Got a web dev job! Advice?

Dave!

Hey folks,

Finally managed to get myself a job related to what I wanna do I started today as a junior web developer with a small design studio in Dublin. I'm just posting to court congratulations

Nah not really

Day 1 wasn't great... I'm going to be doing front end stuff for the first few months anyway, so they gave me a PSD file to slice up and asked me to have a go at dressing up a site that uses their CMS using CSS. I spent an hour or so dícking around, but didn't get too far really. I've been doing more backend stuff recently, so I'm pretty rusty. Came home pretty demoralised

But I took the PSD home with me and I'm looking over a couple of tutorials so that I'm in better shape to give it a go tomorrow.


Anywho -- what I'm really posting about is to see if any of you fellow developers have any advice on how to do well, not tear your hair out, stay abreast of things, etc etc etc. I guess just general career advice I'm sure many of you have had long and illustrious careers, and others are just starting on the bottom rung like myself. What do you wish you did/didn't do way back at the start? What good habits should I be getting into?

The place is only small, but they get alot of business. Unfortunately 2 of the developers that do most of the front-end are leaving within the next month, so I'm afraid there's gonna be alot of pressure on me all of a sudden Shítting meself really.

I'd like to hear from web developers specifically, but software engineers, etc., chip in if you have something to contribute!

Nice wan


BTW, thinking of keeping a blog logging my progress/development, what ye think? I suppose I had best keep the company's name out of it. I've been told (by a Google recruiter!) that they (Google) love people who keep blogs and the likes, as it shows that they're interested in web technologies etc.

tw0nk

Dave, first off, well done on getting the job, congrats!

I have been a software developer for the last 6 years now and starting in a new company can be tough, as often the existing employees are already working in a rhythm. Trying to get to grips with the projects and understanding the products can be daunting initially, but try to pick small parts of projects and understand them well and verify your understanding with existing staff members.

Also, fixing a few easy bugs can help you understand the projects better, slowly fix more difficult bugs until you feel comfortable taking on a piece of new functionality.

Another thing to do would be every few days, pick a piece of technology you have heard mentioned in work and learn about it, experiment with it. This can prepare you for future work.

Most of all, try to get on with your work colleagues, dont force it. Having a good relationship with work colleagues will help a lot and with a bit of luck they will show you the ropes.

Lastly I would say start looking at technology blogs, readwriteweb is good, also try as many new technologies as you can, try writing an app on the google app engine and bring in some GWT or something similar.

Best of luck!

p

Sounds like you'll just need to brush up on your front-end dev. Don't worry too much, first week/months are always pretty tough as you adjust to new environment and also learning new technologies. Important thing is to be open & enthusiastic. Say you're more familiar with backend stuff, but you're eager to learn this stuff too, and maybe they can even help train/recommend resources.

All the best!

stevenmu

Congrats on the job.

Don't be afraid to ask the others there questions, every shop builds up it's own way of doing things and techniques and bits of knowledge that suit their projects, so they should be able to give you good advice. If you're worried about questions making you look stupid, don't be, it's far better to ask and get it right then to get it wrong. Or just ask the guys who are leaving anyway

Similarly try to look over existing/past projects, that'll give you a good idea of how they do things and give you code to reuse.

It's always a challenge to start somewhere new and it wakes a few weeks to settle in properly, if they're sensible they'll know that and not expect too much right away.

Trojan

Well done on the job! Keep asking questions, both here and at your job. Don't let something simple bog you down for ages - ask for help, it'll be appreciated that you want to get stuff done.

I find front-end stuff difficult as I'm more of a techie, but I find Firebug a godsend for dealing with CSS.

frezzabelle

Hi Dave,
Congrats on the job. I'm in a similar position except I'm going into a development role(in 2 weeks). It's a worry how people will feel about a newbe coming in(graduate) and how long it'l take for me to get used to best practices, methodologies and some of the technologies they use. Do company's give a little space for you to learn the ropes? Would the best thing be to do as much out of work reading up and practice to ensure you'l perform? Is a blog a good idea(or maybe a GWT app engine project and build up the cv on it)?
Cheers.

stevenmu

frezzabelle wrote: »

Hi Dave,
Congrats on the job. I'm in a similar position except I'm going into a development role(in 2 weeks). It's a worry how people will feel about a newbe coming in(graduate) and how long it'l take for me to get used to best practices, methodologies and some of the technologies they use. Do company's give a little space for you to learn the ropes? Would the best thing be to do as much out of work reading up and practice to ensure you'l perform? Is a blog a good idea(or maybe a GWT app engine project and build up the cv on it)?
Cheers.

If you haven't started yet, I'd suggest getting in touch with them, explain that you want to get a headstart before you begin and ask what kind of technologies and techniques they tend to use. Any practice is good, but if you can find out what platforms they use and be familiar with them that'll be the most useful to you.

Signpost

Sad and all as this sounds but long hours are the key at the start I think. I've often found myself working 12 / 18 hour days, researching and trying to implement stuff at the weekends etc etc. Everyone will always help ya out heaps at the start but I personally think if you dont suffer the hard graft you wont learn it as well. On a positive note after a really short while you will learn the patterns of the office and stuff will come like a breeze! Might be no harm to try set up your blog using their CMS just for some more exposure?
Best of luck with it thou and let us know how ya are getting on and send on any interesting new sites ya build!

amen

get a note book and write down what your learn, such as how to checkin code, how to do a build, release, comment issues etc.

I don't mind answering questions but after the same person asks me three times how to do a checkin I get a little annoyed.

Have a second note book to record what you worked on and when.

Ask questions about why the company writes code in a certain way, find out how the business works, look for ways the process can be improved.

You should check about bringing work home. Some companies don;t like that, there may be contract rules with clients re work not leaving the office.

frezzabelle

Ok so the best approach is do some research on what I'll be doing keep up to date on things. Learn the in's and out's of general work and coding practices, and take some notes so you don't seem like an egit asking the same stuff over and over again!

Earthhorse

Congrats on the job man. Not done much web development myself but some advice travels well across all types of development.

Dave! wrote: »

Day 1 wasn't great... I'm going to be doing front end stuff for the first few months anyway, so they gave me a PSD file to slice up and asked me to have a go at dressing up a site that uses their CMS using CSS. I spent an hour or so dícking around, but didn't get too far really. I've been doing more backend stuff recently, so I'm pretty rusty. Came home pretty demoralised

Don't be. To be honest, I find rudderless tasks pretty pointless as learning exercises. Still, it is par for the course if you're in a new job and especially if you're junior so try to make a fist of it. I see you're taking the work home, which is fine, but don't be afraid to spend time researching and playing with stuff in work. That's a legitimate worktime activity for a developer.

What good habits should I be getting into?

The good habit of good habits. That is, you'll find there are times when pressure is put on you to break a good habit, whatever it may be. This is usually argued for under the guise of a time or client saving activity (i.e. we need this now and if we don't do this the client's gonna walk). Do your best to push back against this in all instances (you won't win all these battles).

The place is only small, but they get alot of business. Unfortunately 2 of the developers that do most of the front-end are leaving within the next month, so I'm afraid there's gonna be alot of pressure on me all of a sudden Shítting meself really.

This is actually a good thing, provided the crowd you work with are pros. They won't expect a junior like yourself to hit the ground running but if you display a hunger to learn and take on responsibility you could end up taking on a lot of this work and learning in a very forgiving environment. They'll be willing to show you where you've gone wrong if they know assigning this work to you is saving them having to do it. I can understand your fear, we've all been there, just don't be afraid to ask questions or own your mistakes. Your ego won't help you become a better developer so try and let it go even if others around you aren't.

If you can, try and talk to both of these guys before they leave and get them to show you the ropes.

This may be because I've found it invaluable myself but I'd recommend reading Code Complete. It really is filled with lots of little gems that solidify things you probably already know or will learn shortly. I think, outside of technology specific literature you may need to read for your job it should be one of your first ports of call.

Seachmall

Unfortunately 2 of the developers that do most of the front-end are leaving within the next month, so I'm afraid there's gonna be alot of pressure on me all of a sudden Shítting meself really.

I once dumped a live database because I didn't sufficiently test code. I kept my job (and learned "F**k off" is a valid response when the bossman 'needs' a major change made in 5 minutes).

A friend of mine once modified code in a rush job that made the site inaccessible for about 5 minutes until they figured out what was wrong (it was a major site that most of us here have almost certainly used where 5 minutes could mean thousands of users not being able to log on). This was during the first month of his 6 month trial period, he's been working there for about 18 months now.

The moral of the story is don't worry about feeling out of your depth, mistakes happen and no one expects you to be perfect in your first couple of months (they will after that though, just so you know). Do what you can, if they put dumbass time limits on a job and you make a mistake as a result (see above) then that's their problem. If you can't seem to figure something out then ask someone to push you in the right direction. Just don't stress and enjoy the job.

Good luck!

adm

When I started I would read different tutorials here and there learning stuff as I needed it. If I was starting again I would get good books and go through them chapter by chapter. Takes a bit of discipline but it really pays off.

murphaph

adm wrote: »

When I started I would read different tutorials here and there learning stuff as I needed it. If I was starting again I would get good books and go through them chapter by chapter. Takes a bit of discipline but it really pays off.

I'm trying this at the moment. I'm in a similar position to Dave, got first junior job middle of last year as a frontend guy and recently had to find a new job. I got one straight away but the difference between the two is incredible. I never had to use any framework in the last job, the new one uses only frameworks for new projects and I have to get a handle on Yii asap. I'm currently working through the book (think it's the only Yii book out there) chapter by chapter and it is helping.

komodosp

Fair play to you on getting a job... I must say I was in a similar position - I had a couple of months of spotty php / mysql / css experience though a good few years of programming. As soon as I arrived, the only other web developer there was leaving a week later... And I didn't even get the full week with him as he took one of the days off sick. All wordpress sites, I hadn't even heard of wordpress before I applied for the job.

So prepare for a few late nights while you get the hang. And remember, the Internet is a great help when it comes to PHP, MySQL and CSS. (And Wordpress if you're doing that).

Placebo

Congrats on your Job,
I have a degree in software engineering and a masters in multimedia systems, i used to make websites, read up on stuff part time, from a young age. Thought i was the bee's knees when i walked into my job

but industry is completely different and picking up standards and practices takes some time. I was good at making flash banners, but never knew much about expandable banners [had to learn in my own time, after hours]

for first few months, getting grips , you'll find yourself working after hours or catching up on stuff on weekends. I did this for a good while now

but in the end, all of this benefits you, i feel pretty comfortable with my knowledge now but sure if my next job is mad on joomla or etc, il find myself working late again

sites i learned good bit from back in the day, were
lynda.com
tiztag.com
w3cschools.com

these are good for quick learning and looking up references.

Malice

I would also echo some of what's already been written. Don't be afraid to ask questions but make sure to have a go at whatever you're trying to do first. Rather than asking someone "How do I do X?" be in a position to say "I'm having a bit of trouble doing X. I've tried Y but I get error Z. Any suggestions?". Any answers you do get, make a note of them so that you don't have to ask the question again.

For the last few years I've kept a daily log of stuff I've worked on and any interesting issues and their solutions that I've come across. Most recently was something that co-incidentally helped someone one on here.

Lastly, I have found that I never stop learning as a developer so I would encourage you to be the same. You might not learn some major lesson every day but you should be learning something. For example I'm currently battling with a half-written application inherited from another company. I'm trying to bolt unit tests onto it and it's proving a pain in the arse useful learning experience since I've usually been able to discuss an application's code with the person who wrote it. With this project the whole dev team is a bit in the dark .

Some_randomer

Well done on getting the job. Just to give you some of my thoughts on this I've been programming since 1996 and I'm still learning. I started off on VB3 then progressed to VB6 then classic ASP then .NET 1.1. I currently work on .NET 3.5 and I'm learning generics, anonymous methods, etc. I know some of that might not apply but the point is that for most developers there's always new stuff to learn so you have to stay on top of things to be successful.

Something that only became apparent for me after a few years of development is a knowledge of design patterns and how important and beneficial they are. Again this mightn't apply to front end css/photoshop work but if you ever find yourself doing mid tier or back end stuff you'll generally find there's a design pattern that you can work towards that will help with what you want to do. Also in an interview situation if you can answer a technical question by relating it to a design pattern, and give an example how it might be solved with a particular pattern, this comes across very well. Google Gang of Four for all things designy and patterny.

I find as well that when you're working on a particular project you generally concentrate on a few technologies and lose the broader picture, or even worse you do stuff the way your company does it which isn't always the best way. For example the last place I was had some .NET projects but had some pretty bad practices in the way they were developed. Luckily I pointed these out and was able to do my project the correct way but that's not always possible. As for the broader picture I find I have to start back reading the basics again after finishing a contract. I'd be pretty good on the technologies I'd just finished using but everything else would have been pushed to the back of my brain. Last summer I took a couple of months off in between contracts and I started reading up on the latest of everything and also teaching myself jQuery, MVC, LINQ etc which all apply to the work I do. I then went for and got a role in a large US multinational because I was able to talk about different technologies in the interview. So taking some time out and soaking up loads of techy stuff from a higher / big picture level definitely helps.

Carrying on from above another thing is to just keep reading, whether it's blogs or actual books or magazines, you can never read enough. Even reading up on stuff that you're not working on can be beneficial. For example security - being familiar with (in the Windows world) Active Directory, roles and memberships, user authentication, Kerberos etc will always stand to you even if you're just vaguely familiar with how everything hangs together.

Something that was mentioned earlier and which I also do is keep a lot of notes. I always start a new role with a new A4 pad, and every day I write the date on a new page and list everything I do that day on it. I also include what went on in meetings, who said what etc. Even if I spend an hour doing something I scribble it down otherwise I'd forget it. This may seem like overkill but can be invaluable when a few weeks down the line some manager gets you on the spot and asks what you were doing 3 weeks ago or why something you're working on isn't ready. Having everything such as delays and issues you encountered listed by day can save face and also show that you're meticulous and professional.

Good luck with it and remember whatever problem you're facing somebody somewhere has probably come across and solved the same problem. I owe my life to sites like stackoverflow.com which are a godsend when you're in a hole you can't get out of

tom_odoherty

Well done on the job. When I started my first couple of webdev jobs, I set up an RSS reader with feeds from various design-related sites, so I had a little morning routine of checking for the latest from Smashing Magazine, A List Apart and others, just to keep up with what was current. Then I'd set some time aside on evenings or weekends to dive into these things a bit more. Might not work for everyone, but I found it handy.

Dave!

Cheers for all the helpful advice lads!

Going into week 3 now, and I'm getting more comfortable with it now, I'm catching on. The most experienced developer finished on Friday, so we'll see how we cope with him for a couple of weeks, and then the other developer is leaving.

I do read the likes of Smashing Magazine, and a few other sites like that. Very helpful and interesting.


I've discovered that the main thing I need to get to grips with now is DNS! I still struggle with that sh*t :-/ I've largely been able to do it for sites that I've done for myself because I buy the domain from Blacknight and they host the sites too, so it's all sorted for me... It gets a bit messy when you have to start creating A Records, etc.

Any good resources that helped ye get to grips with the subject? I've been Googling obviously

Cheers lads... If I embrace this job and start getting involved in the PHP stuff too, then I could gain alot from it And maybe get paid a reasonable wage too...

Trojan

Dave! wrote: »

I've discovered that the main thing I need to get to grips with now is DNS! I still struggle with that sh*t :-/ I've largely been able to do it for sites that I've done for myself because I buy the domain from Blacknight and they host the sites too, so it's all sorted for me... It gets a bit messy when you have to start creating A Records, etc.

Any good resources that helped ye get to grips with the subject? I've been Googling obviously

http://rscott.org/dns/ is worth a read through, as well as www.dnsstuff.com and www.domaintools.com - they won't have everything you need, but good starting point. Wikipedia might be worth reading too, I'd hope the accuracy on technical stuff like this would be fairly ok.

HTH.

Dave!

Thanks!

Wouldn't ya know it, Smashing Magazine comes out with just the article I need only a few days ago!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/05/25/introduction-to-dns-explaining-the-dreaded-dns-delay/