At work the team was asked to rate our experience and skills with a range of things the team does daily (processes, technologies, techniques, etc) on a 1 to 5 scale.
After filling out my section I discovered that I'm a binary developer.

It was all ones and zeros 🤨

Question for current devs using AI:
How would you suggest that junior devs, who want to improve their knowledge and skills, use tools like GH Copilot, Cursor, etc? Any tips or ideas on how to improve coding skills in general while also using AI coding assistants?

This I learned:
You can be a lot more successful at debugging if you actually attach the debugging process to the app you want to troubleshoot.
WhoDaThunkIt!

As fun as it is watching professional racers, I'd say you get more exciting racing from the support races.

Over enthusiastic, amateur racers in vehicles with more horsepower than traction makes for fun racing, even if it's just to see if they can complete a lap without bending the car!

I can't believe how rebellious I was when I was younger.

When I moved out of home I decided to grow my hair stupidly long. Mum said "I don't care what you do, just keep it clean and tidy".

Me, being the ultimate rebel, thought "that's a reasonable request, I think I'll do that." 🛁

ThisWeekILearned:
Sometimes you just gotta test in production, which really sucks when you discover the small bugs at 1am in the morning 🥱 🤬

ThisWeekILearned:
Just when I think I'm getting the hang of things as a junior dev, I'll pair with a senior and get completely lost within 5 minutes.

(Don't worry, lots of questions were asked and answered, so I know more than I did before I started).

I realise that not many people may care, but if you're into metal and get the chance to see Jinjer play live, may I humbly suggest you do so.
I swear Tatiana's vocals are better live than recorded, and the band is seriously tight with their sound!

ThisWeekILearned:
More like re-learned, tbh. The enterprise software space, like telecommunications networking, is held together by band-aids and wishes, covered with a smokescreen.

ThisWeekILearned: I have a whole new appreciation for ChatGPT, Claude, Llama, etc after playing around with a locally hosted LLM at work.

The time/effort/resources/skill that go into the commercial ones must be staggering.

ThisWeekILearned:
I should really stop making smart-ass comments at the start of meetings, as they have a 50% chance of turning out to be crazy accurate 🤨

15 years with the same company. Different roles, different teams, different sets of skills required.

Do you think I should tell them that I still have no idea what I'm doing?

ThisWeekILearned:
Imposter Syndrome can hit harder, faster and be more surprising than a Tom Aspinall uppercut.

Well, 2024 is been and done, and thankfully you all survived, which is a bonus. Tomorrow is the first of 365 chances to make 2025 amazing, so feel free to sleep in tomorrow before setting the world alight with your awesomeness.

Take care, folks, and Happy New Year.

I kinda dislike the EoY performance reviews.

"So, as a junior dev in the team, how do you think this senior dev can improve their technical skills?"

🤷🤷 ... I'm still trying to figure out how I can improve!