Three Tips for New Developers

Dear new developer,

I ran across this post with three tips for new developers.

The tips were:

• Develop broad expertise
• Work in application support
• Hone your interpersonal skills

This especially resonated with me. Note that the javascript frameworks indicate this article is a bit dated; I’d substitute React, Vue and Angular for jQuery, MooTools and Prototype, but the premise is the same. You can’t make an intelligent choice between alternatives if you only understand one of them.

To sum it up, I advise new developers to work with multiple platforms. For instance, C# developers should get familiar with truly open source alternatives like PHP or Ruby, and web developers should get to know more than just one JavaScript framework like jQuery — they should get to know MooTools, Prototype, and more. Another consideration is that doing consultant work often means working within the client’s environment and technologies, so the ability to dive into new (or new to you) technologies is a must.

I can’t argue with any of these. From a high level view, when you are beginning your career, you want to learn as much as possible from a variety of perspectives. This will inform your career in the future and let you make decisions from a position of knowledge, rather than assumption. So spread your wings. When I was a new developer, I worked all up and down the software stack, from server management to database administration to front end development. And I learned what I was both good at and enjoyed.

The other thing to be aware of is that you are more likely to be hired for potential rather than knowledge early in your career. That means that if you step into, say, an application support role and then want to move out of it, you can focus on what you learned or how you improved the company, rather than what you did. A senior application support developer who’d been working in that field for ten years would have a harder time making that pitch than a newer developer.

Finally, improving your “soft” skills of communication and team work will pay dividends in the future. Rare are the developer jobs that are 100% (or even 80%) focused on coding. Defining the problem is often the hardest part of the development process, and it certainly has the most value. (Which would you rather have, the perfect solution to the wrong problem, or the 80% solution for the right problem?)

The entire post is worth a read.

Sincerely,

Dan