Subj : Re: Those first dev jobs blues
To : jagossel
From : Deavmi
Date : Mon Aug 07 2017 08:53 pm
On 2017-06-24 05:17 AM, jagossel wrote:
> Re: Those first dev jobs blues
> By: Zet to All on Fri Jun 23 2017 17:44:36
>
> > So, I recently moved across the world to start my first official job as a
> > Junior Software developer. I was super excited to be given the opportunity,
> and
> > I was really looking forward to earning money for doing what I love... Boy w
> hat
> > a plot twist...
> >
> > I don't really know what I was expecting, but I was completely overwhelmed b
> y
> > the new job. Everyone knows so much more than I do, and I cannot help but fe
> el
> > a little inferior. The guy in charge of training me intimidates the hell out
> of
> > me too. He's been working on the system since the beginning, and when I ask
> > questions, he always answers it with this "how don't you know that" tone in
> his
> > voice which really makes me feel stupid.
> >
> > Another unexpected problem is that there is not a single comment in the
> > thousands of lines of code. Other than that, it seems that there exists not
> one
> > document describing how the system works or fits together. The smallest
> > assignments has me hunting for hours instead of actually developing, which i
> s
> > annoying the hell out of me, and also adds to my insecurity. Add to this the
> > fact that I am adept (at best) at speaking the language, and you have a tota
> lly
> > unsure and frustrated new employee.
> >
> > Why am I telling you all this? Simply, because I need to vent. I am very
> > frustrated, and I am having doubts in my abilities because of this. Luckily
> I'm
> > not the kind of person to give up easily, and I will keep giving my best, bu
> t
> > man is it hard!
> >
> > Also, is it normal for large companies to not have any comments in their cod
> e?
> > I swear if there were at least some vague explaination of the code, I would
> > have been productive so much faster!
> > .[0m
>
> Friend, hang in there. Among you still have the passion for it, that passion
> is what should motivate you to stay and stick with it.
>
> The more senior developers should have been more open to the newer developers
> and shouldn't expect the newer developers to know everything up front. That is
> one thing I struggle with myself, and greatly appreciate the more experienced
> developers guiding me with the system. I have been at this same position for
> over 8 years, and I still don't know the system thourghly.
>
> I suspect that it is normal for software to not have comments to explain what
> it is doing. There is a standard where I work: comments should only be used to
> explain WHY the code is odd, not WHAT thr code is doing. The trade off here is
> that the code should be, "self-documented", meaning that it should use more
> meaningful names and does one thing only, should be easy to read and follow.
>
> It sounds like there is a lot of pressure to get code out the door as quickly
> as possible. This will lead to nasty cycles between new features followed by
> critical issues that need to be addressed as soon as possible, Where I work is
> like that righr now: years of pressure to get new features done, leading to
> enough unhappy customers question how we do things and logging a lot of criical
> issues.
>
> Hang in there, bud. But keep other opportunities open. :)
>
> -jag
> Code it, script it, automate it!
>
So wise. So wise. :)
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