Re:Ask HN: How to prepare for first full-time software engin...
by mindcrime on Friday November 12, 2021 @03:03PM
(#29203928)
Just to throw a random thought out there... given that in today's world almost every system we build is a "distributed system" to some extent, and given that I've found that quite a few developers don't know a lot about underlying network fundamentals, I'd suggest - depending on your current knowledge levels - spending some time boning up on networking. I mean things like learning how DNS works, what ARP is, how IP addressing works (mostly still IPv4, but don't ignore IPv6 altogether), and similar. In that same vein, learn to use common network troubleshooting tools well, from ping, to traceroute, to netstat, netcat, tcpdump / wireshark, and even nmap.
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Re:Ask HN: How to prepare for first full-time software engin...
by mettamage on Monday November 15, 2021 @03:07AM
(#29224956)
Excellent tip and really true for both the theory and the practice indeed. This almost never comes up in the CRUD apps that I had to make. But when it did come up, you better know stuff like ping, traceroute, netstat, netcat, tcpdump/wireshark and also nmap. I've learned about these tools from my networking classes.
But where I got to master them a lot more was playing hackthebox.eu with a friend! Also, the hacking skills obtained there are useful. Your employer might not always appreciate that you're hacking his/her company though. Not because you're hacking it, but because you're going "outside of your role" and not actually producing any features. So be careful with that one, I've burned myself twice on that front (it depends on company culture, I suppose).