Dear new developer,
If you are totally thrilled with your job right now, stop reading. This letter isn’t for you.
Okay. So you may be unhappy with some aspect of your current job. I have some advice for you.
Take a tour with a different department at your current employer.
This won’t work for everyone. If you work in a company with only three devs in the department, there probably isn’t a lot of scope for switching things up. But if you work in a company with 20 or more developers, there probably are focused teams. And if you work for a company with 100s of developers, there are all kinds of specialized teams.
I worked at a consultancy with a couple of hundred people years ago. They had a dedicated database development group. I was not even unhappy with my software position, but I was really curious about the database folks. I talked to my boss and we arranged a tour of a couple of months where I worked exclusively with the database department.
I gained a deeper understanding of relational databases. The database group got a trusted helper who was happy to do whatever grunt tasks they handed me. My boss was able to let an employee explore something new and gain new skills, while being assured I would return in a reasonable period of time.
If this interests you at all, discuss the possibility with your manager at your one to one. Also, reach out to the team that seems interesting and learn more about their work. Just ask what they do day to day and you’d be surprised what they’ll tell you; people love to talk about themselves.
Now, some managers won’t want to let you go, even temporarily. I’ve been lucky enough to never have that happen, but if it does, well, that’s a good piece of data to know.
Doing a tour with a different department is a great way for you to spread your wings and try something new in a relatively safe environment. You’ll be a known, trusted quantity and there’ll be far less risk than if you were to take a leap to a different company and a different role.
Sincerely,
Dan
Letters To A New Developer 