Ask HN: How can I prepare for my new job as a software developer?

Hello,

In September I will start my first real job as a software developer (mainly backend) in a great company. What's the best thing I can do to prepare for it (i.e. to quickstart instead of having to learn everything on the job)? Study algorithms and refresh some of the stuff I studied in my CS courses? Or learn the stack they use on a daily basis in depth (e.g. frameworks, DBs, etc.)?

Thank you!

If the company is profitable, study up on what the company does to make money. Look at the business side of things rather than the technology side. As a software guy, your job is to create stuff that people will buy, increase productivity, or reduce expenses.

Depends on the job, but algorithms and stuff in the real world are highly technical matters and rarely successful companies will put youngsters against them.

The best way to make a good impression is to learn their stack and be familiar with their tools.

For example, if they use 'Docker' try to get familiar with Docker. If they use git, rails, MySQL and Redis try to familiarize yourself with basic concepts. Try to create a similar setup and re-create the environment at home, etc. Play with it, try to read a few tutorials about it, learn the slang quickly.

However, don't be afraid to ask. Do your homework and when not sure ask, the more specific the question, the better. Especially in the beginning asking (even stupid questions) could save your day.

If you already got hired, I would just relax. Get some exercise, find a couple good books [1] you can read later when you want to take your mind off work.

Then, when you start work, pour over the source code. Understand it. Ask or research anything you don't understand. Make a list of things that suck about it -- there likely will be a lot of technical debt, but who knows...

If you want to get ahead, combine working harder than anyone else with the concepts you will absorb by reading The Power Broker [2].

[1] I say a book instead of NetFlix or games, because if you read at night, with a red light, you'll become sleepy and get a good night's rest, but watching TV or playing games will keep you up, and you'll go into work tired.

[2] Don't mistake this book for some self help or business genera, it's page-turning biography by one of the best journalists of our time.

It would've been useful if you'd at least posted the language. My recommendation is this: be pragmatic. I've been asked plenty of times to forgo software development principles to get a product out the door ("hardcode this", "copy/paste that"). I never copy/paste, but I have hardcoded things to get a product shipped on time. You may have a better idea of how to do a lot of things, but only bring it up when you understand the full implications of your changes. Initiative is good, careless prattle is bad.

Groking business logic can ultimately make you more valuable than your software development skills, and nobody hires you for software development alone. Be humble (I myself sometimes fail this when I word something too strongly), be honest, be malleable.

Honestly, without some sense on the stack, size of the codebase, type of company and team size, that's about as much advice as I can give you