Tips on what junior devs can do to avoid typical issues at their first job, build credibility among their colleagues, and become valuable contributors.

1. How to succeed at your
first job as a Junior Dev
Andrei Gridnev, Up / Ferocia

2. Your first job as a Junior Dev
can be the start of a great journey.

3. What Makes the First Job Difficult:
● Unfamiliar environment
● Unclear expectations
● Lack of knowledge and experience
● Lots of difficult tasks
● Difficult colleagues

4. ● “Learn the ropes”
● Connect with your colleagues
● Absorb knowledge
● Understand your strengths and weaknesses
● Contribute
What You Can Do:

5. ● Setup your dev environment
● Get access to relevant systems
● Get familiar with the tools and processes
● Get familiar with the “Team Handbook” / “Working Agreements” (if they exist)
● Understand the daily routine of the team
Learn the Ropes

6. ● Find out what they specialise in
● Find an opportunity to collaborate with everyone
● Ask questions (but do your homework first)
● Learn more about your colleagues as humans
● Be a friendly and curious professional
Connect With Your Colleagues

7. ● How the application you are building works
● Why was it built this way
● Gradually learn the tech, tools and techniques your team is using
● Seek opportunities to work with different parts of the app
● Understand the bigger picture around your team
Absorb Knowledge

8. ● Find out what you do well
● Find out what you don’t do well
● Share this with your manager
● Regularly ask your manager for feedback
● Regularly ask your senior colleagues for feedback
Understand Your Strengths and Weaknesses

9. ● Work on simple to moderately difficult tasks from the backlog
● Build your credibility as a developer in your team
● Avoid working on tasks that are not part of the backlog
● Gradually move to more complex tasks with higher priority
Contribute

10. To Sum Up
● Setup development environment and get familiar with the team routine
● Establish professional relationships with your colleagues
● Learn the tools, tech and practices that your team uses
● Reinforce your strengths and eliminate/manage your weaknesses
● Deliver your best work

11. Best of luck at your
first software development job.