I would like to share my thoughts about the junior developer path. Discuss why being a junior is way harder than middle or senior developer. Also, I will explain why this is important to know for junior developers and share my experience.
Imposter Syndrome
Some people will argue - "Imposter syndrome can reach every developer". This is true, but it is crucial at the start of a developer's journey. It takes time to learn the main technologies before creating projects and portfolio. Applying to different companies without having any response can break hopes and dreams. In cases like this, imposter syndrome can give a finishing hit on a developer's career. Some people managed to get their first work after 6 months. Support of close people can help keep going if there is any support. Problems start, when do not have any support and cannot find Your first work for more than 6 months. To find the first work faster I would recommend to use social media to share progress and find useful networks.
Tutorial Hell
After failures, some people will return to tutorials. A good programmer is a learning programmer. At the start of the journey after passing courses, boot camps, video tutorials, etc, how to know if I am ready to apply to work. In case, if someone wants to spend money on coding boot camps I would say it is not worth it. The best idea would be to create at least 10 projects and pay some money to mentor. In this case, it will cost less money and time. Also, it will prevent You from being stuck in tutorial hell. The main challenge here is to find a great mentor. As a free solution find a developers network to share Your work. Improve from feedback, but be prepared for toxic persons with useless comments.
Lack of Experience
For middle or senior developers to find work is way easier than for junior developers. Middle developers already have enough experience. For this reason, the company will not invest money to grow a professional and earn money from his work. For junior developer company will spend resources, time, and money to make him a middle developer as soon as possible. Storytime, once I was applying to the Laravel developer position. When a person from the company contacted me I was excited. At the start of 2020, I spent some time learning Laravel. From university times I loved PHP and JS, and for PHP I decided to choose Laravel as the framework. For me, it was easier to find learning resources and understand than Symfony. The interview part went great, I was not talking with a technical person, so they sent me a task. I completed the task, and later I had a response - "You did it great, but we found a senior developer for this role". Fun fact, the salary was small for a senior developer but good for the middle.
First Interview Experience
The first interview experience can be painful. The interviewer is not always interested to minimize stress to make a better experience and make the interview process better. I would like to share other developers' experience, which is available on Youtube. My advice is not to expect too much. Do not study anything on the day of the interview. Remember, there is no company worth Your disappointment, in some cases even tears. It will allow continuing Your journey without additional stress.
Relocation Problem
Some companies do not have possibilities for developers to work remotely. If a company is really great and there are plans to change the living place, relocation is the solution. This process takes company resources. As always there are no warranties that junior will stay long enough to give profit for a company. Do not forget about risks, if relocation were made and You lost Your work after a month, it can be crucial. Do not hurry with the decision. I would recommend relocation for middle or senior developers.
Conclusion
Prepare for challenges, do not expect a lot at the start. Do not stop learning, because in the other case it would be hard to compete with other developers. Prepare Yourself mentally and remember there is only one person who can stop, it is You.
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