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5 things I wish I did earlier in my software engineering career.

Andrew James Okpainmo on April 07, 2023

INTRODUCTION. So far, it's been an awesome time doing this thing that I love so muchβ€Š-β€Šcoding. When it comes to doing what you love, I...
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bcouetil profile image
Benoit COUETIL πŸ’« • Edited

Half of your points are leaning toward the community space. I personally would have added more personal growth points, such as :

  • Working for myself instead of my boss, not to have the impression of working anymore
  • Fleeing away from old technologies
  • Staying several years in the same company to be recognized and involved in exciting decisions
  • ...

Beginning blogging, strategic social media engagements, and technical writing early enough

I disagree. The blogging space is full of beginners thinking they will teach the world. You can't feed others if you are not enough fed yourself. Content might be superficial or already written elsewhere, and only beginners are fooled by it.

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ijay profile image
Ijay • Edited

I respectfully disagree with your stance on blogging for beginners. In my opinion, blogging can help beginner writers improve their skills by allowing them to document their progress without feeling the pressure to teach the world. This can boost their confidence and ultimately lead them to become successful software developers. Although it may seem like their blogs or articles are not contributing much, they can serve as a valuable resource for readers who may have forgotten certain things. From my own personal experience, I have found that blogging about what I have learned has helped me grow as an individual. Essentially, what the writer is trying to convey is that everyone has to start somewhere, and by taking that first step, they learn and progress toward their goals.

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bcouetil profile image
Benoit COUETIL πŸ’«

I understand your point and respect it also. We can see the problem from the beginner perspective improving their writing skills, or from the truth/solution seeker that has to navigate through dozens of superficial articles before finding what he is searching for.

I'm not saying not to write, just thinking twice, doing researches, and being careful with readers time.

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okpainmo profile image
Andrew James Okpainmo

Hi @bcouetil

Thanks a lot for reading thru.

I totally understand you points here. Both points strongly reveal you senior SE status.

I believe you'll see a lot more sense if you'll read the article from the perspective of a beginner who desperately needs to get it right or risk deep frustration in their SE career.

But with your second point, I STRONGLY disagree.

If you noticed, I clearly stated that beginners should focus on publishing beginner contents - targeted at beginners.

Its totally true that there might be such watery blogs posts that leaves you frustrated after failing to find a solution to your problem, but I totally do not accept that as a reason for any beginner to avoid blogging/technical writing.

Besides, this post was birthed out of a passion to help tech newbies get it very right in places where I got it wrong.

Blogging, strategic social media engagements, and technical writing are all proven ways to help newbies put themselves out there and increase their chances of being noticed - hence their success especially at landing early roles in their SE career.

Those points are not empty or fabricated points thought out just to make a post, they are all true and proven realities - especially with the current state of the tech market.

You just have to do everything possible to land you early tech roles.

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bcouetil profile image
Benoit COUETIL πŸ’«

I'm not saying not to write, just thinking twice, doing researches, and being careful with readers time.

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okpainmo profile image
Andrew James Okpainmo

Thanks for the points you added as well. I am saving them for myself.

I quite dmire your senior status and views.

Mind if we connect?

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bcouetil profile image
Benoit COUETIL πŸ’«

Sure, anytime my friend πŸ€—

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emmyojile profile image
Emmyojile

Wow...am really glad I came across this article this morning because I'm at a critical stage in this my tech career that I need all the guidance I can get...Thanks for this wonderful piece it was really inspiring 😊

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Andrew James Okpainmo

Thanks a lot @emmyojile

Am glad you found it useful.

Just ensure to practice what you've leant here.

❀️❀️❀️

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Emmyojile

James I have gone through your portfolio site and I was jus wowed by it. Seeing it has given me a urge to keep giving my very best for this career Thanks again

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susyzee profile image
SusyZee

I wish I had a decent mentor. Our mentor just kept on saying "anyways, you'd guys will have learned nothing when finished with us".. or another when I asked a tech question, and I do ask many questions "I don't know, it's just like that and that's it".. So I felt that I was back to square 1 and started to study everything on my own, but I must say that this has helped me a lot because I can now easily fix any problem and I can detect it in an instance and I love this satisfaction and having taught myself. I think maybe I'm just in the wrong country!!!

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okpainmo profile image
Andrew James Okpainmo

Hi SuzyZee,

I feel your pain.

I just wish you had a DECENT mentor indeed.

It hurts when you end up facing frustration after following your passion.

I'll recommend that you broaden your circle with the help of online communities. Don't limit your self to the scope of just your country.

Also, Keep pushing hard with your self-learning.

I'll also recommend that you find another mentor. You might get lucky this time.

I'll be glad to help. You can reach out if you don't mind.

Finally, write out the points addressed in this article, and work towards getting each of them right.

Cheers to the career of your dreams.

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SusyZee

Hey Andrew James,
How's it going? I wanted to ask a question if I may.. I have been working real hard on a website with 4 pages, and when I get to the footer, I have a problem with the responsiveness. If I put the following on the footer: "width:100%; " and then go to mobile view, it is not responsive... the "width: 100%;" is on the @media screen and (max-width: 600px), but it sort of throws off the padding and right side margins., causing like a empty space. If I do not add "width: 100%;" it comes out perfectly responsive, now why's that? I hope I explained this well.... thanks 4 your help!!!
Susy

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SusyZee

Hi Andrew James!!
Thanks for offering help! For what I paid, I had expected much better from them. In the end, they tauught us Bootstrap which is like a short-cut to learning Web development without learning the most important languages! Crazy!! €2,500.00 down the drain! That's what really got me angry. Anyways, I'm learning on my own watching millions of videos and reading millions of stuff!! Now I'm preparing a portfolio and hopefully I can find a job in my home country of Canada!!

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okpainmo profile image
Andrew James Okpainmo

πŸ₯ΊπŸ₯ΊπŸ₯Ί - that's a lot of money.

Oh my, so sorry about that.

Anyway, with the drive you currently have, I see you crushing your dreams real soon.

Just keep pushing it.
You'll be fine sis.

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SusyZee

I am studying 5 whole hours per day!!!! Sometimes JavaScript comes into my dreams !!!! ☺

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Andrew James Okpainmo

Hi @susyzee mind If we connect on Twitter. I guess DMs will enable me help you better.

@AJ_Okpainmo - that's my Twitter handle.

Besides, a meet session where you can share your screen will be ideal for solving this bug. I really can't grasp it right now.

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SusyZee

Hi Andrew!! I do not have a Twitter account. I will sign up for it shortly, as it was already in my plans!!

thanks!!!

😊😊😊😊😊

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Andrew James Okpainmo

Oh oh @susyzee having a twitter account is crucial as a techie beginner. It's very important.

Please set one up ASAP.

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Andrew James Okpainmo

Hi @susyzee I guess you need to see this - ajokpainmo.com/mentorship

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acehand profile image
Anand Chandrasekaran

nice points. Just fyi - The link you posted about an article, seems to be invalid.

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okpainmo profile image
Andrew James Okpainmo

Hi @acehand that so much for taking time to read through my article. Glad you found my points to be nice.

I've also fixed the link to the article. you can read it now - it an amazing story of someone's super-impressive success with his technical writing career.

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joniedev profile image
Okoro John

Nice write up there.
I am uplifted.
Thank you poster.

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Andrew James Okpainmo

You welcome John.

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bbrian01 profile image
B-brian01

Thanks allot for informing us the the newbies

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Andrew James Okpainmo

Thanks for reading.

Glad you found value.

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codekazuki profile image
Ayodele Agbowuro

Hi @okpainmo
This is a beautiful piece, especially for newbies........ I want to ask, how soon should a newbie start looking at DSA and Algorithms?

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Andrew James Okpainmo

Hi @codekazuki

I'll actually discourage DSA for newbies. It actually doesn't make much sense especially if you're a web based beginner-programmer.

But if you have all the time to learn the main stuffs and still have some to spare, then it won't be a crime to commit such to DSA