First step to “speak” code?

As we got to know from the first DBA class big majority of us are not coders and many BIMers never used a programming language before, and as we are taking this course most probably a big percentage of us does not plan to become a developer….but….most probably many of us will be working with developers in smaller or bigger companies a year from now when we will have our beautiful Master diplomas in our hands. And here comes the potentially scary part: how are we going to work with them? And how are we going understand “their language” especially when we actually don’t “speak it”?

The goal of this article is to start building up “list” of materials that can bring us a bit closer to understand developers. Here is the first (very subjective) part of the list. (Although some articles/videos are long they are worth the time.)

1. Leading a Digital Transformation? Learn to Code by Harvard Business Review

When the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) started a digital transformation strategy it’s Head of Group Technology & Operations, Dave Gledhill created his own application just out of mere curiosity and for his own fun which made him understand the logic behind the development of their own systems and points of attention much better. The article gives an interesting perspective on why managers should also get their hands “dirty” and how can this help them to make better decisions.

2. On managing developers by TechCrunch

What are the hardships when managing developers? Reading this post makes it clear that although managers and higher level executives might be the ones that have the steering wheel in theory in practice the developers are those who make things work or not work. This read also mentioned the fact emphasized in the previous article: you need to be able to write some parts of the code even if you are a manager who has no background in development.

3. What is code by The Bloomberg Business Week

“The World belong to people who code. Those who don’t understand will be left behind.”

On a personal note: this is the best thing I ever bought in an airport by far. This June the Bloomberg Business Week spend a whole issue on “explaining” what is code, what is a computer, a little about programming languages, a little about programmers and what is it like to work with them amongst other topics. This might sound boring as a list like this but it is one of the best written pieces in the topic I ever read and the online version is much better than the printed as it has videos, interactive “games” etc imbedded into this mega article. It takes a while to read the whole thing but it has a touch of fun and sarcasm in it which makes reading easier and very enjoyable.

4. Engineering Culture at Spotify videos 1 & 2

These two 13 minutes videos show how things work at Spotify, what makes them able to develop fast and change the platform step by step in a very innovative way. Both videos are really entertaining while you can learn incredibly lot from them about how to make developer teams engaged, aligned and thus successful.

Spotify Engineering Culture – part 1 from Spotify Training & Development on Vimeo.

Spotify Engineering Culture – part 2 from Spotify Training & Development on Vimeo.

And last but not least a less “serious” way to get the feel of programming, coding and all what is around it:

5. Silicone Valley on HBO

The ultimate “geek” series that has two hilariously funny seasons so far and the 3rd one is coming in April (only). It shows the daily life of a start-up in Silicone Valley starring four developers and a “manager”. If you want to have a good time don’t hesitate to watch it.

What are the materials (videos, articles, courses etc) that you use or suggest to get to know the “developer World” better? What were the most interesting things you read or heard in the topic?