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The Forge Log

Notes from the forge.

A slow, honest record of what we build, what we break, and what we learn turning Blacksmith.Works into a place where junior developers become working ones.

A bright meeting room with two chairs facing each other across a wooden table.

Issue 009

Junior developer interview questions about shipped work.

Eight questions interviewers ask when your CV names a real project, and how to answer each.

Once a junior CV names a shipped project, the interview changes: the questions get specific. Here are the eight that come up most, what each one is really testing, and how to answer from your own project.

3 min readApprenticesCareersRead
A glowing iron stamp pressed into dark leather on a workbench, a wisp of smoke rising.

Issue 008

What the Anvil Stamp is, and how to verify one.

Not a certificate. A live page that lists what you shipped, and 404s for everyone else.

The Anvil Stamp is the credential a Blacksmith.Works apprentice earns by shipping a client project. This post explains exactly what it records, what it deliberately does not, and how an employer verifies one in ten seconds.

3 min readApprenticesCompaniesAnvil StampRead
A senior engineer's home office late at night with a glowing monitor, reading glasses and a mug.

Issue 007

Why senior engineers should be paid to mentor.

You already do the work. The only question is whether anyone is paying for it.

Senior engineers review junior code, unblock people and explain architecture every week, unpaid and unrecorded. Here is why that work deserves a rate, what we pay for it, and what we ask in return.

3 min readMentorsRead
A printed CV on a wooden desk with a fountain pen resting across it.

Issue 006

How to write a junior developer CV that names a shipped project.

What to put above the fold when you finally have something real to put there.

A junior CV usually lists a degree, a bootcamp and three tutorial projects. Once you have shipped something for a real company, the CV has to change shape. Here is the shape, section by section.

3 min readApprenticesCareersRead
Printed system diagrams with boxes and arrows laid out on a desk under a warm lamp.

Issue 005

What is in a solution architecture package.

The document our senior engineers write before anyone opens a pull request.

Every Blacksmith.Works project starts with a solution architecture written by a senior engineer. Here is what the package contains, why it exists, and what it means for the company and the apprentice.

3 min readCompaniesApprenticesArchitectureRead
A small office corner with a whiteboard covered in sticky notes and a monitor showing a spreadsheet.

Issue 004

The internal tools your company keeps not building.

Seven tools that live on a sticky note, and what it takes to get one built at no cost.

Every company has an internal tool it has been about to build for two years. Here are the seven we see most often, why they never get prioritised, and how a mentored apprentice team builds one for you at no cost.

3 min readCompaniesInternal toolsRead
A monitor in a dark room showing a blurred code diff with green and red lines.

Issue 003

What a real code review looks like.

An annotated review of a small pull request, the way our mentors write them.

Most juniors have never had their code reviewed by someone senior. Here is a small, invented pull request and the review a Blacksmith.Works mentor would write for it, comment by comment, with the reasoning spelled out.

4 min readApprenticesCode reviewRead
A blank sheet of paper and a pen beside a laptop on a desk at night.

Issue 002

How to get a junior developer job with no experience.

The ad wants three years. Here is what actually moves an interviewer, and how to get it in one project.

Every junior has seen the ad that wants three years of experience for an entry-level role. What the interviewer is really asking for is evidence, and there is a faster way to get it than waiting.

4 min readApprenticesCareersRead

Issue 001

The forge takes shape.

What got built in the run-up to opening applications.

The first month of public work on Blacksmith.Works: branded transactional emails, a security pass on the approval flows, public mentor profiles, and what's next.

4 min readBuild logBehind the scenesRead