6 Mistakes I Made as a Junior React Dev
Tags: react, javascript, beginners, webdev
Published: 2023-06-20 17:17:26

It’s nearly three years since I built my first application, but I am yet to secure a software development gig. Looking back, these are some of the preconditions for my current predicament.

**1. Tutorial Hell (is one hellova drug)**
For sure. What better way to learn than to watch and copy someone else do it? I have been too scared to venture into the wilderness, so I constantly pursue the divine guidance of YouTube University. The longer the tutorial the more rewarding it feels. I haven’t been bothered to code along for a while, not since I realized I could just git clone the project codebase. While the tutorials offer quick introductions to complex, abstract ideas, they do very little to improve my mastery and confidence in my skill. The happy feelings after finishing a tutorial do not last long anyway because imposter syndrome is always right around the corner. 

**2. Not Building Enough Projects From the Get Go (dabbling work and code ain't easy)**
So, like I have said before, I wish I spent the last few years populating my portfolio page. In my defense, I did shift to data science right after learning React to escape the harsh reality of my divorce. Another reason would be my lack of confidence after building the first 3 beginner React projects. As a result, I never got to build something more complex from scratch as I had discovered the plethora of YouTube tutorials by then. 

**3. Copy Pasting Code (type answers from the internet instead of copy pasting)**
I’ll have to get on this high horse for just a second. I have noticed that I tend to forget most of the code I paste. However, typing imbues in me enough muscle memory to at least reduce the idea-implementation funnel the next time I am solving a similar challenge. Of course, there is no point in typing every code I’ll ever use for the rest of my career, but I’ll be typing as much as I can – especially when learning concepts I deeply care about (like recursion lol). 
 
**4. To Be or not To Be a Writer (one has to Read a lot of code)**
I’m not a programmer, I’m a serial typist. However, as Lizzie Logan would have it, I’m a writer the same way a potato is a battery. I can’t just wake up and code if I don’t read a lot of and about coding. We’ll never know why I never got to finish Eloquent JavaScript, or the other data science books I picked up. What I do know is the greats are the greats for a reason. Interestingly, 5 books a year is more than enough to improve my programming skills if I dedicate the rest of my time to gaining experiential knowledge. That’s literally a book every 70 days–if you were wondering whether Gustav Jung was right to postulate the will to laziness as stronger than our innate sex drives…

**5. Tweeting about Coding when I Could be Coding**
In lieu of coding and reading about programming, I have been dabbling my 9-5 with Twitter. Hours I could have dedicated to optimizing my LinkedIn profile to attract recruiters were spent tending to my FOMO. It is true that I have learned a lot and made meaningful connections (and crushes), but I have nothing to show for it yet. I’ll stick to writing articles about software dev whenever the urge to Tweet overwhelms me, especially if I want to rant about a bug that took me a week to fix. 

**6. Open Source**
If I had known better, I would have started contributing to open-source projects three months after my first encounter with JavaScript. Other than preparing me for my future git workflows, pull requests gimme the confidence to venture out on my own more frequently instead of relying on YouTube tutorials most of the time. If you’re worried about skill level then just use Eddie’s Good First Issue Finder for the most suitable issues. 


**Bringing it All Together**


Anyway, instead of a conclusion section, lemme finish this article with quotes from Community (the series). It aptly describes my connection to software development. 

> Annie:
> The Dean had his seventh epiphany today, which has given me an epiphany of my own: the Dean is a genius. He has to be. If he isn't, then I've given almost two weeks of my life to an idiot; that is unacceptable. Therefore, the Dean is a genius, and I will die protecting his vision.
> Abed:
> Are you by any chance familiar with Stockholm syndrome?
> Annie:
> Is it something that the Dean created? Because if not, I don't care.