What I learned in the first three weeks of landing my first junior developer role
My how time flies. It feels like yesterday when I was a baby bird looking at the code base wondering why in the world I chose this profession. When I first arrived, I knew it was going to feel like being thrown into the fire, but I had no idea the fire would be this hot. Thankfully, those on the team are very helpful and not to mention extremely intelligent. Just being around my team makes me feel like I will get smarter by simple osmosis.
The first couple of days at my new job, the principal engineer was actually not in the office to walk me through the code and outline how information gets passed around. So, I was told to just sit back, relax, and look at the code to get familiar with it. Easy, right? Well, I thought I had a good handle on JavaScript from my days in my web development class, but how wrong I was. This back-end was nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before. There was data being thrown around every which way, APIs being called with enigmatic URIs, and on top of all that, throw in function apps and logic apps from Azure. I was a little in over my head.
One big thing I’ve learned from pursuing a computer science degree is the value of tenacity. It is easy to get stuck on something, and then give up when you feel like there is no way you could possibly grasp the concepts presented to you. We must fight this urge to give up. There is always a lightbulb moment when the clouds clear and everything comes into sharp focus, and we just need to push through until this happens. After all, with computers, there are a million different ways of doing the same thing, so there will eventually be one explanation of a concept that will make everything click. So, when I was stuck on something at this new job, I simply took a deep breath, and pushed through.
This brings me to my next point of not being afraid of asking questions. There were many times when I would be looking at a function, and I had no idea what was going on inside of it. This is okay! Especially since I don’t know the data that is being passed to it, I don’t know the fields of the database, and I don’t know why it is even being called in the first place. Admittedly, I would sit there for a little too long trying to figure it out on my own, but I found this to be a waste of valuable time. After the first week or so, I felt like I was starting to get to know the team a little better, so I was unafraid to ask questions. All it took was a simple, “Hey, what is this function doing?” and my colleague was happy to explain what was going on. The point is, don’t be an island at work. Ask the question that you’re afraid to ask because it is a lot better than sitting there staring at the computer screen wasting time.
The first couple weeks were admittedly rough on me. It was a big life change, and getting to know a new company is always a difficult experience no matter what the job entails. However, armed with the knowledge that people are happy to help, there will be a lightbulb moment at the end, and everyone around you wants you to succeed, you can have a great experience as a junior developer.
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