Hello everyone.
I've been hired as a junior software engineer(PHP) in Florida and I'm looking for any advice in starting off programming in a business environment.
I'm 19 and I have no experience programming professionally. I have been programming in various languages for around 8-9 years as a hobby, I am self taught and haven't had much experience working with other programmers.
I'm not entirely sure what I'm asking for here. I suppose I'm just nervous and kind of scared and I'm really looking for any advice anyone can give me or dumb things I can avoid doing. I'm going to be moving in on my own, about eight hours away from where I am from and where my family resides, so I guess I'm also asking for advice about living alone as well.
I will be very grateful for any advice you can throw my way.
I would also like to thank the people here that kept inspiring me with projects in WAYWO, and the advice and criticisms that have kept me going, you all are awesome and I feel like you helped me get this job.
Don't be scared and you will do dumb stuff sometimes because even pro-programers do dumb stuff.
Living alone is hell, so find people near you like and hang around. Don't really on "job" to have your friends.. I mean, you can change job one day and you kind of lose those "friends".
Be open and tell any ideas (to improve stuff, workflow, security etc) you might have. They will love this.
[QUOTE=Fourier;46771709]Don't be scared and you will do dumb stuff sometimes because even pro-programers do dumb stuff.
Living alone is hell, so find people near you like and hang around. Don't really on "job" to have your friends.. I mean, you can change job one day and you kind of lose those "friends".
Be open and tell any ideas (to improve stuff, workflow, security etc) you might have. They will love this.[/QUOTE]
Thank you, my fiance may be moving with me. Not sure yet due to some stuff going on at the moment with her job. I also have the feeling that the other devs will be a bit older than me given I am getting into this earlier than most.
On another note unrelated to that. They say I'm allowed to use any tools to get the job done, though they recommend using Linux for development. One of the devs said something along the lines of "Using Windows is fine but some of us may hate you for it." He said that joking of course but I do want to use Linux for development, the only experience I have with it though is hosting a web server on a Debian distro.
[QUOTE=Rayboy1995;46771788]but I do want to use Linux for development, the only experience I have with it though is hosting a web server on a Debian distro.[/QUOTE]
You're better off than most. I knew next to nothing about Linux when I started my job, but it's pretty easy to pick up, especially if you work in it 8 hours a day every weekday. You'll do fine.
I don't have much advice on career programming. I did however move out of my Dad's place and began renting my own home shortly after turning 18. Biggest mistakes I made came from having my freedom and independence before I had the time to mature as an adult. Some of those mistakes were fun, but regardless of how much fun I had there was a price to pay.
So don't forget that you're an adult now, and if you decide to go wild with independence and money, well, there will be consequences.
Oh, and I wouldn't consider living alone to be hell. If you're the kind of person who has spent every day of your life around people you might have some adapting to do, but the ability to focus on your work or hobbies for multiple hours with nobody around is pretty cool.
Thank you both, I don't plan to go wild or anything. With money especially, I'm pretty cheap haha.
If it's anything like when I started as a junior programmer 6 months back, you will get a lot of guidance and probably not be expected to know everything immediately. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck on something.
You'll probably find yourself fitting in quite well at the end of the first week. It's just a matter of taking that initial leap which is always the most daunting part.
My job had nothing to do with programming, but what I can say is that, jobs are like fast current river, so if you didn't have anything strong to hold on to, you might be swept away by the current.
So don't lose yourself in you work, and make a firm divide between work and life :v:
Thank you, I'm starting to feel a bit less worried. :v:
As for the programming job I have no experience, right now it's just my hobby. As for the staying away from your family I can reassure you that it isn't all that scary, and gets better. I'm currently active Army serving in South Korea, I've maybe seen my family for maybe two weeks, out of the 7 or so months I've been away. I wont get to see them again until this time next year. The friends you make will become your family, plus your fiance is right there with you. It's hard spending all of your life depending on your family, but you have to depend on your self, and believe me the experiences you're going to have will make it worth it.
[QUOTE=hakimhakim;46791512]My job had nothing to do with programming, but what I can say is that, jobs are like fast current river, so if you didn't have anything strong to hold on to, you might be swept away by the current.
So don't lose yourself in you work, and make a firm divide between work and life :v:[/QUOTE]
This can be a valid concern. If programming is your hobby and your job, it's sometimes hard to keep them apart. Especially if you work at home.
• You'll be tempted to rewrite old/bad implementations
[I]You might see shitty code everywhere, but that's alright cause it works. In a professional world, time is important and they wouldn't want anything be optimized unless you have a really good reason. Rewriting existing stuff takes a lot of time of testing, especially if you decide to use the new-bleeding-edge-super-library-that-just-came-out. Remember that STABILITY is more important than PERFORMANCE.
If you got any good ideas, instead of doing that yourself refer to senior devs and discuss about it first.[/I]
• Take your time, never rush
[I]Doing things fast is a good way to show that you're a quick dev, but keep on doing that and you'll end up with shitload of work and a burnout. Besides, working at a normal pace will allow you to write more stable code and test it out properly.[/I]
• Don't be afraid to ask questions, but don't do it too much or for too long
[I]Asking questions is a great way of learning, but careful to not interrupt people too often while they're working cause they'll get annoyed pretty quickly. Try to discover answers by yourself as much as you can. If you're still constantly asking questions after 6 months of work, then people might get annoyed babysitting you.[/I]
• Make friends at work, it'll make your job more fun and less stressful
[I]Not much to say about this, but being friends with most of my colleagues ( even though you might not be able to be friends to everyone ) helped me a lot during my first IT job.[/I]
• Respect everyone, people around you are gonna stay around you as long as you keep the job.
• No matter how annoying or smelly you think that Billy is, don't talk negatively behind his back. Even if that other colleague you're talking to is agreeing about how shitty Billy is, he might be his best friend.
Got few other advice, but I got too bored to continue writing
Thank you, luckily I have experience dealing with shitty and hastily done code. :v:
I've hired (and fired) a few different junior developers now. The best advice I can give you is don't ask questions that show a clear lack of independent research and troubleshooting. Don't be afraid to ask questions, but make them worth it. Otherwise you'll not only annoy your seniors, but you'll impede your own growth by becoming reliant on others.
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