Talk to strangers about coding

Venting about work code to colleagues is political and to non-developers is pointless. A stranger who writes code will understand the bug that ate your week, has no idea who your employer is, and will give you an opinion unclouded by your team’s conventions.

• The language you would actually defend
• The worst bug you ever chased down
• What you are building outside of work
• Whether AI coding tools help or just move the work
• Self-taught against formal education, honestly

• “Language you would defend in a fistfight?”Use this
• “Worst bug you ever chased?”Use this
• “What are you building right now?”Use this
• “Do AI tools actually make you faster?”Use this
• “Best piece of engineering advice you were given?”Use this
• “Tabs or spaces — final answer.”Use this

• Ask what they are building, even if it is small or unfinished. Side projects are the most honest window into what someone finds interesting.
• Ask about the worst bug they ever chased. Everyone who codes has one, and debugging stories are funny, painful and very relatable.
• Compare how you each learned. Degrees, bootcamps, tutorials and pure stubbornness all produce different perspectives worth hearing.

Language and framework wars get tiring quickly, so keep them playful. Do not paste large chunks of code or ask a stranger to debug your work for free. Never share API keys, passwords or company code, and be cautious of anyone offering paid “projects” that require you to download and run something.