What Advice Would You Give A Junior Software Engineer That You Learned During Your Career?

By Author: R Pande
Total Articles: 449
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Whether you're working on your first job as a trainee software developer or you're planning to launch a start-up software company or have recently started freelancing, I believe the following will be immensely helpful:

Stack Overflow:

When you start coding, Stack Overflow is a great resource to solve your problems. It guides you to move forward when you encounter errors that you cannot solve by yourself. You will find people with in-depth knowledge helping for a quick fix to the problem.

Zoom out:

Junior developers tend to have lower interest towards the ecosystem. Experienced developers however take a deeper understanding of potential side effects of their work and how it fits into the overall system.

Classify your concerns:

Regardless of whether you work in functional or object-oriented languages, segregation of errors is the hallmark of an experienced developer. Seasoned developers have a flair for recognizing various problems individually. Junior developers often have difficulty identifying and separating the various problems.

Proper scheduling:

If you break up your ...
... code, you can end up with pretty concise files. Less than 50 lines is quite manageable. An application made up of small classes that work together is likely to be much easier to use than a monolithic application made up of several large classes.

Welcome negative criticism:

The praise is amazing and it's something we all look forward to. Praise is important, but constructive criticism is also important so that you can grow as a programmer. If you are a junior developer and you have a lot to learn, constructive criticism can help you identify areas where you can improve your approach and your program.

People who have worked with your code or seen your program should be consulted for feedback. They might come up with specific ideas. If you ask for constructive feedback, chances are that people will have something to say.

Find a mentor:

Whether you're teaming up with other developers or doing most of your coding on your own, a technical mentor can help you expand your skills faster and avoid common mistakes. Codementor is also another place to find long-term mentors from experienced developers.

Get acquainted with the IDE you are using:

Like a researcher's microscope, or a teacher's whiteboard, your IDE or text editor is an indispensable tool for your work. If you feel comfortable and fast with the tool of your choice, you will work faster, smarter and other developers will be happy to collaborate with you.

Don't be shy to express your ignorance:

Software development is a huge and multifaceted field that touches a multitude of domains. There are experts in almost every subareas of software development, from databases to security to performance optimization. Even seasoned software developers cannot know everything and as a junior you are likely to lose a great deal of knowledge. The best way to accelerate the rate at which you acquire missing knowledge is to expose your ignorance.

Have a side project:

Your side projects are your playground, a place where you can follow your interests and try new tools without strict deadlines. Side projects are a great way to fill knowledge gaps, gain experience, make decisions, and deal with the consequences, both good and bad, on your own.

Ambit Technologies (P) Ltd. is a front-line full spectrum web and mobile development company providing result-oriented cost-effective solutions to enterprises - big, medium and small - spread across the world. It is also a reputed IT outsourcing solution provider having catered to customers spread across 78 countries of the world. Ambit Technologies (P) Ltd. strives to keep abreast of the latest of technologies and bring in innovative ideas constantly in the projects it undertakes.