There are tons of ninjas out there in this pale blue dot of ours. Sometimes, these young ninjas can get caught up in life and don't have the experiences, perspective, and wisdom necessary to overcome some pitfalls that life occasionally throws at them. Today's meet up consisted of only a handful of ninjas. Amongst these handful of people were the young'uns and gosus.

Gosu's are people who are skilled and quite knowledgeable in their field set due to their initiative and insight gained from working on shitloads of stuff. That should be shared.

This article is meant to be a roadmap to the young'uns, both starting out and unemployed out there. And also to the gosus, to reflect and have a good chuckle.

The unemployed v1.0

What can you do?

Difficult question right there.

Eating an elephant

It is possible. Trust me.

Eat it in modules.

An interview?

So you think you can code?

Suit and Tie coupled with a flashy CV vs GitHub.

GitHub is your friend. Use it.

Version control

Log your achievements (and life). Knowing where you came from is important.

Log your life.

Again, GitHub is your friend.

Initiative

Make cool stuff. Have initiative.

Initiative makes you want to make more. Always learn new stuff.

Desperation

As a dev, do not look for a job under desperation.

Desperation stinks. Looking for a job under desperation makes you make some really messed up shitty choices.

Doubt

As a young dev, chances are (we've all been there at one point of our lives) that you'll have some imposter syndrome of sorts.

Be confident in your work. Believe in your code... however:

Do not be proud

The more you know, the more you realise you do not know.

Be humble.

Org mode

Organise your life with org-mode. Emacs rocks! Hehe

Emacs rocks.

Yes, I am one of those people. I preach Emacs. Hate me later.

Expensive cities

Remember them: London, San Francisco, and New York.

Life there is goddamn expensive. Before taking a job there, think long and hard about your income.

Local vs international jobs

Know this:

They pay differently.

The kernel

The kernel sounds scary? Yes it is. But...

Yes you can.

Project Euler

Challenge yourself. Do some (while at it, try to beat link jnduli) challenges. (you have to be a member to view the country rankings)

Always challenge yourself.

Finally

Your environment matters

Surround yourself with other smart asses such as yourself. NairobiLUG's a good place to start.