DEV Community: Michael

Entry Web Devs

Michael — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 19:42:24 +0000

Hey everyone i am a web developer and am opening a discord server to help and give advice to developers out there or those trying to break into the industry

I will be covering topics such as

Career Advice
Day in life of a dev
Imposter syndrome
Interview Q+A
Building / Networking yourself

if interested join below or message me for an invite

https://discord.gg/4vqE6pRB

Imposter Syndrome

Michael — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 20:43:09 +0000

Definition - Imposter Syndrome involves the feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence that persist on your mind despite your education, experience and accomplishments.

"What am I doing here"

"I'm not good enough for this job"

"I'm unqualified and incapable and sooner or later everyone will find out"

Some of those sentences are what I first thought of myself in my first few months within my job as a web developer.

I started out as a web developer who was hired not because of my experience but because of my education and from my interview alone. I am not some super skilled developer or even remotely experienced as a web developer.

I was given a start in this industry before most and I am still studying alongside my full time job so I am still learning technologies that my colleagues are already skilled and experienced with.

My first experience with imposter syndrome happened when I was tasked with building a website for a restaurant, my colleague/senior developer was off and had tasked me with finishing off this project which focused mainly on Bootstrap (A framework I had only just been introduced too earlier that month) I was so assured that I'd be able to focus and finish it off easily but one day when I was working on the task I was stuck with error after error and soon I started to panic that I wasn't any further on with the dev work on the site.

I started to think that I had fooled my employers and I wasn't suited for the position and that I would be in trouble for not being able to carry on the development of the project any further.

This was my first experience of feeling like an imposter, I had read about it before but hadn't experienced it personally which was a learning curve for myself.

I had to hold my hands up and ask for help and just be honest to say that i was indeed struggling and needed help from my team, my worries were soon put to rest and I got advice from my team and my senior that I was hired on the basis that there would be alot to learn.

For anyone beginning out there or in the same position as I was just know that it is expected to have doubts at times but that you will be able to overcome any barriers and seek help, something I found helpful was chatting to other developers who had some doubts and it all is a learning experience.

We are in a constantly changing world especially within development of tech.

All it takes is patience and consistency in your learning.

Keep it up!

First Job As A Web Developer

Michael — Tue, 11 May 2021 19:45:41 +0000

Since my first few posts here I was in the last few months of my HND Software Development course at college. My next steps were to apply for university and try my luck at applying for any developer positions that were available. (just chancing my luck to even get an interview)

After many different applications I got a conditional offer for a course at university and i got an interview for a web developer position.

The 1st interview was fairly relaxed and just about getting to know me as a person and what I was doing at that moment in time.

I got offered a 2nd interview and this was more technical as I had to design and code a homepage for them and then present my designs. (both interviews were done remotely as COVID)

I got mixed up with the interview times due to a MS Teams meeting error which said my meeting was an hour earlier than i first knew. Panic set in as I emailed the employer telling them I had made a mistake and got mixed up but it turned out was just a mixup on MS Teams.

After the stress wore off I presented my designs and all went well. I was told that I would be informed later that day of any decisions regarding the web developer position.

I got called a few hours later and was offered the job !!!
I am just beginning my professional career within web development and will be journalling it through this forum.