So you just graduated from a dev boot camp...(some career advice)
27 Oct 2024I’ve been mentoring a dev boot camp graduate and it’s got me thinking about the advice I wish I’d had when I first started out.
The following is a non-prescriptive guide to starting out as a developer.
It’s my top three tips based on my experience graduating from an intensive software development course and plus 10 years working in tech.
Please take everything I write with a grain of salt. What worked for me won’t necessarily work for someone else.
Top 3 tips
Find your glimmer
A glimmer is the thing that makes you, well, you as a software engineer.
It could be code related or not.
It helps to choose something you enjoy, want to learn more about, or feel confident in. Your glimmer must be in addition to a decent understanding of programming fundamentals.
You could focus on database queries, TDD, git, interpersonal communication, deep-dive into a language, refactoring, team culture, kubernetes, React, pair-programming, AI collaboration. The world is your oyster.
This can feel overwhelming when you’re just starting out. That’s normal and it’s ok.
You don’t have to find your glimmer while you’re also trying to learn the basics. Take your time.
Why this tip?
Finding your glimmer will help you stand out from other candidates. It was a bonus when we interviewed junior candidates and someone had a glimmer. Typically it was a skill outside their main programming language which added a new skill to the team or boosted an existing skill.
Invest in EQ
Invest in core emotional intelligence skills: communication, effective feedback, conflict resolution, active listening, coaching, mentoring.
These are hard to teach and not many people in tech have them. You will be invaluable if you learn, practice, and improve these.
Also invest in some deeper psychology skills: self-awareness, patience, resilience/grit, mindfulness, positive psychology, curiosity, understanding burnout, embracing failure, accepting uncertainty.
These are skills which will help you throughout your career (and life).
Why this tip?
Emotional intelligence is hard to find in tech and crucial to software development and team work. Again, it helps you stand out as someone entering their engineering career.
Practise, fail, learn, repeat
Practise coding. Make projects. Break those projects. Make bad projects. Improve those bad projects by refactoring. Showcase your work on Github.
Write tests for your code. Build things that don’t work. Learn how to make them work.
Fail often. Learn from the failures.
Why this tip?
Practise will help you improve, grow your skill set and confidence, and build your portfolio. All helpful things when you start out.
How do I do all that?
Like I said, it’s ok to feel overwhelmed. I know I did.
You can do this, just take your time. Listen to the things that bring you joy or light you up with curiosity.
Finding your glimmer
- Mindmap on what you enjoy outside of programming (e.g., writing, coaching)
- What was your favourite topic on the software course?
- What aspect of code did you enjoy: TDD? Making database queries? Refactoring? Git?
- Research other areas in tech: cybersecurity, architecture, DevOps, site reliability engineering, data science, UX/UI, AI. Anything fascinate you?
- Practise, read about, or take courses on the area that interests you.
How to invest in EQ
- Read about team psychology, communication, etc (I’ve loved Culture Code and Thanks for the Feedback)
- Take a course (I recommend Coursera’s Conflict Transformation course)
- Volunteer at a learn-to-program organisation
- Practise what brings you mental peace: mindfulness, prayer, meditation, yoga
Tips for practicing
- A little every day is ok. You don’t have to do hours, 30 min is enough
- It’s ok to take breaks and days off, your brain needs rest
- Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough
- Write or present on what you’ve learned
- Focus on one thing at a time
- Celebrate when you’ve completed something
- Write a reflection of what you learned
- Sometimes pick something that scares you
That’s all for now, next time I’ll write more about practising.