As developers, our first year in the field is filled with numerous learning opportunities and challenges that shape our career paths. Looking back, what were some of the key lessons you learned during your initial year as a developer? How have those learnings been tested and evolved as you've gained more experience and expertise over time?
Share your insights, anecdotes, and advice on navigating the ever-evolving landscape of software development. Let's explore how our early experiences have influenced our ongoing growth and development as developers.
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Top comments (4)
Some of the key lessons I’ve learned:
▪ Don’t just write code but take time to make it readable. You or others will be changing it shortly. It’s not fun to be confused on why something works or breaks.
▪ Communication is King. It’s more important than solving problems. You can cure cancer but no one will care if they can’t work with you or don’t understand you.
▪ It’s your responsibility to understand the codebase. Yes, it would be easier if there was good documentation, good onboarding, or a helping hand (mentoring). But life sucks so get busy reading and testing.
▪ Once you are finished solving a problem, look for edge cases. Ask everyone to test your solution for edge cases. Trust me, there is an edge case because as soon as you demo it or turn your work in it will break because of some unknown edge case. Case in point, my old QA always found edge cases that pertain to half a percentage of users will do A, B, and C while driving & dancing to a Taylor Swift song.
▪ Finally, you will have a love/hate relationship with your QA. They will be so good at finding problems in your work that you will become a better tech professional. Think of them as weights on a barbell weight bench. Their only job is to make you stronger.
All of these things have continued in some fashion past my first year. QAs still give me migraines, a butterfly in Japan still breaks my software solutions, and what I say in stand up is more important than working code.
My coding journey began when I enrolled in Computer Science at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
My advice to anyone entering tech :
✍🏾 Learn as much as you can
✍🏾 It is OK not to figure out everything at first. Just keeping working hard and everything would fall in place.
✍🏾 Have a plan, however, keep an open mind as technology is fast changing.
✍🏾 Nail the fundamentals. This is very important. Most programmers find themselves in a circle just because they want to jump unto the latest technology. They do this without nailing the core fundamentals of programming or computer science.
✍🏾 Network with as many people as possible. Do not feel like you could do it all alone. Have peers with like minds as yourself so that you would be motivated to along the way.
✍🏾 Practise ! Practise !! Practise !!!
These are my few tips for any newbie.
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