Become a Clean Code Trainer
Clean code has become an increasingly important topic in software development in recent years. While the idea of clean code was initially discussed critically, its necessity is now generally recognized. In individual cases, there may be reasons to write software that is not structured according to the rules of clean code (see 4 reasons not to write clean code). But ultimately, as a developer, you get to the values Changeability and Correctness not over. Our code must be easy to change, otherwise adding features will soon no longer be fun. Furthermore, tests must ensure correctness, otherwise rapid deployment is not possible.
We help developers who know that there is a better way to write really good and long-lasting software so that they can finally realize their full professional potential.
If you are the only software developer in the team who looks at principles and practices, there are various ways to deal with this. The obvious one is to train the team. We at CCD Akademie GmbH are happy to help with our training and consulting services. However, you may also have reached a point where your personal career is at the forefront. Could a job as a clean code trainer be the next step?
If you feel that it's time to take the next step, then working as a clean code trainer could be interesting. Switching from development to management and therefore no longer really developing is not the right path for many people. The pure architect role is also not right for many, because it often takes them too far away from the code. As a trainer, you still have a lot to do with code, even if you don't write it every day. Because our trainers also program! At the CCD Academy, you also have the opportunity to be involved in development projects (e.g. mybadges.io or our training administration).
But the best thing about being a trainer is: people suddenly listen to you! In a team, as an equal among equals, it is often difficult to integrate your opinions and insights.
Prerequisites for further training as a Clean Code Trainer
Ok, so you want to become a Clean Code Trainer. You should fulfill the following requirements.
You have several years of experience as a developer
To become a trainer for Clean Code Development, you must of course have a few prerequisites. The most important thing is that you have several years of experience as a developer. To give you a concrete figure: 10 years is helpful. You have worked on different projects with different colleagues. Why is that important? Someone who did their apprenticeship in a company and then stayed there is not yet suitable as a trainer. It may be good to remain loyal to a company for years. I'm not making an assessment here. However, in this situation as a developer, you haven't seen enough different projects to be able to teach others how to write clean code.
You are always keen to learn new things
The second requirement you need to bring with you is: you have always keen to learn new things. As a trainer, you will be confronted with many programming languages and technologies. As clean code trainers, we are not usually specialists in a particular technology. Nevertheless, we need to understand the fundamentals on which these technologies are based. If you have only ever created desktop applications, you need to learn how to build web applications. You don't have to be an expert in ASP.NET Core and Java Spring at the same time. But you do need to have a basic understanding of both. Not on the first day. Over the course of the training, you will repeatedly see new code snippets from participants in which you will encounter foreign technologies and languages. You have to like that! Facing up to this can mean solving an exercise yourself in a language you haven't worked with before. In code reviews, you also need to be open to reviewing code in a language that you have not used regularly before.
You enjoy communicating content
As a Clean Code Trainer, one of your tasks is to teach participants the Clean Code Developer principles and practices. To do this, you must of course know them inside out yourself. Above all, you need to know the Being able to convey content. Not from day 1 either. It is important to have a certain basic competence in communicating material. If you've never given a short lecture before, the time to become a trainer may not have come yet. The important thing is that you enjoy it. If you find it incredibly difficult to prepare a presentation every time, this could be an indication that you are not finding your calling as a trainer. Ideally, you should enjoy preparing new topics and then communicating them to participants. And it's also good if you enjoy tweaking the topics again and again. Even after years of teaching clean code principles, I still enjoy experimenting with how to convey the material in an even clearer way.
You are fit in clean code development
As a clean code trainer, you teach content on the one hand. At the same time you also convey an attitude. And that should be: clean code is important and in the vast majority of projects it is not possible without knowing and applying the principles and practices. However, you can only convey this attitude if you have been paying attention to code quality yourself for years and attach importance to it. And of course you have known the Clean Code Developer Initiative. If you were previously indifferent to the topic of software quality, you will not become a trainer for the topic from now on. In a Clean Code Development training course at the CCD Academy, an experienced developer must be at the forefront.
Nice to have: You know Flow Design
As founder of the Clean Code Developer Initiative we have, Ralf Westphal and Stefan Lieser, with Flow Design has developed a design method that can be applied in a lightweight and pragmatic way. It is ideal if you have already gained at least an impression of it. In your training as a Clean Code Trainer, you will be taught and deepen your knowledge.
How does training to become a Clean Code Trainer work?
I don't want to make any general statements here, but rather briefly outline how we work as the CCD Academy. Once we have found out that we are a good match, you will be taken on as an employee. Then your training as a trainer begins. In the first step, you will assist in our training courses. This means that an experienced trainer conducts the training and you are there as an assistant. This means that you will start by listening very carefully to identify and close any gaps in your own content. Then you gradually take over small units. This usually starts with you guide a practical exercise.
Your training as a trainer takes place in parallel to your assistance. This takes place in a group in presence. Initially, the focus is on teaching the relevant content. You prepare topics in advance, which you then explain to your colleagues as part of the trainer training. You will receive important feedback so that you can hone your presentation style. You will receive all relevant training materials from the Academy, in particular our internal slides and videos.
Later, you will lead exercises and reviews in the trainer training. Here, too, the prospective trainer colleagues serve as the audience. The exercises and reviews cover both pure coding exercises and exercises in design with flow design. In this way, we ensure that you have mastered and can communicate all the relevant content of our training courses after completing the trainer training. Of course, we also talk about the exercises that we have developed over the years at https://kurs.ccd-akademie.de/coding-dojo have collected.
What does the day-to-day work of a Clean Code Trainer look like?
After the internal training, you will be deployed as a trainer. To ensure that the quality of our training courses is right for our participants, you will initially be accompanied by an experienced trainer. You will lead and, if necessary, be supported by a colleague.
Most of our training courses take place online, So you mostly work from home. To do this, you must have a workplace there that is undisturbed during the training sessions. We will provide you with the necessary hardware and software (notebook, micro, webcam, various IDEs). Overall, we are very flexible because we are completely remote.
Every now and then a trip to the customer is necessary. As a rule, you arrive the day before, stay overnight in a hotel and leave again in the evening after training. The Willingness to travel so you absolutely have to bring it with you. All costs incurred, except for meals, will of course be paid by the academy or our customer.
We prefer a 30-hour week. This gives you enough time for your private life alongside your work as a trainer. Your training takes place during working hours. Nobody forbids you to read something about clean code in your free time. At the same time, we see it as our responsibility as an employer to ensure your professional development during working hours.
I want to become a Clean Code Trainer! What now?
If you feel addressed, the Leap from developer to trainer contact me without obligation at stefan.lieser@ccd-akademie.de. Perhaps you need more details and a personal assessment first, or maybe you would like to get to know us better. Feel free to get in touch!
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