My first time with a junior software developer job started with the senior software developer handing me a pile of manuals which I was tasked with poring over for weeks. They were mainly manuals about the hardware and development platform, which drove me crazy because I was already familiar with the material. Still, it was necessary because as little as I knew about their software projects and business, they also knew very little about me.
It depends on where you choose to work and what their requirements are. If they provide on-the-job training, you will have less pressure on you to “know everything.” But every place is a new experience. As an accomplished software developer, I once started at a company working with blood analyzers. I didn’t know the first thing about blood analyzers when I started, but I knew plenty, plus the massive amount of jargon that came with it when I left. I learned as I went.
You will be amazed by two things:
- How many things are different from what you learn at University.
- How fast you’ll learn and use all these fancy technologies listed in the Software.
Engineer job requirements
I’ve been a Junior twice. Once while still in University, after an internship, and then once I started my first full-time job. I’ve learned more during the first month than during my University’s entire semester.
You should be assigned a mentor to help you jump into various technologies and projects. Your team will be aware that you’re just starting out, and keep that in mind while pointing out many issues during your first Code Review. Maybe there’ll be an error in your code, or there’s a more efficient way to do something, or you forgot about some corner-case, or simply used snake_case instead of camelCase for your variable.
While first Code Reviews seem like someone is just trying to find a problem with your work, remember that that’s how you learn and grow.
It will be stressful, hectic, hard work but fun. You’re not expected to know everything, hence the title “junior.” All they will expect from you is three things
- Listen
- Learn
- Admit to your mistakes
Number 3 is the most important one. The only way we learn is to make mistakes, and if you cover them up or ignore them, you just are not going to learn.
The first thing to do is suss your boss out. Is he open to suggestions? Does he keep up with modern practices? Does he expect rigid adherence to his way? Etc. Learn these things early as you want to keep on his good side. Of course, you can substitute her for any of the hims in this writing.
Lastly, don’t say you can do something if you can’t. I once had a junior programmer I had to fire because he claimed he could do things he obviously could not.
Good luck. You will do fine. Just brush up on the basics and get some good design patterns under your belt.