Tips for a Junior Developer by a Junior Developer

Carlijn has been part of the Elements team in Almere since last October. She is 27 years old and has been working as a Junior Front-end developer for a year now. In this blog she will tell you about her experiences in the first few months of her developer career.

Omg I got the job

When I got the offer, I almost couldn’t believe it. Elements was looking for someone experienced and told me they needed to hire a Senior Developer. Anyway, they still decided to get on with the procedure and after three interviews and a technical test, it happened… I got the offer! Best offer I’ve ever read, and with my background in HR, I’ve seen a lot of them. The document started with positive feedback the Elements employees I had spoken to gave about me, and how excited they were to get me on the team. It made me feel amazing!  

Of course, I accepted the offer and started getting e-mails about onboarding and questions such as which computer I wanted to use. Things were getting very real and some doubt about myself started to creep in: “What if I can’t do what they think I can do” and  “They made me feel amazing, maybe they think too highly of me”. All the ‘what if’s’ came crashing down on me. 

Finally, my first day began. I got my laptop and started setting it up. OF COURSE, I forgot the password I came up with (yes.. myself) just minutes before, which meant I had to do it all over again. This didn’t benefit my confidence and my thoughts about what the team would be thinking of me. Also, I got my first project on this day. That made me feel trusted and happy, but obviously my worries about my abilities were there more than ever. I don’t think I am the only one who will be in this position at the beginning of their career, so I made a list with a few tips, and I will tell you my experiences: