I’ve been listening to some podcasts lately while making some long drives to visit friends and family.  Two of them in particular have proven to be very informative and I’ve learned a few things that I’ve taken note of for future use.

The first podcast is called Careerjs and can be found here.  And another one I’ve been finding helpful is Code Newbie found here.

Careerjs is more Javascript focused, but there are also some helpful podcasts on interviewing and job search/recruiting.   Code Newbie is more general and podcasts include interviews with top experts in various fields including Web Design, Development (incl. CMS, Custom Website and Application Developers) and Web Performance.

Some key takeaways from listening to the podcasts that I’ve filed into the memory bank include:

• Two things that can affect how fast your website loads are: 1) Pic Size and Location (JPG is common, but GIF and PNG are better file types for typical pics that are uploaded to the website.  Storing the pics on the server instead of linking to them externally in the anchor tags by href also allows for faster loading times.   2) FONT PACKAGE SIZE.  Check the size of the font pack(s) you are using.  You should only use a couple, maybe 3 at most on the site to optimize loading times.  Check and compare the size of the pack to other options to minimize the data load.
• When dealing with currency data in applications (i.e. for finance or banking software, etc.), do not use float numbers for the cents amount.  Use integer cents.  Floats are not 100% accurate (applies also when rounded or fixed to two decimal places).  This small inaccuracy can affect yield results when dealing with expressions involving a small number and a much larger number in particular.
• Look for companies that you would like to be a part of and have an interest in and contact them.  Don’t wait for a recruiter to reach you.  A lot of times if you contact a company directly and explain why you’re interested in working for them and what value you can provide to help them, then that goes a long way,
• Go to meetups to develop relationships in person with other coders and potential employers.  It’s very important that people know you in person.

I’ll continue to highlight takeaways and post things I learn from listening to these podcasts that might help others out.  There are many other useful podcasts that I have on my list to get to as well.