🐶 Prepare for a four-legged takeover
Google's search for Bug Hunters 🦠 plus, developer Charmaine shares how a career switch is possible 👩💻
Hey 👋 Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter.
Interested in developing your knowledge? Join Twitter’s VP of Engineering, Nick Caldwell, for an interactive fireside chat series - with Product Leaders from top tech companies worldwide! 🚀
💥 Big Tech & Start-ups
Image source Visual Capitalist
The pandemic has impacted potentially everything in society, in particular how we as consumers interact with tech and the role it plays in our daily lives. The tech giants had to respond to this, and quickly, in order to retain existing customers - and gain new ones.
According to the latest data, the five biggest technology companies - Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and Facebook - together made $75bn in after-tax profits in the second quarter, which works out as nearly 90 per cent higher than a year before.
Amazon alone added 500,000 new workers in a single year, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Sheffield. 🤯
P.S. ever wondered what happened to some of your favourite tech brands like Instagram or Twitch? They were probably acquired by a member of the FAAMG gang (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google).
🔭 Science & Future Tech
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Helping our four-legged friends live longer 🐶
Doggy DNA startup Embark has raised another $75m, meaning the company is now valued at $700m and is trying to make our four-legged friends live longer. Isn’t that nice? Embark “is creating a new standard of personalized care through digital-based DNA insights”.
Top Pet Techs
Bought By Many. Insurance pet technology company making the world a better place for pet parents. They’re also hiring for tech roles in London, Birmingham and Haywards Heath.
PitPat. Think FitBits, but for your dog. Taking the guesswork out of exercise, eat and rest for your friend. They’re also hiring remote software developers.
We 💛 office dogs. We have our very own Haystack office dog. If you’ve got a four-legged friend who would like to come with you to work, here are some companies who are hiring and allow office pups too!
Goodlord - 📌 London based property tech company - hiring for 6 roles
Hive - 📌 Newcastle based HR tech company - hiring for 1 role
Street Group - 📌 Manchester based property tech company - hiring for 4 roles
Huel - 📌 Birmingham based e-commerce - hiring for 5 roles
How are you finding the Haystack App? If you have a second, consider leaving us an App/Play Store review!
💻 Programming, Design & Data
A few days ago Google announced, in partnership with Stink Studios, their rebranded issue-reporting platform, Bug Hunters. Google has famously run their issue-reporting platform for a number of years, with users being offered financial rewards in return for finding and reporting bugs in Google products.
The rebrand is a great example of how taking the time to produce delightful designs can incentivise user behaviours. The studio developed a visual system for representing the bugs once they have been reported, with each bug generating a unique visualisation based on a number of factors, such as the severity and the product.
The visualisations can be displayed as badges on the users which highlights the work they’ve done. Whilst the style of the re-brand is playful, the complexity of the visualisations and the care taken to design them, mean the importance and sophistication of the work being done by the bug reporters are not undermined. A great example of how playful design doesn’t mean childish design.
⚙️ Miscellaneous
What’s new in tech? Here’s the DL:
A hacker who stole over $600 million worth of crypto, from The Poly Network, plans to return the stolen assets.
The popular (recently controversial) trading platform Robinhood goes public with a current market cap of $42.75 billion.
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi plans to be the world’s biggest smartphone maker within three years.
Elon Musk is putting ads in space.
The Twitter algorithm prefers slimmer, younger, light-skinned faces (yes, really).
TikTok is officially the most downloaded app of 2020.
🧨 Highlighted Opportunities
Dev
Hedgehog Lab: Graduate iOS Developer (Newcastle upon Tyne)
LeoVegas: Frontend Engineer (Newcastle upon Tyne)
accuRx: Senior Full Stack Engineer (London)
Data
Cinch: Data Engineer (Manchester/ Flexible)
Street Group: Data Engineer (Manchester/ Flexible)
Atom Bank: Data Science Engineer (Durham/ Flexible)
Design
Moneybox: UX/UI Designer (London)
FinancialForce - User Experience Designer (Harrogate)
Motorway - Head of Design (London)
✍️ Developer Stories
Say hi to Charmaine! Charmaine is an apprentice .Net Software Developer and recently decided to completely change her career path and start learning code at 36.
Q. Starting is often the hardest part… So where did you start!? What tools and resources did you use to start learning code?
It was a lot to take in at first, the information is quite overwhelming for a beginner! I knew I would benefit from extra support and guidance and decided some structured learning would be great for me. I went to Code Nation and the team there helped me to ‘kick-start’ my learning journey.
I started learning to code basic HTML and CSS, slowly but surely was exposed to Python and JavaScript - building along the way. I really struggled at first, like really! But I stuck with it, pushed through the course and managed to complete a website C.V. and contribute to a text-based game using Python, I was so proud! From there I tinkered with a couple of small Udemy projects using JavaScript. As I went through the boot-camp-style course and exposed myself to other technologies, my curiosity grew.
Q. Do you ever suffer from imposter syndrome? How do you combat those negative emotions that come with it?
I certainly have and more than once. It’s something I have spoken quite openly about on my platform. In fact, I had a recent bout of imposter syndrome when I agreed to take on a new challenge at work. It was something I had never looked at before and yes, I was quite intimidated – cue the wave of self-doubt!
What I have learnt is that the brain responds to what we tell it, the saying “whether you tell yourself you can, or tell yourself you can’t, you’re right.” - is true. So I tell myself I can and replace those negative thoughts with positive ones. I have to believe that I can. Sure, I might get some things wrong, maybe I don’t yet have a full understanding and I’ll probably make mistakes along the way. But I’m working towards the finish line, I’m not giving in and I’m not believing the doubts. I reflect on the past when I’ve faced and overcome a challenge and reassure myself that I can overcome this too. Your mind really responds to that, as does your motivation.
When it’s difficult to push through it alone, I will reach out and talk with someone. One of two things usually happens; 1. As I talk through the problem I reveal creative ideas for a solution and feel more in control. And less self-doubt-y. 2. The other person will offer advice, help me to re-focus and gain perspective. Giving me confidence and less self-doubting feelings.
Everyone experiences imposter syndrome, it’s just a part of being out of your comfort zone I think. But I’ve found practising emotional management and speaking up when needed has helped me to deal with the bouts.
Read more of Charmaine’s blog.
📚 Blog Round-up
20+ React Tools to Help You Become a More Productive Programmer
The list of available React applications can be quite extensive, but, for a programmer just starting out, these are some of the most appropriate and beneficial applications. To name just a few, Profiler, React Toolbox and React Bootstrap. Read more.
Mental Health Tips for Developers
The most needed thing for today’s ever-changing digital world. Too often outsiders see Software Developers like Robots or Superhumans. Developers and tech influencers sometimes face breakdowns, and mental health has been a major concern in the remote work environment. The answer lies in tech communities to maintain mental energy. Read more.
Front-End System Design Guide
System Design is the process of designing elements such as the architecture, modules and components, the different interfaces of those components and the data that goes through that system. The purpose is to provide sufficient detailed data and info. Read more.