A few ways to succeed in your very first software development job
A few ways to succeed in your very first software development job
Landed your first Software Development job? Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Don't you worry. This podcast should have you covered!
The speaker addresses recent college graduates or those still in college preparing for the software development world. They emphasize the overwhelming nature of starting a first job, particularly in a team with a live product in production. Despite technological changes over time, the fundamental problem-solving approach in software development remains constant. The speaker suggests that understanding large code bases takes time but can be managed with a systematic approach to learning. They propose further discussion on this topic in subsequent videos, aiming to help newcomers navigate the complexities of software development.
Summary
Transitioning to the Work Environment:
Discussion about the transition from academia or internships to a professional software development job.
Mention of the overwhelming nature of starting in a new team and working on real-world projects.
Importance of Problem-Solving Skills:
Emphasis on the enduring importance of problem-solving skills in software development.
Reflection on how fundamental principles remain consistent despite technological advancements.
Practical Advice for New Developers:
Guidance on approaching a new codebase for the first time.
Encouragement to remain calm and patient while familiarizing oneself with the codebase.
Discussion on the cumulative effort behind large codebases and the time required to comprehend them.
Strategies for Efficient Learning:
Advice on adopting effective learning strategies to understand codebases efficiently.
Teasing future topics for deeper exploration in subsequent videos.
Podcast
Transcript
0:01
Hey there, hope you’re doing well. This video If you’re if you’re a recent college graduate or you’re still in college, you’re doing some internships and you’re going to get into this big world of software development, this video might help you, hopefully at least a tiny bit.
0:19
Because, you know, I’m just going to. I graduated a long time ago, probably in my last birth, but I still remember some of it and I want to share this experience. So when you get started, when you, when you get, when you get your first job, well, congratulations.
0:34
But you know, you’re bound to be a little bit overwhelmed because you’ve not done this before. Nobody may have. Maybe you were an intern, but a lot of times interns learn more than contribute, in my opinion. And that’s the purpose, right? You want them to be ready for the world. And as a company, big or small, you make that effort.
0:52
So when you get to doing your first real job and somebody’s paying you, and I’m going to talk about it as a software developer, right, you are bound to be a bit overwhelmed because this is you’re working in a team that’s much larger than what you’re used to, and they’re profitable.
1:11
They’re real. The product, the product is live out there. It’s in production. So there are people using it to solving their problems, whatever it is. What about the problem it is that they are solving, helping them solve? Now you’re going to, you know, again, depending on what time and age you got started, a ton of things would be different, right?
1:31
The stag, the version control software, all of that changes, but the fundamentals don’t change a whole lot. When I started my career, it was a different set of tools, languages and libraries and everything was different. But compare that to today. Yeah, sure, a ton of stuff has changed.
1:47
But the fundamental approach to solving problems? Software problems hasn’t really changed, right? And I don’t believe it’s going to change really. So the problem solving part of you is going to be extremely important because that’s what’s going to keep you employed, make you an entrepreneur, make you successful and keep growing and what not, right?
2:06
So let’s come back to what I was trying to say at the beginning of this video. How, how can it help you as a as a fresher who’s entering the world of software development? Let’s say someone gives you access to repo, you clone it, and then they give you a bug to fix or a featured implement.
2:21
But before that, if you knew that you’re going to get some time, and if you are a full time employee, you’re going to hopefully get a bit more time than if you’re a contractor. So the team is going to help you guide you. But what can you do to help your team and not be overwhelmed at the same? Overwhelmed at the same time?
2:38
Now let’s say they give you a repo and you clone it and maybe your team has a ton of repos. But let’s start with one. You clone the repo and it’s a big one, right? Because a lot of the work you’ve done maybe in college or school or and as an intern, you got access to some code, but not a whole lot of files and classes and and the code base in essence, was not that big.
3:00
So the first thing that’s going to hit you is, Oh my God, this is a huge code base, right? And you’re going to get worried. You might get worried thinking, how am I going to understand this Now? Take it easy, right? Remember, tell yourself that this code base is large because it was built over a period of time, maybe months, maybe years, by a large number of people, right.
3:22
So the cumulative human are spent in building the code. Basically looking at is probably a big number. So it is completely all right if you don’t understand it or if you have, if you feel like you have no idea what’s going on, and look at it because you will get an understanding of it as time goes.
3:37
But you have to make an effort. You have to look at it in the right way. So that time that it takes you is not much longer than it actually needs to be, right? That’s where you want to become efficient as as a developer. There’s a lot to cover in this topic. I just want to scratch the surface in this video.
3:55
Maybe I’ll make it a series of videos and let’s call this one of N like I do for a lot of my videos. So the first thing is you clone the code base and you’re starting to get your feet wet and you want to take the necessary steps to understand this code base and the application that the code base contributes to better, right?
4:19
How can you do that? Let’s discuss. Let’s start our second video at that point.
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