The Monday Byte

Welcome to the Monday Byte where I send you 5 things each week to help you speak English like a native speaker.

📖 Word/Phrase - clean code

You’ve heard this, right? Yeah, it’s one of those things experienced engineers often toss around. My definition of clean code is readable & maintainable.

Heck, there is a whole book about it called Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship.

Anyways, worth knowing what that phrase means when it comes up with your team.

💬 Pronunciation - Alvin From Europe

Notice how I didn't specify Alvin's origin or native language? That's because I want you to guess from this podcast episode that I analyze (insert link).

Why? Because if you can start to develop this skill on your own — aka noticing if someone is or isn't a native speaker and their native language — then you can use that to reduce your own accent.

Here's the critique:

Can you send me a short clip under a min (use Vocaroo)? I’ll analyze your pronunciation next!

🗣️ Real World Conversation - Creating POCs Quickly

"What's your goto way to prototype quickly?”

My boss asked me this the other day. Easy. I use two tools:

• TypeScript Playground

• tsplay.dev - shortens playground links

Here's a video showing you exactly how I create proof-of-concepts (POCs) quickly using this stack:

This is an extremely valuable skill because it allows you to test things quickly and give your coworkers a link to actually try out your code for themselves.

You want to get familiar with this. Trust me. It'll help you stand out.

🔗 Content - Enterprise TypeScript & Node.js Blog

I work on a small team - including me, 3 engineers total. Tiny, right? Well the three of us have been diving deep into clean code and improving our current codebase.

My boss stumbled upon this blog by Khalil Stemmler and it's AMAZING. I'm loving these posts. Why? Because it's helping me grow as an engineer.

Highly recommend reading it. I guarantee you'll learn something new.

💪🏼 Exercise - Shadowing

Have you heard of shadowing? If not, don't worry. Most people haven't.

I learned about it last year when I was deep into my own language studies. Anyways, it's a technique to improve your speaking and pronunciation.

You essentially imitate a native speaker in real-time, or as close to them as possible. Here's a video explaining how to do it:

Bonus: I actually made a video in Spanish about shadowing. Here's the link.

Enjoy the week, we’ll talk again soon. And hey, remember, if you want a specific topic covered or need help, hit reply and let me know!

- Joe