. 3 ways to learn
Watch out! You are gonna have to get humble.
!
First: Do
Second: Co(mmunity)
Third: Go
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38. Coding Practices
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39. “. . . they always try to follow the best practices.
They also learn from their mistakes, learn why it
happened and how to avoid them in future.”
Carnegie Mellon University
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40. “They have a strong passion for learning about
our craft . . .
Rose-Hulman
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41. Kent Beck
"..the problem [with software projects] isn't
change, per se, because change is going to
happen; the problem, rather, is the inability to
cope with change when it comes."
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42. Kent Beck
"..the problem [with software projects] isn't
change, per se, because change is going to
happen; the problem, rather, is the inability to
cope with change when it comes."
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43. The only way to write code that
can cope with change is by
testing your code.
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44. How do you test
this?
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45. Yes. This will do.
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46. Acceptance
Testing
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47. Integration
Testing
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48. Unit Testing
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49. Coding Practices
Not what you think.
!
First: Test your code.
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50. Code Design
What about great OO design? Doesn’t that allow
you to cope with change?
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51. Design
All design trends towards wrong.
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52. Mike Tyson
“Everyone has a plan ‘til they get punched in the
mouth.”
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53. Mike Tyson
“Everyone has a DESIGN ‘til they get punched in
the mouth.”
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54. Coding Practices
Not what you think.
!
First: Test your code.
Second: Don’t worry about design. Test your code
instead.
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55. Read
Reading code is a Coding Practice.
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56. Read
Most of your time will be spent reading code, not
writing it.
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57. Read
Most of your time will be spent reading code, not
writing it. Correction: Reading ugly code.
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58. A Pie Chart
Don’t believe me? Here’s a chart!
Being Awesome
Writing Code
Reading Code
Getting upset at bad code before you realize that you wrote it a week ago.
5
5
45
45
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59. Read > Write
Can you write before you can read?
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60. Stephen King
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have
the time (or the tools) to write.
Simple as that.”
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61. Coding Practices
Not what you think.
!
First: Test your code.
Second: Don’t worry about design. Test your code instead.
Third: Go read some code. Try github.com.
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62. Existing Systems
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63. “Very little emphasis is placed on
understanding existing code, and
integrating with existing design
paradigms”
University of Michigan
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64. “there was never really any talk about how
hardware or networking issues can affect a
projects implementation or how those need
to be taken into account when planning a
project.”
Carnegie Mellon University
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65. Realize
What is the code? What is the system? Is there a
difference?
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66. The System
More than you realize. Web Application.
Sixth Layer
Fifth Layer
Fourth Layer
Third Layer
Second Layer
First Layer
Hardware
File Systems
Data
Center
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67. The System
More than you realize. Web Application.
Sixth Layer
Fifth Layer
Fourth Layer
Third Layer
Second Layer
First Layer
OS
Hardware
Virtualization
File Systems
Disk
Data
Center
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68. The System
More than you realize. Web Application.
Sixth Layer
Fifth Layer
Fourth Layer
Third Layer
Second Layer
First Layer
App/Web Server
OS
Hardware
Database
Virtualization
File Systems
Disk
Data
Center
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69. The System
More than you realize. Web Application.
Sixth Layer
Fifth Layer
Fourth Layer
Third Layer
Second Layer
First Layer
Code
3rd Party Integration
App/Web Server
OS
Hardware
Database
Virtualization
File Systems
Disk
Data
Center
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70. The System
More than you realize. Web Application.
Sixth Layer
Fifth Layer
Fourth Layer
Third Layer
Second Layer
First Layer
Internet
Browsers
Code
3rd Party Integration
App/Web Server
OS
Hardware
Devices
Database
Virtualization
File Systems
Disk
Data
Center
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71. The System
More than you realize. Web Application.
Sixth Layer
Fifth Layer
Fourth Layer
Third Layer
Second Layer
First Layer
New
Users
Old
Users
Bad
Users
Fraud
Internet
Security
Dev
QA
Browsers
Code
Hardware
Devices
3rd Party Integration
App/Web Server
OS
God
Database
Virtualization
File Systems
Disk
Data
Center
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72. How does this
affect your system?
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73. !73

74. In Review
@Dev Bootcamp
The Survey
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75. In Review
@Dev Bootcamp
The Survey
Learning
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76. In Review
@Dev Bootcamp
The Survey
Learning
Coding Practices
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77. In Review
@Dev Bootcamp
The Survey
Learning
Coding Practices
Existing Systems
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78. /r/ama
I’m the CIO/CTO at Enova. AMA.
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79. Enova
Fred Lee
CIO/CTO
fred@enova.com
@fredlee
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80. !80