Here are a few tips I wish I was told when I started my career as a developer 8+ years ago:
1 - It’s okay not to know
As a beginner developer on the first job, the biggest fear I had was: “what if I don’t know something?”. Took me a few years to realize that, if you are in a good work environment, it’s okay not to know something.
A big part of working as a developer is to learn something new every day. A good company should allow you to do just that. Of course, there will be stuff that you already know, and there will also be stuff you have no idea about and that’s okay. Don’t be afraid to ask your friends and co-workers as well, they may be able to help!
2 - Code reviews are good
Good code reviews can help you improve your code over time and should be your friend. At the beginning of my career, I use to take any criticism about my code personally, but over time I realized that they are actually a great tool to keep learning, improving and do great work!
3 - Keep it simple
This one is a big one. So many times I tried to imagine the perfect solution, super scalable, that has every feature my users could possibly want. Turns out:
- you cannot know what your users want until they actually use it,
- you will come back to your code to scalability or performance later,
- good code is code that works
- you’re only human
4 - Don’t doubt your worth
«Imposter Syndrome» is a very common thing in our industry, particularly for beginners, but seasoned developers too. We all experience it differently though, but I would say: if it motivates you to learn more and practice more, that’s great. If not, try to build your confidence, mentor others, etc… I will have another Pixel about confidence later.
You can also find these pixels on my Instagram: https://instagram.com/valentinprgnd. I will publish Pixels every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about career development in tech, code, mental health and health for developers. Follow me for more tips @valentinprngd and check out my podcast https://rebased.whatdafox.com.
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