You likely quickly realized that you are starting your first programming job.
It’s one thing watching coding tutorials and reading programming books. Another is to make portfolio websites. It’s different from being able to create websites according to specs to meet deadlines and, most importantly, make sure your bosses are happy.
Technology is constantly changing. You must keep up with the latest trends to avoid becoming obsolete next year.
But you want to know the truth? Fear doesn’t mean you have to be scared.
You will get more experience as you continue to work. You can learn programming and also how to work at a high level.
You can learn how to become a great web developer. It’s possible to become an indispensable web developer. You know what I mean.
I am a self-taught web developer and have never taken a formal course in computer science. I have worked in this field for seven years and have struggled with the learning curve and imposter syndrome.
However, I have also gained valuable experience and skills. There might be some similarities between my experiences and yours.
Understand that mastering any subject is a marathon and not a sprint
It’s fantastic if you land a job right out of college or boot camp. Remember that you are only at the beginning stages of your coding journey.
Web development is a complex field. It takes time to become proficient in it. There is still a lot to learn and a long road ahead.
It’s okay! You are a beginner. It is only possible to expect you to be an expert on everything after some time.
My older sister, who was in the fifth or sixth grade, was studying for the SAT (a standardized test used in the U.S. for college admissions). I was a younger sister and wanted to take it, so I answered some practice questions.
I did not do well. I didn’t answer even one question correctly. I was an overachiever at that age and threw a tantrum when I didn’t score a perfect score.
I doubt you’re throwing tantrums when you don’t understand a coding problem. Don’t assume that you know all there is.
It needs to be more realistic and will cause you much stress.
You should be eager to learn more about web development.
Be realistic about your current situation and keep an eye on your progress.
Consider the long-term implications of your career and not the immediate.
Do your best to help yourself before asking for help
The anxiety of exploring uncharted territory in my early years was overwhelming. This pressure to find a solution I didn’t understand often made me anxious.
There were two options in that situation. I could tell my boss I didn’t know how to do it. Could you please do it?
This might have relieved some of the pressure in the short term, but it would have been detrimental for me long term. Employees who need to learn how to find solutions will waste time and take away from others.
Another option would be to do as much research as possible. I would eventually understand everything.
Finally, I would go to my boss and tell him, “Sorry. I can’t figure it out.” Here’s what I have tried so far. It may be related to this.
You can see the difference.
I didn’t give up and asked someone else to do my job.
When I asked for help, I explained that I had done some of the work myself.
You can learn new concepts by doing your research and testing it out. You will reap the benefits in two ways.
You are learning new skills while on the job. In essence, you are getting paid to learn. My boss and coworkers are not being sucked into answering questions you can answer yourself. Your company is an asset, not a disadvantage.
The other extreme is spending hours, if not days, stuck on a problem. You might get the needed answer when you could have asked for help quickly. This is also bad because you spend too much time on the issue.
You will have to decide how much you can do on your own and when to seek help. You’ll find the happy medium with experience.
Stay curious
My first job was a positive experience. I learned so much from my supervisors that I could absorb it all.
I was open to trying anything, even if I didn’t know how to do it. I was curious to find out how things worked.
Every engineer is driven by the desire to understand how things work. Your curiosity should fuel that desire.
Please do not turn it off to accomplish your goals. It is crucial to understand why it is so important.
Keep researching how to do something if you have found the answer in a Stack Overflow code snippet.
If you aren’t under pressure to meet an urgent deadline, take some extra time to examine the solution and see how it fits into your code.
It’s essential to understand why your code isn’t working and why it’s working now. It’s okay if you need more clarification on the concept. Try to understand the idea.
Even if you need help understanding the problem, you will be better prepared to tackle it next time.
Always strive to improve
This is not only for web development but also in any other area of your life, such as cooking, driving a vehicle, and even relationships.
If you aren’t happy with something, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Ask yourself, what do you want to happen, and why did it not happen?
What if your code breaks a website? How can you prevent it from happening again?
What would happen if you and a coworker argued while trying to explain something? What could you have done to escalate the situation rather than de-escalate it?
Do the following:
Analyze the situation.
Find out what happened.
You can think of steps to prevent the problem from happening again.
It takes time; sometimes, we need more time to analyze each decision.
However, ignoring mistakes and conflicts while not learning from them is a sure way to repeat them.
It is difficult to do because once something terrible has happened, your instinct is not to dwell on it.
It’s like debugging your entire life. It would be inefficient to keep repeating the same mistakes in your code. This means you have to learn something, so it doesn’t happen again.
Even if you make small mistakes, this combination of self-awareness & self-improvement will pay off in the long term.
Be a master at solving problems
A large part of your job as a web developer is solving problems. You can write new code or fix existing problems. The goal is to get it working the way you want.
How can you become a coder?
You must first understand what the system is supposed to do and all parts that go into it. This will help you identify the problem’s root cause and how to fix it.