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Things I Wish I Had Done as a Junior Developer
Clarity is the benefit of hindsight and when I reflect on my career so far I think of all the things I wish I had done earlier/differently when I first began writing code for money.
I’ve spoken with a LOT of junior developers in the last few years through LinkedIn, mentorship programs, bootcamps where I’ve taught and companies where I’ve worked. Many of the same issues that I thought were unique to me as a beginner in the software industry seem to be incredibly common.
This epiphany would have comforted me a bit more during those first 2–3 years where I wrestled with impostor syndrome and the ever present fear that I would be outed as a fraud at each company I went to. Better late than never I suppose.
If you are at the beginning of your career as a writer of code hopefully you can benefit from some of the mistakes I’ve made.
Speak Up
I don’t know if I really said much the first two years at the first company where I worked as a software developer. The team was small and mostly senior and here I was barely able to write coherent Javascript when I started. That’s not an understatement; I knew less Javascript than most coding bootcamps teach in the first week. I was constantly questioning why they hired me and consistently amazed by the developers I worked with.
