What's the kindest thing someone's ever done for you during your career?

In 2012 I spent 3 months teaching myself web development using the Michael Hartl Rails tutorial. I then applied to a tiny startup called Aisle50. They had a job posting for a full time Software Engineer which I was NOWHERE near but I emailed them and asked if they would take on an intern. They told me they would consider it and had me come in for an interview.

During the interview they had me show them the app I built which ended up being way buggier than I hoped but despite that, they agreed to give me a 6 month paid internship with option to hire at the end. After 6 months they hired me and the rest is history.

I can never thank that team enough for taking a chance on me!

Molly Struve 🦄

@molly_struve

Words will never be enough to thank @bschmeck, @maxkpage, and @archslide for everything they taught me when I was starting out. I owe my career to those 3 and to @steinerwriter for taking a chance on me! ❤️ twitter.com/codingcoach_io…

21:38 PM - 26 Jan 2019

codingcoach @codingcoach_io

If there’s a mentor in your life, or even a previous mentor you had, take a moment to give them your appreciation. A simple message will do, but it can make a world of difference.

Maybe not the kindest thing, but something nice: When I was applying for my first developer job, I cancelled a technical interview because I had severe anxiety leading up to it. A few days later, I realized that I regretted it and ended up emailing them back. I explained the anxiety - and they understood 🥰 Another interview was scheduled and they ultimately hired me 🎉

I've also known many people who used their free time to mentor and support me. Too many to count and I'm very grateful ❤️

I think for me I'm grateful for all the people who were willing to take chances on me and take the time to speak with me and mentor me.

I truly believe Jason Lengsdorf got me into the speaking and teaching track (way back in 2016 at IBM). He also believed in my goal to start a mentorship platform, and even offered his help to build it.

Egghead.io took a chance on me and introduced me to the world of online coding tutorials.

There are too many people to be grateful to.

Give me a chance.

Early on when I had not enough experience I strongly believed in a project and the CEO put me in charge of it. She was not disappointed 🎉

I think in general it is a good idea to give people a chance, you won't be able to know what they're capable of until you put them in a situation where they can show you.

Hired me? Haha.

Nah, it's the colleagues willing to stay behind late to help me debug an issue :)

Having @andreasklinger effusively offer a ton of advice in the early days of DEV in terms of technicalities and team-building has to rank up there pretty well for me.

I can't even say I took him up on it enough, but the times we touched base were very formative.

Apart from being able to work with such generous and patient people throughout my career, I do have a story that always hits me right in the feels....

When I very first started out with a 'proper job', I was a network technician at a huge school. There was me and the network manager trying to put out fires and keep the network and around 500 PC's in working order.

The chap I worked with was one of the most grumpy, blunt, anti-people person that I'd ever met. He had such disdain for everyone and just about everything seemed to piss him off. Despite that, I could see this helpful streak in him and, although he seemed to have a very odd way of showing it, he genuinely went out of his way to help people. We seemed to get on OK and over the course of my employment, we had a really nice relationship and I like to think that my affable nature and positive outlook brought him out a little. I felt like I'd managed to bring a wounded and untrusting animal back from the brink.

Fast forward a couple of years and I'd reached the end of the road with that job. Nothing bad at all, but we all reach that point in our career, our job, when it's just time for the next thing. During my notice period (typically a month here in the UK), I helped my manager show some new candidates around the school, give them a flavour of what they'd be doing.

On one particular tour, the candidate asked a little about me and my manager, Billy, said 'Well he's a great colleague and works very hard. But more than that, you're not just replacing a colleague, he's much more than that. He's my friend'.

I mean, I'm not crying, you're crying...

He wrote me a fantastic recommendation letter and was so supportive throughout my early career. Couldn't have asked for a better place to work and I made a life long friend.

My career is almost 2 years old. First 8 months I had a lot of hard time because of my boss's stigma about my chronic diseases. You know, can you even work with those diseases? Kind of questions. But I am now team leader of the same project that I started from scratch. My co-workers on the other hand always supported me. I guess that's the silver lining for me.

A colleague backing me in a review with my boss.
He highlighted what I was responsible for in our daily business and explained him how I gradually grew out of my role as a junior developer.
I believe that appointment resulted in a firm stance within the company and a large salary boost.
Thanks! :)

I was homeless for a stretch in December through January. Things weren't looking too good, and I was spending as much time plotting my escape plan as I was searching for a job. I needed money desperately, but I knew I could not work at another shop I despised, where elegant (or even working) code wasn't expected, and where I felt nothing in common with my team.

My old buddy from college reached out to me. We had not had a chance to talk in at least five years at this point. He told me about his company and finished off the conversation telling me that he wasn't doing this because I need money, but because he wanted to see me happy working somewhere for the first time ever.

I went in and rocked the technical interview he was able to fast-track. The next week, I showed up for work, and I am slowly rebuilding my life. Being homeless was one of the most demoralizing and humiliating experiences I have ever gone through in life, and I hated having to lie about where I lived because I was ashamed people would realize I was living in an Extended Stay motel for the first six weeks of my employment, but it's all over now. Not sure where I'd be without him, but it would probably not be a good place at all.