Ask HN: Advice for my first day as a developer tomorrow • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Advice for my first day as a developer tomorrow

#41

Post by siquick » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 12:42 AM UTC

shaneprrlt wrote: post #27

Find your go-to rotation of music and podcasts so you can immediately plug in when you want to get in the zone. I highly recommend checking out https://brain.fm . I pay like $6.99/mo (about same as my Spotify subscription) and it has been an absolute gamechanger for me. Piano music, lo-fi, classical music are also great places to start if you have Spotify. For podcasts, which aren't always great since they can be dis…

I'd recommend the complete opposite - don't wear headphones for the first few weeks. The micro interactions that you get in the work place can make or break your relationships with your new colleagues.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for my first day as a developer tomorrow

#42

Post by siquick » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 12:46 AM UTC

eanthy wrote: post #13

Your first job pretty much determines in what direction your career it's going to go. If you work with tech you like then good for you. If you don't make sure you move within a team that does because your next job will be just an upgrade of what you are doing now, and you better choose the right thing.

My experience is very different.

Started on plain PHP/MySQL, moved to Python/Django, started on Vue, moved to React and Node for one job, did some Angular at another job, learnt some devops at all of them.

The best (and sometimes worst) thing about this career is how flexible you need to be - just ensure you learn the fundamentals. For example if you're doing React/Vue/Node/etc then learn JS rather than learning just the framework syntax.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for my first day as a developer tomorrow

#43

Post by shaneprrlt » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC

siquick wrote: post #41

shaneprrlt wrote: post #27

Find your go-to rotation of music and podcasts so you can immediately plug in when you want to get in the zone. I highly recommend checking out https://brain.fm . I pay like $6.99/mo (about same as my Spotify subscription) and it has been an absolute gamechanger for me. Piano music, lo-fi, classical music are also great places to start if you have Spotify. For podcasts, which aren't always great since they can be dis…

I'd recommend the complete opposite - don't wear headphones for the first few weeks. The micro interactions that you get in the work place can make or break your relationships with your new colleagues.

That's actually a fair counterpoint. Take my advice once you're settled in for those times you do just want to be heads down and focus.

Re: Ask HN: Advice for my first day as a developer tomorrow

#44

Post by rabbleroo » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 6:34 PM UTC

Hey, just want to say good luck and hope it goes well! There will be a lot to learn but take it one day at a time. It's a long journey but a fun one. Try to absorb as much information as you can from your coworkers.

Shameless plug: I'm starting a newsletter focused on offering career advice for programmers. You'll learn plenty of technical skills in your new role, but my hope is I can teach some younger devs what kind of soft-skills are needed to navigate your career.

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