Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#101

Post by bashmydotfiles » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:41 PM UTC

pacuna wrote: post #98

Don't ask a colleague every time you don't know how to do something. Investigate, learn how to debug. Building intuition is what's going to take you to the next level. Also, try to not get stuck with same tools for too long.

To bounce off of this point - be sure to figure out the right time to ask questions. I'm currently a junior programmer and I've been struggling with this myself. Obviously, you shouldn't ask a coworker a question the moment you don't know how to do something, but you also shouldn't be stuck on something for a week without asking for help. It's all about balance.

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#102

Post by yboris » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:42 PM UTC

franze wrote: post #68

Read books!

I feel this advice would be better if it was more-focused. Trash fiction isn't what the OP probably had in mind.

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#103

Post by eajr » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:42 PM UTC

fb03 wrote: post #76

do not burnout I know you are young and you feel like you're invincible. I know you can pull an all-nighter and work the next day just fine. We have all been in that situation and believe me, it is gonna take a toll at your performance ... and it could even trigger or help you develop some health issues in your life that can sabotage you down the line. Realize there's only so much progress one can do in the day. Stop…

I can't upvote this enough. Burnout is real and it is horrible to experience, and could possibly derail your career for years. I was fortunate when I experienced burnout in my mid 20's that it didn't derail my career trajectory, but I have seen cases where it has.

This is definitely the #1 thing to focus on as a junior dev. Start to understand your limits. Listen to your body, become conscientious of your emotional state. One of the best junior developers I had the opportunity to mentor was a 35-40 hour per week developer who consistently day in and day out delivered code. He was dependably consistent and eagerly took advice without ego.

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#104

Post by kjullien » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:43 PM UTC

baccredited wrote: post #70

Save 25X your annual spending and you can retire. If you invest to earn 7%/yr (on avg), you can withdraw 4% forever. Read the book The Simple Path to Wealth, or the basics in this blog post. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim...

Could anyone explain this a little for me, please?

Does this mean you save 93% of your income and only use 7%?

From the website, there is a graph that shows how many years you supposedly have to save for retirement but it does not take into account the actual amount you make.

As a "junior" dev, if you save 97% of X peanuts you still have peanuts.

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#105

Post by 1_player » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:43 PM UTC

robbick wrote: post #47

jrs235 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused. Are you saying the CTO and lead developer overvalue your skills or that they too think others overvalue your skills (as in they don't think as highly of your skills)?

I think he is saying that he is both the CTO and the lead developer

That's correct, thanks!

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#106

Post by gwbas1c » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:46 PM UTC

It's not about you.

When seeking a job: It's not about you. It's also not about the company you're working for.

When improving the ugly code in the job you just started: It's not about you. Don't argue about silly things like brace styles.

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#107

Post by ataturk » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:47 PM UTC

Learn how to "dig in." At least in the enterprise space, problem solving is more important than the code you write. I have seen many people come and go because although they can write Java, they can't figure out what to write.

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#108

Post by 1_player » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:47 PM UTC

ancarda wrote: post #84

1_player wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no cure for impostor syndrome. I have 13 years of experience, CTO and lead developer at my company and a part of me always thinks people are way overvaluing my skills. You just learn to ignore it, but it never goes away.

Are you sure it needs to be "cured"? Lately I have been thinking that it's a blessing in disguise; a painful -but effective- motivator to improve and seek out new skills and more knowledge. Yes, it comes with a side of depression, and that really sucks, but I've found if I'm deep in some tech I don't know, it doesn't seem to affect me nearly as much. Could it be jut us getting restless? The feeling we haven't learned…

> Are you sure it needs to be "cured"?

Nah, as you say it is a blessing. And I wouldn't trust anyone who thinks they're underrated or they know "enough" about anything.

> Could it be jut us getting restless? The feeling we haven't learned anything new or faced any new challenges lately?

I bet one could win a Nobel prize for breakthrough research and still feel like a fraud. "Ugh, did those idiots really give _me_ a Nobel prize for this? What were they thinking?" :)

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#109

Post by weliketocode » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:48 PM UTC

synthmeat wrote: post #52

XorNot wrote: post #49

On the slightly more negative side: everything management tells you that's not in an email will have "never happened" when it's convenient. When you have a conversation with anyone where you think a plan was verbally agreed on, before doing anything your first action is to go back to your desk, write it in an email, send it to them as confirmation and find at least 1 other person, ideally in your reporting line, whic…

And it doesn't even have to be any malice. People forget things, (re)interpret things until a thing is no more, or just misunderstand them from the get-go. This is a good advice, glad to see it. While it won't be helping you much to get through your day, it'll count where and when it matters a lot.

Bingo. Documenting discussions should be about better communication and understanding.

Feeling that things need to be emailed because of malicious actors is not healthy.

Re: Ask HN: What is your best advice for a junior software developer?

#110

Post by PhasmaFelis » Wed, Oct 03, 2018, 1:49 PM UTC

IloveHN84 wrote: post #95

fb03 wrote: post #76

do not burnout I know you are young and you feel like you're invincible. I know you can pull an all-nighter and work the next day just fine. We have all been in that situation and believe me, it is gonna take a toll at your performance ... and it could even trigger or help you develop some health issues in your life that can sabotage you down the line. Realize there's only so much progress one can do in the day. Stop…

This, plus do only 9-5 jobs. Do not work longer than 40hrs / week.

I think it can be okay to occasionally crunch for a few days at the end of a project. But yeah, you need to establish your boundaries now, to yourself at least. Do your homework, ask about expected overtime in the interview, and don't accept any offers that will expect 50+ hours/week on a regular basis.