Hi there!
This series is a lot less "5 Facts You Need To Know About Boot Camps!" and a lot more "Now this is a story all about how my life and career got flipped, turned upside down". My intention is to share out where I was in life a year ago, where I am today, and the experiences that helped me during that time to go from working in customer service to working full-time as a web developer. I hope it's useful for anyone who is considering a career in coding, considering a career change, considering a boot camp, or any of the above.
Part 1 will focus on the boot camp; how and why I ended up there, and my experience with it. Part 2 will focus on taking my newly acquired skills to a job market in a new country, and Part 3 will look back on what it felt like to start a brand new job in a challenging new industry.
Part 3: Starting Fresh
Day 1
By this point I'd gone through the boot camp process, I'd worked to make my CV and applications as strong as possible, spent weeks applying, and I'd now accepted a job. Several weeks later I'd flown to England, rented a new home and got myself ready to start the first day of this new career path. I'd even bought myself a nice new suit to wear on my first day.
Needless to say it was a busy and challenging month!
Day One was about what I expected - A lot of introductions and a lot of set up. Actually getting down to business and writing code came a short while later.
For now though, I was now a part of a small team. I got on well with everyone I met, but I quickly realised I was the only entry-level developer in the room. Everyone else I was working with was heavily experienced and had been working in development for a long time before I even had the idea to start in it.
The details of my first days and weeks aren't what's important here. What is important is the chance it provides to talk about the value of a healthy and supportive work culture.
Culture: Not Just For Yoghurt Anymore
It's a difficult thing to be the most green person in the room. Often our culture around work and career tells us that we need to always appear as competent, strong and able as possible at all times. We quickly learn that asking questions means we're revealing we don't know something, and we feel vulnerable thinking that maybe we should.
When you're new to a team and also new to an industry, there's something to be said for the 'fake it until you make it' attitude. You've fought hard to get here and likely had to put your best face forward and sell yourself on your ability in order to get hired. I believe that attitude can be valuable, but I also believe it needs to be balanced: In our careers we should strive not to appear confident and able but to be confident and able. I believe the best way to do this is to be transparent and honest with yourself and others. Be proud and generous with what you can do and with the knowledge you have. When faced with something you don't understand, don't fake it. Be honest, say you don't have experience in that area, and express your willingness to find answers or learn from others. Being able to be genuine and not know something is far better than trying to bullshit an answer to appear knowledgeable. More often than not, people will see right through you.
I can't stress enough how valuable it is to work in a culture where learning and growth are prioritised; where inflated ego and needing to pull yourself up by pushing others down is not welcome; where asking questions means you get support instead of disapproval.
In the first few days on the job I started to be aware of how incredibly fortunate I was to have found exactly that in my new workspace. It was invaluable to me then as a new starter, and still is today.
All that being said, having what I considered to be an incredibly supportive team and an amazing work environment still wasn't enough to completely avoid being buffeted by my own natural insecurities.
I remember in the first week or two on the job, I was working alongside a very experienced developer and we were about to get our hands dirty with some code for the very first time. We were paired up and I was in the driver's seat, ready to write with his guidance. I suddenly felt like I was 16 years old again taking a road test; ready to awkwardly over-steer while someone beside me told me where to go. He began saying "Right, let's start out making a new Git branch that we can work with."
My gut sank. I thought to myself, "I forgot how to write a new branch in Git. Did I ever know? I've used Git before, but I've never worked with a shared repository. Am I supposed to know this? I feel like I should know this, but I don't. The first thing I'm being asked to do on the job and I can't do it." My heart started racing, my hands became sweaty and I felt sick to my stomach. I stopped breathing. "All this work and I can't even handle something simple. Did I oversell myself? Are they expecting me to know more than I do? Why would they ever pass my probation if I can't handle this? How am I going to do anything useful if I can't do this?"
My partner may have noticed that after his simple suggestion, I went quiet and nearly passed out. He calmly continued, "Start out with typing 'git checkout -b' and then our new repo name."
Oh. Right.
I took a breath, and we carried on. A short while later I realised I understood most of what we were doing, and began to feel comfortable venturing questions about what I didn't understand. Instead of anyone on my team ever being disappointed or surprised when I didn't know something, all I got from whatever questions I had were patient and supportive answers.
Looking Back
Six months on and while I'm far more confident and capable than I was on those first days, I can't say enough how I'm still learning - But I'm not the only one. I regularly see even the most experienced people on my team ask questions, struggle with solutions and reach out for support. I quickly realised that's exactly how they got so experienced.
I am thankful that I can only imagine how difficult it would be to start a new career in a work environment that doesn't have a healthy and supportive culture. One where coworkers are competition, or where fragile egos breed resentment.
Starting any new career is difficult. You'll likely be a similar position as I was - Being surrounded by people who know a lot more than you do. It's difficult, but swallow your pride and see that as the opportunity it really is rather than a challenge. Be honest with yourself and others. Share what you know and ask questions about what you don't. If you're at a point in your career where you're considering a switch of some kind, strive to find a work environment that encourages this. Speaking to potential employers about culture and asking them what sort of team culture they work toward can give you tremendous insight into whether or not you'd be a good fit with them.
Creating a healthy work culture also doesn't appear overnight on its own. It takes work and effort, and is the subject of much more writing. However if upon reading this you feel like you wish your own work culture was more like what I'd described, then ask yourself how you can contribute to making that happen.
Oh and maybe ask about the office dress code before you buy yourself a new suit to wear - Otherwise you might have your first day in your new career surrounded by people in jeans and t-shirts while you look like Mr. Peanut.
Top comments (1)
It was a great series, Brian. I felt like reading a novel of 3 chapters in which in the end you are left wanting to know what comes next. Nice to know all these hours in Ubiqum paid off! when the 4th chapter is planned to be released?