This is when everything clicks and you aren’t just learning new tools and how to use them, but instead finding and learning the best tools to fit what is needed. DevOps is a process and a mindset, so while it might be hard to get a grasp of the different concepts and become comfortable working, once you do, it can be a very fulfilling career. Plenty of companies are looking to hire a new developer for a project or their team. At the same time, the technology industry is becoming increasingly complex and developers are getting specialized in many disparate areas. Sometimes a junior developer is worth much more than a senior developer. Seriously, I have witnessed such a case once, so I personally look for people focused on work, cooperation, and impact.
They will also need to review their finished code with a more senior software engineer. This also means that you can expect that juniors won’t understand all the nuances in a project and they will make mistakes from time to time. For the record, junior developers are not expected to design any part of the architecture of the software. There are many real differences between junior and senior developers. It is partly a question of the knowledge and technical skills which candidates have acquired.
Stories to Help You Grow as a Software Developer
I hope this article helped you understand what to expect working as a junior developer! It is important to remember that your company understands that you are still new to the industry and have a lot to learn. But it’s typically not alright to go completely silent throughout the whole day where no one can get a hold of you.
If you are working virtually as a junior developer, communication is really important. I believe that a good manager is someone who can effectively communicate with the team and is a good problem solver when issues arise. They are also responsible for providing feedback to their engineers on what they are doing well and areas of improvement. The code review process involves another developer looking over your code and submitting their comments for improvement. These code reviews will help catch small bugs, code inconsistencies, and improve code quality. Project boards are used so teams know the current status of a project and understand what work still needs to be completed.
The development world can be rather harsh for those trying to break into the DevOps arena.
I thought I needed to focus only on my coding skills to get promoted to senior. Over time, I realized the differences between junior and senior developers. DevOps engineers play a key role in the integration of code, application maintenance, and application management. Understanding not only development life cycles but also DevOps culture, including its guiding principles, procedures, and tools, is necessary for all of these tasks. A junior DevOps engineer works with an organization’s IT and development department to improve communication and software deployment within the entire organization.
Mid-level developers must be able to understand exactly what a given application does in a given context. As a result, they will be able to gain a deeper understanding of any task. And therefore, they can evaluate changes more accurately, and implement them more effectively. At the planning stage, a good mid-level developer must be able to read the requirements and know that something is missing or can be improved.
Technical opportunity creates developer demand
If you want to nurture juniors by investing in long-term education (3 months and more), have a hold down strategy because other companies will probably attempt to poach them. Not all developers are equal, senior developers make a bigger contribution to the success/failure of software projects because they lead the development and developers. A lot of companies will have a designated chat server or group where teammates can connect with each other throughout the day. My company uses Slack and has a variety of channels for specific projects, software topics, and miscellaneous non-tech conversations. Eventually, you will reach a point where you understand how the infrastructure is constructed and you aren’t just writing code to pass certain tests, but instead writing for a specific purpose in the SDLC. You know the full requirements of an app or service and understand where it fits into the architecture.
Communication and other soft skills are an important part of their skill set too. Developing code is a team effort, so standardization is very important, as it allows a new person to quickly understand what is what, and minimizes the number of errors. Understanding the structure of a typical application makes the task of building it fairly straight-forward.
How to Prepare for the Role
I recommend never getting too comfortable with what you are doing to keep growing. It will take awhile before you will get comfortable with the codebase and the workflow requirements. Try to learn from your co-workers because they have different levels of expertise and experience. Make sure to try solving the issue on your own first by reading documentation and other articles before reaching out for help. Also do the best you can communicating exactly what the issue is with a lot of detail so others can best help you. I believe a healthy company culture will not expect you to be available for every single second on the group chat.
I’ve spent my entire career focusing on DevOps and working in multiple fortune 500 companies. The key information is that you have to look at all of these tools as part of a larger system. Just like an infrastructure has several different parts, you have to break this down and study how they fit into the larger picture.
Practical tips for those who want to advance in their careers
Companies usually target seniors with salaries going through the roof. In a market like this, it is irrational to invest in https://wizardsdev.com/en/vacancy/middle-senior-devops-engineer/ educating junior specialists. Only huge service companies and enterprises like banks and telecommunication can afford that.
- They play a critical role in IT because the impact they deliver lies in routine code.
- When it comes to junior-level positions, the main requirement is that candidates have the ability to perform technical tasks independently.
- I have been fortunate enough to be put in a team where my colleagues are open to suggestions and are interested in bringing you up to speed with everything.
- Programming and computer networks are two disciplines that are most close to this field.
- You may have additional duties, such as training employees on how to use new software.
Junior developers are not bad developers, they are inexperienced and they are on the path to becoming good (senior) developers. Software development is a skill and to get better at a skill you need to practice it, which for developers means they need to create software. Engineering managers hold several responsibilities, including being involved with the planning, and coordination of projects as well as supervising engineering teams. You might be overwhelmed when you try to setup the codebase for the first time or you might not understand all of the code in it. It is important to remember that your company is not expecting to learn everything about the codebase during your first week. In this article, I will talk about the typical day of a junior developer and what to expect on the job.