Notes to Myself - First Dev Job Reflections

• I've spent far more time fixing issues than I have spent time writing original code
• Bugs are a thing and will always be a thing
• Holy god having a monitor and keyboard is worth the cost
• I guess I'm getting paid to be super uncomfortable all the time now
• There are days I just don't wanna; and that's ok, I have to do it anyway, and if I do it, the suckage goes away after about 20 minutes.
• I'm reading far more code than I expected: for every line of code I write, I probably read 5-20 lines of other code
• I read way more english than I ever thought I would, too
• Not every article you find on the internet about something is helpful
• Once you get past very very basic things in code, the resources become far fewer in between, more full of jargon, and considerably less accurate, overall.
• I see a lot of plagiarism and its gross. Don't steal other people's code examples or articles w/o attribution, yo.
• Graphs, visuals, pictures, and color-coded anything is my friend.
• If you can make coding funny and human it takes a lot of the suck out of it when you're struggling
• Asking questions is ok and no one thinks I'm an idiot.
• I should ask questions sooner than I do.
• Just cause I'm new, doesn't mean I'm wrong
• Its better to feel stupid in front of other people and figure something out than feel stupid in private and not make progress
• A good team will make or break your experience, cause this job is HARD
• Being physically active is a non-negotiable
• I'm SO glad I didn't give up
• Getting paid this much is a mental adjustment, it helps to reframe your salary as being compensated for business value-added. (hint---you're adding a lot of business value.)
• Don't ever take side gigs that don't pay a regular developer rate, you won't be taken seriously and you won't be able to do your best work.
• This is the most fulfilling job I've ever had.