Malik and I settle into a well-needed quiet week for Thanksgiving as we get together again to chat about this week's Top 7 Articles on dev.to.

WE start off with "Why Facebook's api starts with a for loop" by Antony Garand. Antony introduces readers to a vulnerability mitigation tactic used by Facebook and Google, and how "JSON Hijacking" works.

We move on to "29 Must Read Books For Programmers", in which Blaine Osepchuk details... well, 29 books he has read and why he enjoyed them (and sometimes didn't!). Blaine makes the great point that it's taken him almost 20 years to read these books, and to not orient all your reading towards personal development. Malik and I get into a discussion on genres we enjoy and ones we avoid.

In "SQL Series: All about SQL JOINs", Helen Anderson returns to give readers a visual breakdown of SQL Joins. We discuss the gotchas you can encounter and the lasting value that beginner-oriented material holds for even those of us who've been around the block a couple times.

From another Returning Champ, we read "Dockerizing a Simple Python Process". In the piece, Jess Unrein breaks down what Docker does for developers, and what some common Dockerfile fields mean. Malik and I discuss our experiences with Docker, common pitfalls, and a great writing approach Jess used to make learning something kind of unavoidable in her piece.

In "Portfolio Advice Thread", Ali Spittel creatively flips the script, soliciting users' portfolio sites, and pulls off an amazing feat of endurance by giving feedback on over 50 portfolios. Malik and I discuss our goals when building a portfolio, the never ending struggle to keep them up-to-date, and common patterns and anti-patterns we spotted. Some of our favorite submissions came from Stack Beauverflow, Shannon Crabill, Bea, and Ruth Reyer.

Next, we discuss "Full-time, side projects, learning, and staying sane". Anna Simoroshka shares a candid picture of what the pressure to constantly be learning and building can yield, and gives readers some actionable tips on how to create a stable lifestyle around which they can schedule creative hobbies. Malik and I discuss our values, and efforts we've made to stabilize parts of our lives.

Finally, we discuss "Favourite albums to listen to while coding". Hussein Al Hammad also asks for audience participation, kicking off the post with some instrumental metal album suggestions before opening up the floor to a very active comments section. Malik and I discuss our music choices for coding, give a few recommendations, and I open up about my situational love for Katy Perry. I recommend people look up "Euro Beat Drifting" on Youtube for some laughs. If you're curious to hear one of my focus playlists, check it out here.

Our "Host's Choice" for the week is "Are we Developers helping Google to build an unstoppable monopoly?", a #discuss post in which Sarthak poses the question of whether developers are helping further entrench Google as a part of the general public's lives, and whether that's a good thing. Malik and I discuss which tech companies we feel have a hold on large parts of people's lives, and what impact they could have.

Do you have any thoughts on what makes a good portfolio?

Do you have any tips staying sane while trying to pursue personal development?

Did any of Blaine's book recommendations speak to you?

Let us know in the comments!

We're still experimenting with post formats, audio, etc., so if you have any thoughts, feel free to let us know here, or on Twitter at @dangolant and @milkstarz.