Hey all,
If you missed our Thursday/Friday meeting, we’ve got it recorded. The topic was on GraphQL and APIs, and we had 7 Thursday demos - a record high! 📈
This week, we also experimented with a new format for breakout sessions. Instead of just networking, we turned the breakout session into a group activity. Each group investigated an API of their choice, and came back to the big group with some things they learned.
On Thursday, we looked at:
Stripe
Twitter
TicketMaster
And on Friday, we looked at:
Mailgun
Spotify
We talked about how to identify RESTful patterns (and why it’s so easy to use a RESTful API), what it means to register a webhook (and push vs pull notifications), why certain APIs are good, how to navigate API documentation, and a handful of other API related topics!
I felt like this was our best breakout session yet, and I’ll be moving towards more hands-on sessions like this one moving forward. If you have an idea for an activity we could investigate during a 15 minute session, I’m all ears!
Announcements
A couple short announcements:
🏢 Interview Prep - if you’re interested in preparing for Product Management, Data Structures/Algorithms, or System Design interviews, check out the #interview-prep channel on Discord.
🚜 Demo List - I want to recognize people who demo. Not exactly sure the best way, but thinking of creating a badge or new role in Discord for those who’ve shipped. Way to go everyone who has, and let’s get more names on this list!!!
Values
Recently, I’ve been working on defining the philosophy behind SoS. From the very beginning, you’ve heard about “Learn in Public” and my goal of everyone having an awesome story for “My internship was cancelled, here’s what I did instead”. But I haven’t fleshed out the spirit behind SoS.
While I don’t have a “philosophy” quite yet, here are a list of values/behaviors that I believe are at the core of what we’re doing:
People first, Software second - even though SoS is all about shipping and creating software, people are at the center of all we do. The community aspect of SoS is everything - you could build in isolation, learn a ton, and ship something cool - but you’d be missing out on something essential. Software is built for people, by people. As one excellent article by the Civil Service College of Singapore said, “The main value in software is not the code produced, but the knowledge accumulated by the people who produced it”. People first.
Give - I’ve been asked by a few people, “How can I build up my network?”, and the answer I give them is “Give value”. How do you do that? Suggest ways you can help. So far, I’ve had people reach out to me about helping out w/logo designs, presentations, moderating, interview prep, and all sorts of things. Thank you to all of those who have done so - you’re living this value and making it real. SoS may generate a lot of value, but it generates even more when everyone gives. Giving makes our community richer, and the network stronger.
Build in Public - Building in public is a habit that creates a virtuous cycle. By working in public, you are giving value to those who are in a similar boat and have something to learn from (see #2 above). But it’s more than altruism. When you build in public, you get feedback, which makes your work better. When your work is better, it becomes more interesting, which attracts more eyeballs. When your work is seen by more people, you get more feedback. Build in public and put the virtuous cycle in your favor.
Ship Daily - Enough said!
This list is a work in progress, but I wanted to share it to get some feedback. I hope SoS is already living up to some of these values and that they’ll inspire you to ship - in public - and in service of others.
🚢🚢🚢
Phil