Dear new developer,
I remember the first month of my first job. I wasn’t sure who was who, what was what or even why was why. It was hard to find tasks that I felt helped the team. I wasn’t sure what words people used off-handedly meant. I’d read and re-read instructions, fearful that I wasn’t “doing it right.”
Every day was a struggle.
Eventually, I learned my way around. Around the code base. Around the organization. Around my tools. Around the team.
And everything got better.
And then I switched jobs and it happened again. The trepidation, I mean.
Yes, it was a bit easier, because I had previous experience to look back on. But I still needed to learn a ton to be effective at job #2. Eventually things got better.
And then I switched jobs and it happened again. The trepidation, I mean.
See a pattern? For every job I ever took, the first month was tough. You just don’t know, and worse, you don’t know what you don’t know. And even worse, you’ll often be hired into a company that is moving fast, so you may have a hard time finding someone to teach you.
There’s no easy solution, but there is a solution. Recognize that this will happen. Put your head down and do the work. Take one day at a time and celebrate your successes each time you leave work.
- “Today, I learned how to deploy to our QA environment.”
- “Today, I fixed two bugs and characterized a third.”
- “Today, we were in a meeting and I made a meaningful comment.”
- “Today, I figured out who the Docker experts are.”
And, soon enough, you’ll break through and find your way. Promise.
Sincerely,
Dan
Letters To A New Developer 