Two years ago I decided it was time to quit the career I'd be in for over eight years and start my journey to become a developer. Before starting I had many misconceptions about the tech sector, a lot of fear going into something brand new and I worried that I would not succeed at what looked like such an overwhelming and intense career.
Now being in web developer for over a year, I hope I can pass on some of the things I wish I'd known to new aspiring developers in hopes these will ease worries and encourage those who might be on the cusp of starting to code.
1. Don't feel like you need to learn everything at the beginning, it's a process
This is something I worried about massively, feeling like I had to learn everything before I could be classed as a 'real developer'. This simply isn't true! As long as you have the right mindset, enjoy solving problems and know how to read documentation, you can be on the road to being a great developer. Every day is a learning day in this job, you could be learning new syntax or a new method one day and the next looking into a completely new framework.
2. No one person is an expert in everything
If you're like me and thought number 1 was true, then you probably believe this is true. The tech sector is vast. There are so many different programming languages, frameworks and ways of working that to learn it all would probably take a lifetime. People will have specialities and will know more about what they've chosen, but still won't know it all. The tech world changes day by day, so again, every day you will learn something new.
3. It's a crazy huge sector with a lot of opportunities
Following on from my first two points, I knew this industry was large as I hadn't the foggiest what I wanted to do, or what language I wanted to work with but I think what I didn't appreciate was just how much opportunity there would be. Coding is an almost international language. Once you know a programming language you can work pretty much anywhere in the world.
4. There is a common link between languages, so don't be scared to learn new one once you've got the hang of one
Although there are lots of differences between languages, once you've learned the basics of one you apply these to another. Of course, there are a lot of quirks that one will have that another doesn't but don't be scared to dive into something new and have a go!
5. There is a massive community in the tech world and most people are friendly and eager to help others
In some workplaces, the environment can be quite toxic in that people are wanting to get one up on you and not provide help to support you. I think that within programming, it's a whole different ball game. Of course, people will be thinking of themselves, but they also want to help better you. Whether this is in the office or people online, everyone I've come across so far seems super eager to help. This is great for beginners as there are lots of people to ask and learn from.
Photo by Christopher Gower on Unsplash
Top comments (1)
This surely has been written similarly before, but still you have done this very good. I hope this will help people, who are thinking like "they need to know it well from the beginning".
There is no reason for to be insecure, people just tend to not show any weakness for whatever reasons, but developing software actually is about doing mistakes (which maybe depends on peoples' definition of it) and it usually is an illusion, that you can create very complex software without any "bugs".