3 Junior Software Engineer Tendencies You Should Never Be Ashamed Of

Being a junior software engineer can be both exhilarating and nerve-wracking at the same time.

Apart from struggling with the usual challenges of learning new skills and building on existing ones, senior colleagues expect both good results and seamless cooperation in everything you do. That’s why it’s important never to feel ashamed of any tendencies that might come naturally as a junior software engineer. 

Taking Time to Finish a Task

So you landed a new job as a junior software engineer. Yay you!

You have your laptop, your desk and you’ve just finished going through the ramp up material for new employees. You announce the great news to your manager and he/she assigns you your first task. How exciting! You ask for a deadline and the answer is 3 days. Although you’re clueless about how long things take, you think to yourself “Huh, 3 days will suffice. Let’s go!”.

1 day passes by and you still don’t understand what’s going on… Trying to understand the flow of the code.

2 days pass and you realize that you need the help of someone that is… unavailable to say the least.

3 days pass and you write a single line that is a comment. Great contribution.

We’ve all been there. Please don’t stress yourself if it takes you a little longer to finish a task.

Good companies and especially good managers understand that a) you’ve just started b) you are probably nervous. Hiring a junior to the team comes with the understanding that tasks may take a little longer to be accomplished since studying takes time as well.

Staying Silent in Meetings

3 months ago it was just you and your notebook, now you’re invited to status meetings, team meetings, and collaboration meetings.

You sit there hoping no one asks you a question and think to yourself ‘What the hell am I doing here? I got nothing to say. I am still trying to understand what’s going on’.

Unless you’re being asked about a task that you’re working on, chances are that you’re there because you’re part of the team.

So don’t stress that you’re silent.

Asking for Help, Repeatedly

As a junior software engineer you will probably not work independently on your first tasks. You will assist senior engineers with their tasks. This will get you into the flow of things faster and introduce you to teamwork.

When you’re only starting out, you may feel like you’re literally harassing the seniors that you’re working with asking them for guidance, expertise, etc. I personally worked with a junior software engineer who was too embarrassed to ask for help. Don’t be.

This is your task, you should bring it to completion.

Although you should strive to become independent as quickly as possible, this will not happen without help from your fellow team members. Software engineering is about teamwork more than you think.

When the time comes, you will be the one passing the legacy on.

Credit: Photo by Ian Dooley on Unsplash