DEV Community

Thoughts as a junior in her first real dev gig.

Demi Lee on April 17, 2018

Rather than going on and on about my background, I'll try to sum it all up in the following sentence. I'm a neuroscience grad who got a job at reta...
Collapse
 
rhymes profile image
rhymes • Edited

Awesome! I'm glad you found a good place!

I see so many small companies looking only for mid to senior level positions but I think it's very risky as a business decision in the long term:

  • if such senior changes job you find yourself with one less developer and hiring a substitute takes time

  • you have no internal path for career growth. yes seniors still learn stuff and have to get better but the fact that they come to you later in their career means if they leave they take with them their knowledge and expertise. you create silos basically and if you call yourself a software company the minimal unit of devs on your core project should be two.

(not talking about startups here, just software shops that too many times end up delivering products late because they only have one dev)

With juniors learning for more experienced developer you both distribute knowledge and create a career path, even if the career path is just "i'm gonna be a senior one day" :-)

Last but definitely not least, a lot of people get better at their own jobs when they have someone to teach to or discuss with or learn from.

I've learned so much just by hanging around dev.to and commenting :-)

Long live junior devs :-)

Collapse
 
demileee profile image
Demi Lee

Haha thanks! Totally agree with this.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

Awesome that things are working out!

Collapse
 
demileee profile image
Demi Lee

Thanks Ben! It's pretty great so far :D

Collapse
 
primariumio profile image
Justin

Congrats on getting a great start. Development like most things is seasonal, sometimes it seems just perfect and at other times it presents some incredible challenges. Having a tame you enjoy can make all the difference.

Don't be afraid to speak up and challenge the status quo even as a junior!

Collapse
 
omawhite profile image
Omar White

I’m a junior dev too! I’m glad your experience so far has been so great! Here’s to hopefully more great experiences!

Collapse
 
demileee profile image
Demi Lee

Likewise! Cheers to that! :D

Collapse
 
maestromac profile image
Mac Siri

The learning never ends!

Collapse
 
david_j_eddy profile image
David J Eddy

Welcome to the club!

Collapse
 
noblebe4st profile image
Jeff Hall

Congratulations! Stay curious.