Loosely Coupled

Since outlining a brief list of online technical resources for my rookie coder, I thought it'd be a good idea to also supply a brief reading list of technical books that could have a place on any programmers shelf. For this list, I wanted to focus on books that provide transferable skills - suggestions of different techniques and ways of thinking than someone might otherwise be exposed to. This knowledge can be able leveraged regardless of specific technologies or platforms. Here's the list: Core J2EE Patterns – I have an earlier version of this book and it’s a solid J2EE reference. The real benefit in this book is the set of J2EE architectural patterns (which builds on the Gang of Four [GoF] core patterns) and would also apply to server side development in .Net. Some of the info on JSP or EJB may be a little dated with recent additions to the Java language, but still a great reference. Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture is another great book with a similar...

As I stated in my last mentoring post , one thing new professionals need to learn is how to stay technically current and continue to grow their skills in the absence of formal training. Here's a list of some online technical resources and tools I think any new professional would find helpful. Martin Fowler's Bliki . Martin Fowler always has interesting things to say about object oriented design, agile development, and software development in general. He is a thought leader and always says smart things. InfoQ This site has a ton of info about a ton of software development topics. What I like most about this site is that there are a lot of videos. I learn better this way. It’s nice to watch someone explain a topic and see the examples. Here’s a Martin Fowler presentation on InfoQ about SOA and ESB. StackOverflow . This is basically a Q&A site for software developers. It’s fairly new and high quality. If you really get stumped on how to do something or want ...

Recently, I was asked to act as a mentor for a junior level developer. It was a little awkward in as much as I hardly know this person - we've only briefly met, we're not working on the same team, and not even for the same company. I'm not even sure what to topics to mentor on. Remembering back, one of the hardest things for me when I transitioned from a college setting to professional was learning how to stay current and continue to push my skill set forward. Until graduation, you're continuously being fed information and guided on what to learn. After, you need to learn to forage for yourself. Learning how to do this and where to look is where I thought we might begin. Like any new relationship, I thought the best place to start was with a brief introduction, then see where I might be able to best help this new professional. Here's an excerpt of my introductory email: (Introductory text..) Just to give you some insight into my background, I've been profe...