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

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

#331

Post by Zyst »

When trying to learn how to implement something, or fix an issue you have, and you end up in the documentation: Read the documentation page for the thing you found. All of it.

I know there is a lot of stuff you do not know, and it can be truly overwhelming to try to stop, and read for 20 minutes when your parsing might get you the answer you want in 1. But you will learn a lot more, and you will start running into issues less and less frequently.

In the long run, it will genuinely save you time, and you will understand the tools you are working with much more deeply.

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

#332

Post by suhas2go »

jason_slack wrote: post #245

Take your job seriously. I often have felt that Jr. Devs I have mentored only live up to the "Jr. Dev" role. They only do as much as they think a Jr. Dev should do and often leave work for a more Sr. Dev instead of at least trying to take a stab at something. Example: a JR. Dev has trouble implementing some candlestick graphs. Instead of trying to work through the issues and document his thoughts in the code and ask…

This is something I'm personally following right now - so it struck a cord with me. I see other Jr. Devs simply stick to their roles, I cannot do this - I try to understand a feature/project and work according to its requirements and not just do my work

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

#333

Post by bastijn »

Ask questions. Ask them all the time. Never refrain from asking a question because you feel you should know the answer.

The mistake I see all the time is juniors nodding because they fear letting me know they don't understand is a weakness. A sign they do not master the language (in fact I see this with most people). Always ask questions. It has multiple advantages: (1) it answers your question so you can understand, (2) it shows me you want to understand the topic under discussion, (3) it helps me explain the topic by guiding me to the parts you find complex, (4) the nature of your questions shows me how much you understand of the topic

Being able to stop someone and ask what a particular term or concept means is a super important skill for any engineer. It does not list you as a fraud, it lists you as a great learner. Remember that. Always.

Now, when asking questions ask the right questions. There is enough material here for me to provide just two links and let you google for the rest. [0][1]

P.s. Bonus reason: Assumptions are the mother of all f*ckups. Ask to verify things you think you know!

[0] https://jvns.ca/blog/good-questions/ [1] https://hbr.org/2018/05/the-surprising-power-of-questions

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

#334

Post by jason_slack »

suhas2go wrote: post #332
jason_slack wrote: post #245

Take your job seriously. I often have felt that Jr. Devs I have mentored only live up to the "Jr. Dev" role. They only do as much as they think a Jr. Dev should do and often leave work for a more Sr. Dev instead of at least trying to take a stab at something. Example: a JR. Dev has trouble implementing some candlestick graphs. Instead of trying to work through the issues and document his thoughts in the code and ask…

This is something I'm personally following right now - so it struck a cord with me. I see other Jr. Devs simply stick to their roles, I cannot do this - I try to understand a feature/project and work according to its requirements and not just do my work

I would hope that no Sr. Dev ever scolds or looks down on another dev for trying, regardless of skill level. I'd rather someone try than twiddle their thumbs. Good luck.

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

#335

Post by ptmcc »

Z-Widwil wrote: post #321
hellogoodbyeeee wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 7% is referring to the rate of return on your investments. He is making the assumption that if you invest $100 in the stock market on January 1, then on Dec 31 your account will have $107 in it. This assumption is an average over many years. There is a common rule of thumb in the investing world that you can safely remove 4% a year from your investments and they will continue to grow. (7% return minus 4% withdraw…

Quick question. Is the 80k an example you threw out, or a reasonable amount for a junior dev to make? Specifically for a a mid-sized company in the States, outside of Silicon Valley. Currently working as a junior dev and the senior devs feel I'm making less than I should be. Which is much less than that 80k. The only caveat being that my employer is also paying for part of my tuition (up to a max of $5000 a year). Pr…

It's obviously location dependent, but in most any booming US city (Seattle, Denver, Austin, etc.) a junior dev should be making at least 80k unless they are truly green.

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

#336

Post by mixmastamyk »

notyourday wrote: post #86
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…

> On the slightly more negative side: everything management tells you that's not in an email will have "never happened" when it's convenient. This brings us to two very important points: 1. Never delete any email. Only archive. Search does wonders to cover your ass. 2. Never use company email for anything personal because you are never going delete any email and you are not the only person who can search your company…

Agreed in general, although I do delete unimportant email.

Also, make a local archive. When laid off you will lose access to company email before they notify you.

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

#337

Post by ThorinJacobs »

vnorilo wrote: post #276

A bugfix is not done when the bug disappears. It is done when you understand why it occurred and why it no longer does.

+1 and extra credit if you arrange so that it never occurs again. (Could be adding tests, could be improving communication to faster identify requirements gaps, etc)

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

#338

Post by apeace »

Program in multiple languages.

Try frontend, backend, write random Bash scripts, try multiple paradigms, try every language out there. Try multiple databases too. Don't just write toy stuff, write something substantial that takes you 2-3 weekends to complete.

All of the best developers I've worked with have mastered at least two languages, if not 3-4.

Will you necessarily use all that in the field? No, you might end up at a Python shop and decide you love programming Python. That's fine.

But you will gain so much perspective on what is possible in programming, and avoid getting stuck in the idioms of certain languages for the rest of your career. It will give you a great design sense. It will give you the ability to dive into any problem, in any language, and be successful.

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

#340

Post by jitans »

If you use a compiler do not ignor ever ever the warning messages. Aim, from day 1 to have a compilation warning free. Write code to be read by humans, and do not ignore writing testing code, more or less you should have twice code in testing than real code under test.
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