At the very beginning of my career, I did not know many important things that are extremely useful for a novice developer. Looking back, I can say that many of my expectations were not met, they did not even come close to reality. In this article, I will talk about 20 things you should know when starting your career as a web developer. This article will help you set the right expectations.
You don't need a diploma
Yes, you don't need a degree to become a developer. Most information can be found online, especially the basics. You can learn how to program on your own using the internet.
Googling is a real skill
Since you are just starting out, you still lack the knowledge needed to solve some problems. With this, everything is OK, you can handle it with the help of search engines. Knowing what and how to look for is an important skill that will save you tons of time.
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You can't learn everything
You will have to study a lot. Just look how many popular JavaScript frameworks there are: React, Vue and Angular. You won't be able to study all of them thoroughly. But this is not required. You need to focus on the framework that you like best, or the one that your company works with.
Writing simple code is very difficult
Many relatively inexperienced developers write very complex code. This is such a way to show off, to show how well they program. Don't do it. Write as simple code as possible.
You will not have time for thorough testing
I know from experience that developers are lazy when it comes to checking their work. Most programmers will agree that testing is not the most interesting part of their job. But if you are planning to do serious projects, do not forget about it.
And we have deadlines - almost all the time. Therefore, testing is often given less time than required, just to have time to turn in the work on time. Everyone understands that this harms the final result, but there is no way out.
You will always be wrong in estimating the time
It doesn't matter which way you do it. The problem is that theory never matches practice. You argue something like this: I'll do this little thing in an hour. But then it turns out that you need to restructure a lot of code to make this little feature work. As a result, the initial assessment turns out to be fundamentally wrong.
You will be ashamed to look at your old code
When you first start programming, you just want to do something. If the code works, it's already a joy. To an inexperienced programmer, it seems that working code and quality code are one and the same. But when you become an experienced developer and look at the code that you wrote at the very beginning, you will be amazed: βIs it really me who wrote all this hodgepodge?!β. Actually, all that can be done in this situation is to laugh and clean up the chaos that you have created.
You will spend a lot of time catching bugs
Debugging is part of your job. It is absolutely impossible to write code without bugs, especially if you have little experience. The problem for a novice developer is that he simply does not know where to look when debugging. Sometimes it is not even clear what to look for. And the worst thing is that you create these bugs yourself.
Internet Explorer is the worst browser ever made
Internet Explorer, also called Internet Explorer, will make you regret the CSS you just wrote. Even basic things are buggy in IE. At some point, you will start asking yourself why there are so many browsers. Many companies solve the problem by only supporting IE 11 and newer versions - this really helps.
Work stops when servers go down
One day it will definitely happen: one of your servers will go down. If you weren't working on the local machine, you won't be able to do anything. And no one can. Well, it's time for a coffee break.
You will pretend to understand everything your colleagues say.
At least once (most likely more) you will have a conversation with a fellow developer who will be enthusiastic about a new technique or tool. The conversation will end with the fact that you agree with all the statements of the interlocutor. But the truth is that most of his speech you simply did not understand.
You don't have to memorize everything
Programming is the application of knowledge in practice. It makes no sense to memorize everything - you can find the missing information on the Internet. The main thing is to know where to look. Memorization will come later, while working on projects, along with experience.
You need to learn how to solve problems effectively
And do it creatively. Programming is a constant problem-solving, and one and the same problem can be solved in several ways. Creativity helps to do this quickly and efficiently.
You will read a lot
Reading will take up a lot of your time. You will have to read about methods, best practices, tools and many other industry innovations. Don't forget books. Reading is a great way to gain knowledge and keep up with life.
Adaptability can be a headache
Adapting a website for all devices is very difficult. There are a huge variety of devices and browsers, so there will always be a combination of "device + browser" in which the site will look bad.
Debugging experience saves time
As discussed above, debugging can be very time consuming, especially if you don't know where to look and what to look for. Knowing how your own code works helps you debug quickly. You can improve your debugging skills by understanding how debugging tools work in different browsers.
You will look for ready-made solutions, but they will not work for you
If you can't find solutions yourself, it's worth google. Most of the time, on forums like StackOverflow, you'll find solutions that work. But in most cases, you can't just copy-paste them - they won't work that way. This is where problem-solving skills and creativity come in handy.
A good IDE will make life easier
Before you start coding, it's worth taking some time to find the right IDE. There are many good ones, both paid and free. But you need one that fits perfectly. The IDE must have syntax highlighting as well as error highlighting. Most IDEs have plugins to help you customize your IDE.
The terminal will make your work more efficient
If you are used to working in a graphical interface, try the command line. This is a powerful tool that allows you to solve many problems faster than graphical tools. You should feel confident working with the command line.
Don't reinvent the wheel
When you develop some kind of standard feature, first of all, you should look for a solution on GitHub. If the problem is typical, then, most likely, it has already been solved. Perhaps there is already a stable and popular library with a ready-made solution. See active projects with documentation. If you want to add new features to someone else's "wheel" or just rewrite it, you can simply fork the project or create a merge request.
Source: habr.com