Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2018 has started out on the right foot and only gets better from there. I was fortunate enough to ring in the new year with Mickey Mouse in Florida as I took my family to Disney World for the week. And even though Orlando saw its lowest temperature in 4 years this week, we still had a great time.
The main objective for my 2018 is to begin my career in web development and improve my skills while working for a great company. My job search criteria are entry-level web-dev positions at companies that are willing to take on someone new to the field and are looking for additional skill sets. While seemingly straightforward from my perspective, I imagine the process is much more daunting from an employers perspective when reviewing a candidate with 0 years of professional experience in web development. How much training will we need to provide? How will the rest of the team handle the candidate’s learning curve? Finally, with some experience in the workforce, will the candidate be willing to accept a smaller paying role? With this post, I hope to provide a little more assurance to any prospective employers as to why going with a candidate like me may not be as uncertain.
Figuring out the system or the languages your company specializes in may take some time. A candidate with one or two years of experience under their belt may be able to quickly pick up the workflow or learn the companies preferred language and slide right in. But, after recently wrapping up the Awesome Inc U. Web Developer Boot Camp, I have used or had exposure to several technologies, workflows, and deployment such as HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, Javascript, PHP, Vue.js, Laravel, PostgreSQL, Heroku, Git, and Agile. However, I believe the most valuable piece I learned during the boot camp was how to quickly a learn and understand a new tool.
Following this pattern learned in the boot camp provides the foundation to quickly learn new tools and processes.
The four items mentioned above will definitely help with the learning curve of a new system but there will be questions. These situations are where I can utilize my past experiences in working effectively with new teams and acclimating to the process. Here is where smart questions have been effective. For instance, when working on a task and hitting a brick wall. I go through the process of googling the problem and find four possible solutions that are kind of like my problem but not quite and even when utilized, do not produce the desired result. I’m stuck and definitely need to ask for help. Keeping in mind that the senior dev’s time is valuable, I want to avoid wasting it by not asking the right questions to solve the problem. So my process is:
Using smart questions helps others diagnose problems quickly and avoids repeat solutions. I have found this method very effective and reduces frustration when working with team members who possess different areas of expertise.
I actually didn’t think this would be as big of a concern for employers but was recently asked about during an interview and I now understand why. My past position as a Research and Development Manager provided a generous salary. My previous salary was at the high end of the lifetime range of the salary for the position I was interviewing and the hiring manager wanted to absolutely clear that any type offer would be lower than my previous salary. I assured the hiring manager that I understood and we continued the interview. I can understand the hesitation from the manager’s perspective, but I also fully realized and accepted that my salary would be lower when I made the career change. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to make as much as any company is willing to offer and hope they see the added value I can bring to the position. I enjoy working on team projects and enjoy working with customers. I am also happy my career decision and look forward to the journey.