Potluck - Programming Languages × Soft Skills × PHP vs JS × Breakdancing x Spice Blends

It’s another potluck episode in which Wes and Scott answer your questions! This month - programming languages, how to practice soft skills, PHP vs JS, is it every too late to become a developer, and more. Freshbooks - Sponsor Get a 30 day free trial of Freshbooks at freshbooks.com/syntax and put SYNTAX in the “How did you hear about us?” section. Mlab - Sponsor mLab is the leading Database-as-a-Service for MongoDB, powering over half a million deployments worldwide. Wes and Scott use mLab to host their own databases as well as take care of backups, security, scaling and performance. Try out a sandbox database on your next mongoDB project → https://mlab.com . Show Notes 5:00 Why don’t you work with Typescript? 10:52 How do you recommend working with APIs/libraries that compete with the DOM (e.g. d3 + react, react + google maps)? 13:40 What is meant by the word “state” when referring to Vue or React? 16:32 How do you practice and get better at “soft skills” (e.g. burnout, freelancing, time management, confrontation)? Syntax 025 - Dealing with email overload PaperKarma - The App to Stop Junk Mail 28:23 Do you guys use different environments (e.g. “QA” and “Prod”)? What are some best practices? Semaphore - Test and deploy your code Sentry - Open-source error tracking 32:43 As someone trying to break into the field of programming, should you build everything from scratch, or it ok to use plugins and libraries? 38:52 What would WordPress be like if it were built on Node and GraphQL? Ghost 46:54 I’m learning JavaScript at 34… Do you think I can learn to breakdance at 34 too? 51:16 How do you handle high level page layout when using styled components? 53:13 As a junior dev, should I switch from PHP and Laravel to full stack JS? I love PHP, but JS is taking over. Links react-async-script-loader Netflix Explained ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Alfred Emoj Wes: Motherboard YouTube Channel Shameless Plugs Scott’s React Testing Course Wes’ Courses Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets