James Cross

Hey... James here

I’m a Senior software engineer / UI Lead and youtuber (@jamescross). Here I share strategies for getting started in software development as well as insights from my personal experiences to help you speed up your journey. There are a lot of different paths to becoming a software engineer.

My story is that of a history major who turned to construction for survival and eventually went down the self-taught programmer route by focusing on learning how to build single page web applications and mobile hybrid apps.

Recent posts

How Much FAANG Pays Software Engineers in 2022

Who doesn’t want to be a cool software engineer geeking it out at a FAANG company making more than some doctors without spending ten to fourteen years in school and residency?

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The MISTAKE That Cost Me $400k As A New Software Developer

Choices have consequences and I made a horrible career choice that ultimately cost me more than four hundred thousand dollars and took away years of my life. In another video I talked about the right way to choose a college major after having done it the wrong way.

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I Tried Coding On An iPad Pro

When I travel, I don’t want to take my laptop with me. My iPad makes more sense because of its small form factor. I can use it to watch videos, edit photos and I wondered how well it would work for front-end development.

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Are Software Developers Exempt From Overtime?

Real quick for those who don’t know what exempt means, here’s a quick explanation. In the United States, if you work more than forty hours in a work week on an hourly basis, you are paid one and a half times your normal hourly rate for the extra hours.

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