For this year's C# Advent, I decided to finally implement an idea that I've been kicking around for a couple of years now. It's a parody of Baz Luhrmann's Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) track from 1997. The "lyrics" are from a Chicago Tribune column written by Mary Schmich, entitled "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young". Much of the advice in the original song has stuck with me over the years, and it continues to be relevant and entertaining. I thought that a version created just for developers, programmers, coders, engineers would be fun. I commissioned the help of voice actor Noah Jenkins (on Twitter @GeekyVoices) to bring a voice to my writing, and I laid his voice over a karaoke version of the song. (By the way, if you need voicework, I can highly recommend him!) Please enjoy! Make sure to check out all the other great entries into this year's C# Advent. I look forward to doing it again next year. Lyrics: Coders, developers, software engineers, and programmers in the year of 2020 Write unit tests If I could offer you only one tip for the future Unit tests would be it The long term benefits of unit tests have been proven by studies Whereas the rest of my advice Has no basis more reliable than my own Meandering, flawed experience I will dispense this advice...now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your code But, never mind You'll look back on your code in 6 months and wonder who let you near a keyboard. But trust me, this means you're improving. Seeing your past code as flawed just means that you are learning. You are not as bad a coder as you imagine. Don't worry about the future Or worry But know that worrying is as effective as trying to write the next Facebook on a TRS-80. The real troubles in your career are apt to be things that you never learned in college or boot camp. The kind where your team decides to deploy to production on Friday at 5pm. Do something everyday that challenges you. Draw. Don't judge other people harshly in code review. Don't put up with people who harshly judge yours. Write docs. Don't waste time on jealousy. Some days you're killing it, some days you aren't. The race is long And in the end, it's only with yourself. Remember the compliments, put them in a special folder. Forget YouTube comments. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how Keep your old code in an open source repository Throw away your unused domain names. Take days off. Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your career The most interesting people I know aren't doing at 40 what they thought they wanted to do at 22. And many of them say they still don't know what they're doing. Get plenty of C# Be kind to your wrists You'll miss them when they're gone Maybe you'll start a company, maybe you won't Maybe you'll get stock options and bonuses, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll go into management. Maybe you'll give up on computers completely and open a boutique when you turn 50 Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either Your choices are at least partially chance, and so are everybody else's Use your body Use it on something manual and analog Don't be afraid of stepping away from the computer, and what you might miss on Twitter Honest labor will let your mind rest Learn. Even if your boss isn't going to pay for it Read blog posts, even if you don't agree with them Go to conferences, even if you spend more time in the hallway than the sessions Education is not something you can ever finish. DO NOT read the comments on Hacker News and Reddit, they will only make you feel terrible (chorus) Get to know your family You never know when they'll be gone for good Be nice to your siblings They are your best link to your past And the people most likely to stick with you in the future Send a Snopes link if you must But don't argue with their political views in public on Facebook Understand that teammates come and go But for the precious few you should hold on to Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle Because the older you get, the more you need the people that knew you when you were young Work for a government agency once But leave before it makes you grumpy Work for a silicon valley startup once But leave before it turns you into an insufferable hipster Travel Accept certain inalienable truths Developers get distracted by newer frameworks Bugs will always be around You too will get old And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young New frameworks were always better There weren't so many bugs Certifications were important And junior developers respected their seniors Respect YOUR seniors Don't expect anyone to hand you anything Maybe you'll have stock options Maybe you'll get V.C. funding But you never know when either might run out Don't be cocky about any once piece of technology Or by the time you're 50, you'll be known as "that Windows Phone guy" Be careful whose mentorship you seek But be patient with anyone who supplies mentoring Advice is a form of nostalgia Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the garbage, wiping it off Smoothing over the ugly parts and redeeming it for more than it's worth But trust me on the unit tests (chorus)
