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Mariana Martins Menezes
Mariana Martins Menezes

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How quitting my first job in IT showed me who I am

Which type of junior developer are you? That type shyer or more talkative? More proactive or reactive? I was thinking about that today. I was thinking about how I could define myself to other people. Which are my skills? My weakness?

Doing my work resignation I could find the answer to my questions. In my last week, my manager asked me to document a few projects I participated, including existing problems and how to solve them. My first thought was to refuse that task. "What am I going to write? I am just the junior developer!" But I couldn't reject that task.

So, I started doing a review inside my mind about everything I had done for the company. Suddenly, some ideas started appearing. I thought about how I was responsible about Google Tag Manager project and how it was important to me. It was my first responsibility at work. I was the first to write a documentation about how to use JS linters in our projects. Like pulling out of a hat, I started writing about several important contributions I had done.

Probably, my manager didn't expect to inspire me a reflection. As a consequence of his task, I finally notice my importance and the relevance of my work. Writing that I notice how many things I have done in a period of 1 year and a half! The importance of this discovery for me is huge. I always think about my decision to give up from a History Research career to a Front End developer career. Sometimes it's tough to not imagine how could be my life if I didn't change my profession.

Turning back I could prove to myself one more time that I have done the right decision and more. I identified that I had my own space inside of an experienced team. Our relationship was so nice, most of them dedicated time to listen to my ideas and support me when I would like to do something new. They were open to hear what were my concerns and ideas about problems.

Definitely it was a very good way to learn and get experience. So, based on my analysis I concluded that I am a persistent talkative stubborn dedicated passioned nerd junior front end developer. Perhaps too many adjectives, but nobody can be described using only one adjective, right?!

To be honest with you, the propose of this article is to save this text/findings for me. I want to read it on those moments that I would feel tired of the work, that I'm not good enough, and to not forget about my starting. This is a good professional moment to be and I would like to share my findings with you.

I learned a few things that can be shared with others when starting a new career. First, get support from your team, their help is fundamental for us in the beginning. Second, try to find your space, something you can do and show to others you're there as part of the team. Don't be shy to share your opinion, you're a team member and people are going to listen to you. Don't be shy to ask, nobody knows everything. I'm sure these lessons are crucial for your professional growth, as it was for me.

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Adjamilton Junior

Great post. I wish you the best.