In order to help junior devs grow you have to let them struggle. You can't give them all the answers, they have to spend time in the trenches finding the answers themselves with a little guidance.
I've been in the field of coding in general for around 4 years. Even though I know I have worked really hard, I've never done anything professional and I fear I will do horrible with an actual job.
Never done anything besides experimenting and personal projects. And I constantly feel like a Junior dev that has no clue what they're doing.
Especially since I've been focusing in the security aspects of things, I feel like I have barely touched the surface of things.
First off, kudos to you for focusing on the security aspects of things! That puts you ahead of a lot of others.
I have been coding professionally for 6 years, and let me tell you, I have plenty of days still where I have no clue what I am doing!
The tech world moves so fast and evolves so quickly that even those who have been in the field for years have to constantly learn new things. Because we are all constantly learning, we are all juniors or newbies at one thing or another. The key is you have to become OK with being uncomfortable and know that its just part of being a dev.
I also bet because you have done lots of experimenting and personal projects you are probably pretty self sufficient and scrappy which are both GREAT characteristics to have as a dev. Don't be intimidated by the word "professional", give it a shot and apply for a job! If you want some more motivation read this post my coworker wrote.
Something I do when mentoring a junior developer is to tell them that if they get stuck on something, they should try and solve it by themselves for fifteen minutes (adjust the duration depending on the situation) before they ask for help. But if they’re still stuck on the same thing after these fifteen minutes, they have to ask for help.
I found it has many benefits. First, it makes it clear that it’s OK to ask for help. Second, it sets a balance between them interrupted you too often (which is frustrating to you) and not making much progress (which is frustrating to them, which is worse). Often, when they finally come for help, even though they’ll fell that they were just stuck for 15 minutes, in reality they will have come close to the solution, and you can show them how they almost solved it.
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In order to help junior devs grow you have to let them struggle. You can't give them all the answers, they have to spend time in the trenches finding the answers themselves with a little guidance.
I often recognized that Juniors “just” lack of
confidence, not of knowledge.
They know the answer but are not sure if it’s the right one.
One step away from being a Junior is to just do it. Better ask for forgiveness than for permission.
"Better ask for forgiveness than for permission.", nicely put love it!
I've been in the field of coding in general for around 4 years. Even though I know I have worked really hard, I've never done anything professional and I fear I will do horrible with an actual job.
Never done anything besides experimenting and personal projects. And I constantly feel like a Junior dev that has no clue what they're doing.
Especially since I've been focusing in the security aspects of things, I feel like I have barely touched the surface of things.
First off, kudos to you for focusing on the security aspects of things! That puts you ahead of a lot of others.
I have been coding professionally for 6 years, and let me tell you, I have plenty of days still where I have no clue what I am doing!
The tech world moves so fast and evolves so quickly that even those who have been in the field for years have to constantly learn new things. Because we are all constantly learning, we are all juniors or newbies at one thing or another. The key is you have to become OK with being uncomfortable and know that its just part of being a dev.
I also bet because you have done lots of experimenting and personal projects you are probably pretty self sufficient and scrappy which are both GREAT characteristics to have as a dev. Don't be intimidated by the word "professional", give it a shot and apply for a job! If you want some more motivation read this post my coworker wrote.
I Am Not A Real Programmer
Andy George ・ Jan 25 ・ 3 min read
Thanks for the wonderful post. You write great articles BTW.
There are a lot of talented people on here.
It's nice seeing everyone trying to get together.
Something I do when mentoring a junior developer is to tell them that if they get stuck on something, they should try and solve it by themselves for fifteen minutes (adjust the duration depending on the situation) before they ask for help. But if they’re still stuck on the same thing after these fifteen minutes, they have to ask for help.
I found it has many benefits. First, it makes it clear that it’s OK to ask for help. Second, it sets a balance between them interrupted you too often (which is frustrating to you) and not making much progress (which is frustrating to them, which is worse). Often, when they finally come for help, even though they’ll fell that they were just stuck for 15 minutes, in reality they will have come close to the solution, and you can show them how they almost solved it.