So recently I’ve quit my first job, which I did for about 7 months.
The reason for this is obvious: I found a new job that could interest me more.
As a junior, with 3 months’ prior notice time, it’s a big challenge for me.
I almost got another job before this new job, after passing an online technical test with a score of 80 out of 100. But since the company was not willing to wait for me for 3 months, they rejected me for another ridiculous reason.
So here I am, I found the best job that I could find as a junior developer, in a dream company.
I want to take all the good memories from my first job with me, to be prepared for the new challenges ahead in the next job.
Here are four things I’ve learned:
Don’t be overwhelmed by the new technologies that you have not studied yet. It’s just a matter of time. And the time could be much less than what you imagined, if you began to study it carefully.
When my tech lead asked me to write a document about all the steps to be done for migration of an app’s databases between different servers which reside MongoDB, Kafka, and ElasticSearch, I had no idea what Kafka and ElasticSearch are, I felt very scared, so to confront this anxiety, I bought two courses from Udemy, one Kafka, and the other one ElasticSearch, I haven’t finished these courses, just done the beginning, because it turns out that I didn’t need to know every detail of these technologies to make the work done.
People with big mouth often get more chance to be exposed to good projects, don’t despise them, learn how to shine in your own way.
When I realized that some colleagues without a diploma would be sent to do some projects that I may also interested in, I felt very jealous, I knew that they talk often with the managers and decision-makers, hence got much more attention and trust compared to someone like me, silently doing their jobs without much interaction with the managers.
So I took the initiative to talk to my tech lead, if there was any technical work I could do as a Java developer, eventually another tech lead heard of this, and I was moved to a project in which I could do some real development.
Take the time to find a job which you really like, instead of rushing into a domain which you would quit a short time later.
In the market of development, there are so many directions you can go, I know after finishing a boot camp, you want to find a job as soon as possible, no matter if it is on the path that you want to go or not. But trust me, if you are passionate about a particular domain, stick to it. Don’t hurry, even if there are lots of constraints, time, money, etc. Don’t give up on your dream, keep on looking and you will find it.
I regret that I was too hurried after finishing my Bootcamp, so jumped to a domain directly that I had no idea what it was, and put myself in an awkward situation.
When I was asked some questions about Spring Boot during the technical interview, I remembered that some of the questions I’ve studied so carefully, I’ve done projects with, I’ve even taken some notes, but since I didn’t work on the subject for six months, I forgot the details. I was so frustrated after the interview, I went to cry in the bathroom. On one side, I regret why the interviewer asked so basic questions, (like the name of the annotations); on the other side, I regret I have been doing a job that has nothing to do with what I’ve learned, so I forgot even the basic things. Fortunately, the interviewer understood me and I eventually got a pass.
Take the best memories with you and keep going.
When I got the job, I was so excited, I was the first one in my class that had found a job, just two weeks after my training had finished.
I thank my recruiter from the bottom of my heart because as a woman in her late 30s, in France, a country where she has brought nothing from her motherland, she has to start all over from zero, from language to lifestyle, she went through a lot, and after being studied in different Bootcamps for almost two years during the pandemic, she finally realized her dream as to be a developer thanks to this company.
I thank my colleagues, especially my tech lead Thomas, and my co-worker Yvan, who are so professional and could be available for me so often when I needed help, I cannot express my gratitude enough with simple words.
So that’s all I’ve learned from my first job, is there anything similar to yours? tell me ;)