These are the Websites Every Dev Should Know About

We know that software developers spend their days building, updating, and fixing websites and applications. But where do they go when they want to read about their industry, learn new skills and techniques or find solutions to unfamiliar problems?

Here at Jobsity we work with talented and professional developers throughout Latin America - these are the guys that can help your company increase its IT capabilities without the cost or hassle of hiring in-house. We recently conducted a survey to see which web pages and sites they visited the most and from that we’ve put together a list of the most popular and important sites that we think all developers should be aware of.

For Tutorials/Learning

You’re never the finished product as a software developer. No matter how much experience you have, you will always be faced with new problems and challenges as you work with different organizations and technologies. This makes continuous learning something that all good developers should strive for. Whether you want to learn new skills or need some guidance on a specific issue, these sites are a good place to start.

• MartinFowler.com: Martin Fowler has been authoring books on software development since the mid-1990s, covering areas such as patterns, refactoring and software architecture. His site includes a wide range of articles and guides written or vetted by Fowler, making it a vital resource for developers.
• SitePoint: This premium subscription site includes a huge library of books, talks and courses on web development. It covers different languages and popular frameworks, going from basic introductions to more advanced learning. There are also lots of interesting articles that are free to read on the blog.

• Baeldung: This site has a wealth of material to help developers explore the vast Java ecosystem. You can sign up for paid courses, but also download a range of free ebooks or access the site’s archive for thousands of articles that walk you through specific Java features.
• GeeksforGeeks: Another site full of useful tutorials covering almost everything you can think of. From hands-on guides to blog features, GeeksforGeeks is a great place to learn and find answers. The site also includes an entire section for practicing your coding by solving problems, while you can put your knowledge to the test with its range of quizzes.

For Community Support

One of the best things about software development is the community that forms behind different technologies and programming languages. The best solutions often emerge from the growing catalog of patterns, libraries and frameworks that developers build, share and test. Moreover, an active community provides direct answers to specific questions and problems, making it a great place to overcome obstacles. These are some of the sites where you can find guidance and help from the wider community.

• Dev.to: This popular site is like a social network for developers. You can easily scroll through articles, videos, podcasts and guides uploaded by members of the platform. You can also connect with other developers and share your own content to help others. Everything is open source, so you can inspect whatever you like and make your own contributions.

• DZone: This community of over 2 million developers has all kinds of valuable materials to help new and experienced devs. The shared knowledge helps all members learn about new tech, stay up to date with latest trends and master best-practice programming methods. Members can also access premium content such as ‘Refcardz’, which are handy ‘cheat sheets’ for developers.
• Stack Overflow: This public platform is full of programming questions and answers. Whenever you come across a technical challenge, there is a good chance that someone else has faced the same problem and sought help here. After all, over 21 million questions have been asked so far and that number is rising quickly. It also produces important research material, including a widely-referenced annual developer survey. Stack Overflow is part of the wider Stack Exchange programming community, which has Q&A sites for most topics you can think of.

For Tech/Developer News

Good developers shouldn’t work in a bubble. Sure, sometimes you may need to dive deep into a complex codebase, but to keep improving and evolving as a developer you should keep up to date with what’s going on in the wider industry. This is how you stay on top of the latest tech and business trends, which will help you focus your efforts in the right areas.

• Hacker News (Ycombinator): A simple, no-frills news aggregator on the seed money startup accelerator platform Ycombinator. Following rules similar to Reddit, it allows users to submit “anything that hackers would find interesting” and vote headlines up or down. It also includes tech startup job postings.
• InfoQ: A site full of latest news, features, podcasts, videos and guides related to software development. It offers content in multiple languages and aims to help dev adopt new technologies and practices.

For Tools

The best developers make the most of tricks, tips and tools that either save them time or improve the quality of their work (or both!). Anything that makes you more productive - or just makes your life easier - is worth utilizing. There are endless tools out there, but here are some that our developers said they use a lot.

• Bird Eats Bug: A Chrome extension to help detect and fix bugs. It records all the technical details in the background so that you or another engineer gets the necessary info to sort the problems.
• Regex101: A regular expression debugger that offers real-time explanation, error detection and highlighting. It also includes previous bug reports and a library of instructions/tutorials.
• JSON Formatter: A free browser-based program to help format and validate your JSON text. Quicktype is another useful for parsing JSON text into any other programming language.

These are just a handful of sites that our community of developers find interesting and useful. In the spirit of community and shared knowledge, we’d love to hear your suggestions for the best online resources for developers. Get in touch!

Interested in hiring talented Latin American developers to add capacity to your team? Contact Jobsity: the nearshore staff augmentation choice for U.S. companies.