When I joined my first, I had no idea how a real company works, how it looks and sounds. Since I just started my first career as a software developer, my intention was to develop a good reputation as well as experiences.
I still remember, the first day I came into their office, they looked unusual to me. Everyone wore casual t-shirts, not office sets as in Indonesian Aerospace offices—the only aircraft industry in Indonesia—where I did my internship before the university graduation. Except their office boy, he wore a neat collared shirt with blue jeans. On the first floor, I saw people working with their own laptops on a tennis table.
Their website is mediocre, nothing special. Even I noticed something that is supposed to be at center, but it was not. Since human beings do lots of mistakes every day, a visual error or two in their website is not a big deal. I would never know how many times I pressed the backspace key within two seconds of writing code. But anyway, it shall be fixed some time to develop trust between their visitors.
I was staring into the void, for he just asked me in the interview about:
- myself;
- what language I used the most—I said Python, but their expertise is web technology, let alone they used to be known as PHP outsourcing Indonesia—;
- what web framework I am expert in—I said I prefer doing natively, but they listed PHP and JavaScript frameworks in the website—;
After hearing grotesque answers from me, it became more intense:
- what is the difference between two concepts and when to decide to use them;
- what does model-view-controller actually mean;
Finally starting to reach the resolution:
- what will I do if I encounter this and that life case;
- am I ready to speak and present in English—although we all here speak Sundanese—;
- am I willing to be kindly sharing your knowledge, insights, and experiences with my co-worker; and
- am I willing to contribute to open-source;
The interview was closed by we will notify you within three working days. There was not any kind of technical test nor psychological test as I had been through for months before. Then they really did make an offer and I accepted.
That was unbelievable. Since I had been through a myriad of job entry tests and interviews, but I always end up floating. Not a single email announcing the results, except once and I was rejected.
I thought my company was not professional enough, so they did not value any writing test. Everything was done with only that purely laughable interview. I once thought that oh no, I am entering a brokerage company! In the end, I realised that they did not see my skills—nothing to see if nothing to have yet—, but rather my potentials.
It is not a big company. It is medium in size, yet I feel so grateful having the opportunity to join them. The place is cozy, the rules are flexible. The people, indeed, are so nice and humble. Everyone barely forgot to send lunchboxes for all employees in the company—not only for close co-workers—, when they got to say farewell. Almost once per two weeks, we have sharing sessions from different role teams, so that we can learn from each other about solving other disciplinary problems.
The first two week of my three months trial period, I was asked to do random assignments involving certain technologies, including Vue.js with Bootstrap, React, Next.js, and ends with Laravel plus Livewire. But the first job assigned to me was this web application built with vanilla JavaScript and GSAP 3.
Along with developing the webpage, I have discovered a bunch of new different outlook and technologies. I could barely find anything I am used to. Everything is news to me, everything is fresh, despite the fact that they have been there for years. I did not feel that I was at work, since the process was strangely compelling. Not only did I get the tricks and tips to animate from there, but also to hack the app to behave properly in not-first-known cases.
Next month, I joined my first team that consists of myself, a team leader, and a project coordinator. The things got messy in the first run, since I had to backup my co-worker who were taking time off due to marriage in that week. We have not had much time to share knowledge because the time is tight. And I have not even touched the technology before. So I had to work overtime for two days to press the deadline. My first overtime did not go as expected, as I experienced a blackout while working from home. In the end, we have managed to do so. After four months of work, we received a compliment from the client and the project continues to this day.
The five months of development seemed like a very short run, but we experienced a lot of conflicts, including a conflict between me and my internal team. I was the one who learned the most during those months, I mean new things, since I was the only junior in there.
During these six months, I had no after-hours burdens. So, I started to be tempted to play Forza Horizon 4 and read some mystery novel books after work.
Fin.
But of course there will be no such fin on this life-long learning journey.
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