Qs. Welcome and thanks for taking out time to share your thoughts. For the benefit of the readers, could you tell us something about your-self?

Julia: I am the lead frontend developer for the startup CommercialTribe in Denver, Colorado. My day job means I spend most of my time working on a MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express, Angular and Node.js), building and designing the interface for our B2B web application. Outside of work, I enjoy exploring and learning other technologies, such as Go, and relaxing at the barn riding horses.

Qs. Why and when did you decide to start working with Go?

Julia: I sort of stumbled upon Go and it’s community. I worked briefly with Cory LaNou and Levi Cook earlier this year as a javascript developer. They are huge proponents of Go, and here in Denver, they run the Go meetups. Prior to meeting them, I didn’t really think Go would be a language I could ever learn or utilize. However, their passion for the language and the enthusiasm of the community made me reconsider my assumptions. I’m very glad I did.

Qs. How should one go about learning the Go language? What material (books, eBooks, online tutorials etc.) would you recommend?

Julia: I suppose it depends on how you learn best. For me personally, to understand broader concepts I enjoy watching talks, and reading blog posts. Damian Gryski has put together a big collection of videos at gophervids.appspot.com, and recently the NewStack has been publishing some pretty good blogs on Go. If you are lucky enough to have Go meetups in your area it’s a great way to meet other Go programmers and ask questions. But to get to the nitty gritty, the best resource so far has been the documentation itself. Not the lightest read, but it provides you with a lot of information.

Qs. What best practices are most important for a new Go programmer to learn and understand?

Julia: The best advice I can give as a newbie to Go myself, is just to be open minded and write Go the way it wants to be written.

Qs. What are the pros and cons of Go that are being discussed in the development community and what is your opinion on that?

Julia: I hear a lot of talk surrounding package management. Coming from Node, it can be a bit frustrating there is not a package manager like NPM. On the other hand, this forces you to know and research what packages you are including, and perhaps not be too reliant on them. Thus gently suggesting the style of simplicity that people enjoy so much with Go.

Qs. Most beginners in Go would like to contribute their time, skills and expertise to a project but invariably are unaware of where and how to do so. Could you suggest some?

Julia: My best recommendation is GitHub. Look for projects written in Go that pique your interest or that you are using yourself. Is there something you wish it could do, wish it did better or maybe there is just a small bug you can squash. There is no shame in forking the project and making a PR. Most maintainers of open source projects appreciate any help.

Qs. What has been your biggest challenge while working with Go?

Julia: My biggest challenge has been finding a practical application for what I have been learning. I’d love to work on a Go stack, and get more ‘real world’ experience with the language. Where I work we are heavily invested in JavaScript, and being the lone Go programmer makes it difficult to apply what I am learning at my job.

Qs. What types of applications are currently being developed in Go and what changes do you foresee over the next year or two?

Julia: When I first started learning go, my impression was that it was mostly being used for more complex systems projects. Basically, that it had little to do with my interests in web development. This seems to be quickly changing. It is very exciting. Just the other day, I came across a Go to JavaScript compiler which is crazy, but awesome.

Qs. How do you see the market for Go Programmers in the work place? What is the future for Go?

Julia: The job market appears to be quickly growing and expanding. It is pretty exciting. Given the momentum and enthusiasm inside the Go community, I imagine it is here to stay for awhile.

Qs. How excited are you about GopherConIndia 2015?

Julia: I am insanely excited about GopherCon India! I recently found out that I will be speaking at the conference. I am very grateful and happy to be apart of the first Go conference in India!

Qs. Do you have any other suggestions for our readers?

Julia: Just keep at it. Don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions, and don’t be afraid to join in on the community.

Thanks Julia for sharing your views with us. I am confident that your insights would help all the would-be Go programmers. In case you have any queries and/or questions, kindly post your questions here (as comments to this blog post) and Julia would be glad to answer.

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