The new Code Academy class is now two weeks in. They’re getting one more week than we did to complete their first projects. Also, this is one more week for the students to decide if this path is for them, and conversely for the instructors to determine who continues on with the program. I can’t decide if they’re lucky for the extra time or not so lucky, as they have one more week to agonize over whether they made the cut. Spoiler alert: other than early drop-outs, we all made the cut, as did the class before, so I don’t think they have much to worry about, if they put in the work.
I have been reflecting on what, back then, would have been good to know about the role I have now…
1. Unless you’re on some outlier team, you will LIVE the production release schedule. In training, I think we got a 1-hour overview of a typical release process. Luckily, I understood how this works from my days as a BA. However, I had NO IDEA how important it was going to be to understand all the phases, dates, and what I needed to do for each phase, especially the run-up to that crucial “Hard-Freeze” date. Trust me, you do not want to have to make any changes past that date. Your product owner will NOT be happy about having to put in a code-unlock request because of something you didn’t account for that came up in a last-minute QA check.
2. You will definitely need to understand how to test. Years ago, as a BA, I’d rail and scream when we tested a change and it didn’t work. “Don’t these people even TEST???” I’d complain to whomever would listen. I didn’t get just how hard it is to test code from one’s local using limited data. I’ve had to give myself a crash-course in updating, deleting, and creating data on the back end using SQL just to get enough data to cover the bare minimum I need to test a user story. Whatever language you end up using in your new role, I highly recommending that you become extremely familiar with whatever testing tools are available to you. I’ve shared ad nauseum about my struggles with GUnit and JUnit testing, but I’m slowing getting the hang of this kind of testing (coworkers, STOP LAUGHING!).
3. Speaking of user stories, we are pretty much all an Agile/Scrum organization now. Once upon a time, we were Waterfall which I LOATHED, both as a mainframe developer and as a BA. We all marched toward a project production date (which had changed four times) with faulty outcomes, because we just HAD to make that date—which, of course, would get changed again, due to some outside constraint. I find Agile to be better, because it’s much more flexible, and you get immediate feedback on what you’ve created so far. Instead of the dreaded “Day 2” project, you get to make adjustments and bug fixes in the next sprint. My Agile team works Kanban, which is geared toward more of a production environment—we are technically “maintenance” so this works beautifully for us. Once you get to your new team, and if they don’t bring it up, ask about Agile training.
4. Don’t be afraid to speak up if you’re having difficulties. Your team is going to be forewarned that you are a junior developer and will need some assistance. You will have a mentor to help you with basic coding issues—mine has been a God-send.
5. Eventually, you are going to be in a position to help someone else. Remember all the help that your long-suffering coworkers and mentor have given you and do your damnedest to be of assistance.
6. If you’re really stressed, walk away. Go to lunch, take a walk, disconnect from the coding for a bit. Your upcoming instructor Dana is going to tell you to do that, and when she does—listen and do it! Yesterday, I was at my wit’s end over some damned “500” errors I kept getting when running a SOAP UI project with my local machine to test my code (another one of those nifty testing tools to become familiar with…if I weren’t married, I go kiss the creator of SOAP UI—it’s the best!). Anyway, as luck would have it, I had to leave because I had a doctor’s appointment 30 minutes away, which gave me a good long break from the task at hand. After I returned, I looked at the code again and the SOAP UI results, and figured out the issue. I hadn’t brought in code that another developer had committed to GitHub that morning. Also, my SOAP UI project hadn’t refreshed for some reason. The logs showed updates from a previous version of my code. Once I remedied all this, I was able to run my code with no issues!
To sum it up, my new job has been hard, but definitely worth it. There were unforeseen challenges, but I’ve been able to persevere with the help of many incredible people. To the new class, keep plugging away, both in class and in your new jobs, and you will succeed!