I actually got my first real project a few weeks ago after over a year here and just completely screwed the pooch on it. I had like 2 methods written but no functionality after a week with it. I don’t know if I was asking the wrong questions or what but the product owner which was one of our senior devs really had me struggling.
I’m finishing up on a course this week that covers a few things that my school didn’t cover and then I am gonna start working on my own project to hopefully get my bearings straight. I don’t really have one in mind but I’m considering a messenger app or ye ole student registry type app that a lot of people start with.
Hey, we all start somewhere. I remember the first time I broke prod I was freaking out. I skipped lunch and a company event with my boss while we figured out what happened, and we had a few major customers who couldn’t use our software all morning.
Screwing up is what makes us devs in my opinion. When the shit hits the fan and the fire flares, that’s when we find out our real mettle. I like to joke that I moonlight as a fire fighter lol.
Keep at it and I promise you’ll get your confidence when you have that major breakthrough and fix a complicated problem with a simple solution.
If you’re gonna work on a personal project I suggest doing something you want that isn’t easily accessible. Something everything out there is subscription based or something. Do something fun that you will actually use. That helps you stay motivated.
Thankfully what I mostly do right now isn’t gonna break anything major but I have had a few after 5 calls from product owners because certain things in our software that is custom configured for each client might have been done wrong(it’s kind of common enough that it isn’t that big of a deal) and it’s mostly a quick fix and from lack of communication. Where I struggle with is that I am first to call for support issues and I still don’t quite know the software or the industry like the back of my hand.
The small project I am rolling around in my head is probably already made but I want to be able to create a chat app that has full E2E encryption with chat history/room deletion based on if the chat hasn’t been active for a few hours or whatever. Sort of encrypted chat but with the killswitch of a VPN. But I don’t know if it already existing matters as much as the experience I would get from just doing it.
Also thanks for the encouragement. Lately especially I have been beating myself up because I should really be further along than where I am.
Yeah I definitely know what it’s like to be first to call and feel like you have no idea what you’re doing. It definitely gets better though.
I only mentioned something you can’t find or have to pay a subscription for because that’s usually my side project headspace lol. If I try to make something there’s already freely available software for, I either know that it’ll take me forever to get something similar when I can just use what exists or I just won’t bother working on it because I don’t NEED it. If it’s something I want that I can’t find anywhere else I am much more motivated.
That sounds like it’ll be a fun project actually. And a great opportunity to learn some things.
You’re welcome! I know the feeling all too well. Don’t beat yourself up about (easier said, I know). It’s so common out there for people to feel behind or like they’re not good enough at their job. I think we should all encourage others feeling this way, since we all (or most of us) have felt the same way early in our careers.
