Committed to the right branch!

Photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash

Many developers join an organization with many many dreams. And it takes lots of time and effort to reach there. In that long journey, we should embrace ourself what makes us unique.

Amateurs sit and wait for motivation, the rest of us get up and go to work. - Stephen King

Making a mistake in that journey will be a great fallback of your pace. Making mistakes are common. We have to agree that it is a mistake, learn from it, and move on. But, knowing some possible mistakes can help us know even before we are facing it. If you haven't read what kind of mistakes most Junior developers do(Read as "Kind of mistakes I did as a junior developer") in my other post, Committed to the wrong branch! please have a look.

So after committing a series of mistakes as a junior dev, if there is something to look back, and pat myself, then that would be some good things I learned. Here I'm sharing those things, that will help you to take a leap in your long journey of your achieving your dreams.

Unless you are working as a freelancer, you will be mostly working in a team. You have to admit that you are not working alone, and begin to collaborate with your team. Appreciate the code written by others, try to understand that. Don't complain about other's code. And also remember that your code too will be read by some junior down the line.

Thing to do #1: Appreciate and understand other's code.

Because humility is the only thing that will help you in the long run. Respect everyone and their work too. Because someday you have to get some job done by anyone from your organization. So, respect and treat everyone with dignity and always be modest.

Thing to do #2: Be humble and modest and treat everyone with dignity.

But, I've seen many junior developers complaining about their senior developers, just because the senior developer didn’t know a particular answer to a new tech or solution to a particular problem or something like these. Look, a senior developer or a super senior developer, or no one can know everything. But, those senior developers can assure that they can get us to a good solution to anything. They know where to look, where not to, whom to ask, whom not to, where to fix, where not to. Understand that.

Thing to do #3: Respect your seniors. They are more than what what your eyes showed you and your ears told you.

In terms of work, like fixing a bug, always look for the root cause. The lowest hanging solution will not always be the best solution. Dig deeper. Find the root cause. It will help you in avoiding further bugs and banging your head on your work-desk.

Thing to do #4: Always look for the root cause for the bugs.

In case you are working on a full module, don’t overthink your code. Plan well. Write the code for making it work and achieving the result. Optimize and refactor it later. Show what you have done, get feedback. There will definitely be some changes in the bells and whistles, go back and change, refactor and optimize. Because, as I said in my other post, over-engineering will always result in more and more bugs.

Thing to do #5: Understand that there is no perfect code.

After a long week of tiresome works, it would be so tempting to enjoy your weekends, as you may think that you have just crossed your most difficult portion of your life. Believe me, have an attitude of the difficult part is yet to come, everything will be so easy after that. It is okay to enjoy your weekends, but at least spend some time in yourself improving in terms of inner-self and your professional-self. Work on some side pet projects,( or freelancing if your company allows) even though you have a job in your hand. It will help you generate a new set of ideas, thoughts, and skills.

Thing to do #6: Hone yourself from time to time. A long time indolent vehicle will not be suitable for a long ride.

At your work, do the things that others are not willing to do. Being it starting a new project, maintaining and refactoring old code, or documenting stuff. These things will make you a go-to person for those kinds of tasks. It will also help you stand out from the crowd.

Thing to do #7: Be the person who takes initiatives

And finally, don’t expect opportunity will itself come and knock at the door. An opportunity will be present then and there. You have to grab and make it knock at your door. Make complete use of meetings. Initiate conversation. Don’t be afraid to initiate a new project or an unfamiliar work. You will never know who has the right opportunity for you. And others too are not Saints to understand your skills and interests.

Thing to do #8: Remember, if you don't ask, you'll never get

But how to initiate a conversation, make use of meetings, have a conversation so appealing without any traction. We all have this question. Learn good soft skills. Learn the secret of winning people. Here is an excellent article on the gist of two famous books on people science. If you are going to meet new people, get your work done, earn people, then you have to definitely have your eyes on those books.

People's value are the most interesting thing you could ever earn. It is easy to be liked by them. But it is tough to be valued by them

These are some of the best things I learned in my internships. I'm sure you could have much more valuable advice from your mentors, seniors, or anyone. Follow them and reach use them your goals.

What is your other valuable advice to junior devs? Comment down!

Written by,

Balaji. S.V