Lessons learned in a year as a software engineer
Tags: beginners
Published: 2020-09-26 13:50:13

1st July 2020 marked the completion of my one year in the tech industry as a full-time front-end engineer. I wanted to write this article on that very day, but not everything happens as you plan, right? Better late than never they say.

--------------------------------------------------------------

##**Don't just do, market your work**

I won't be wrong if I say if you don't learn this early in your career chances are your growth might get slowed down or in the worst case, you won't climb that ladder of positions in your organization. It's very important to have this skill to present your work in such a way that the other person understands it all even if they don't have the technical knowledge required to understand your work. One thing that I have noted while working in teams is that every single person on the team is a great engineer (no doubts there!!!) but, they lack presentation skills and hence sometimes their work goes unappreciated because they couldn't explain what they did in laymen terms.

Learn to shout about your work, that will get you your promotion/bonus/appreciation

##**Ask for help when needed**

Juniors out there, you might be able to relate to this more than anyone else. Don't feel ashamed in asking for help when you need it, your teammates understand that you are new to this whole new world and you need a helping hand. It is also important to draw a line in between asking for help and being dependent on that help. Whenever you ask for help just tell the senior folk to point you in the correct direction and try and take it from there but never depend on them to write your code/logic for you because that is not going to help you trust me. So yes don't hesitate in asking for help and senior folks please don't be arrogant and just help juniors because you've been there in that situation.

##**With time programming gets easier**

Well, this is a very controversial statement to make probably, but in my honest opinion programming gets easier as time passes by because after some time it just comes naturally to you. Yes, I agree there are some days when you wanna bang your laptop on that wall you've been staring at for a solution of a nasty bug but apart from those days, it will get pretty smooth. But, please don't bang your laptop instead take a pillow and beat the hell out of it. You'll thank me later for this advice.

##**Mingle with the community**

The Tech community is the most welcoming community by far and the majority of folks working in tech are so very generous and helpful to everyone that no one feels alone out there. 

There are conferences going around everywhere in the world about the tools modern tech industries are using to build some exciting products, you'll also find folks making some really cool side projects and much more. Make sure to get some time out of your busy schedule and lookup for a small Meet-up happening in your neighborhood or some online tech conference because those are the places you are very much likely to meet some really cool people and who knows they might help you get your next dream job. Isn't that cool? All you have to do is meet people.

--------------------------------------------------------------

That's it for this time, I promise to make this series of article an annual thing to do if people out there find it interesting and learn from it.

If you wanna discuss tech or Breaking Bad or just say hi...

Twitter - [punnyhooman](https://twitter.com/thepunnyhooman)