Tips for Junior Developers Heading To Startups
Tags: beginners, career, startup, productivity
Published: 2019-03-03 16:57:41

---
title: Tips for Junior Developers Heading To Startups
published: true
description: tips-for-junior-developers-heading-to-startups-reading-time-4-mins
tags: beginners, career, startup, productivity
canonical_url: https://www.maxongzb.com/tips-for-junior-developers-heading-to-startups-reading-time-4-mins
---

![Photo by Frame Harirak on Unsplash](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/5zw7rjghbuc79aahcr5p.jpg)

## Introduction
When I first started out as a junior developer after multiple twists and turns. 

I think I had consumed a bunch of videos, articles, podcast and ebooks so that it could help me in becoming a better developer while I was going through my internship in the startup I'm currently in.

Despite I had graduated with a CS degree a year prior before embarking on my journey as a professional developer in a tech startup. 

I think I was ill prepared to face the world to stake myself for a career in **tech** in the world of **startups** in my country. 

I hope these tips will be useful for anyone who is planning to start their career as a developer for a startup

## Time Management
![sonja-langford-357-unsplash](//images.ctfassets.net/ly2f59p4unnn/15iu2B1Er3xSxMOsccY7c3/7d999cf1a8282c8c582e116df60eae27/sonja-langford-357-unsplash.jpg)
As a developer, I'm sure that you have a bunch of technologies you need to learn. 

Heck, I had come across multiple **technology road maps** for front-end, backend or full stack developers they are really huge.

### You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail
Time management is still a work in progress for me, with feedback from people around me and my time management software.

Through multiple trials and errors, i learnt that you should **set aside** time to plan a list of tasks ranging from the technology you plan to pick up to your daily work. 

1)  **Daily** - 10 minutes - 15 minutes
2)  **Weekly** - 30 minutes - 1 hour
3) **3 months** - 1 hour  - 1 hour 30 minutes
4)  **Annual** - 3 hours - 5 hours

Do remember to **review** & **reflect** on what you had done during the 3 months and annual. 

So that it would allow you to find ways to refine your process of managing your time.

### Tracking and Measuring Yourself
In the startup world, formulating the **metrics** and **tracking** it is an important thing to which could **make** or **break** a startup.

Therefore for your own personal time management wise, start with a **personal time tracking** software. 

Like **RescueTime** or **Pomodoro Technique** which is to work on a single task called **Pomodoro** for a duration of up to **25 mins** and rest for **5 mins** after each Pomodoro. 

Once you reach **4** Pomodoro, rest for a longer duration of up to **30 mins**.

## Being a Sponge
![shawnee-wilborn-54431-unsplash](//images.ctfassets.net/ly2f59p4unnn/1GTv4ivUjM5ow26hWHYaiy/0b2752cb53423360e192f831e9d713f5/shawnee-wilborn-54431-unsplash.jpg)
In my [Why Be a Full Stack Developer][1] article, I had written that you should focus on **learning** from a **diverse** source. 

Be it philosophy, business management, history, military, design or just writing. 

You gain skills and knowledge to **talent stack**. 

Which is just blending your own technical capability and knowledge to stand out from the crowd of developers.

## Learn to Write Well
This is something that I didn't know while I was taking my writing course during university for technical and scientific writing. 

Besides the benefits of **clear communication** with another person through writing. 

The act of writing allows one to **formulate** and **present** one's idea into a written form. 

Be it in the documentation, howto guide, wikis, issues and other ways we developers communicate with other people. 

This is especially **important** so that other **software developers** and **non-software developer** could **understand** on what you are writing and the **thought process** taken to **formulate** the idea.

Many startups like Stripe or Airbnb or even Google who places a high value on one's ability to **write well** as part of their recruitment process during the technical interviews to understand the candidate.

Therefore I would suggest picking a book on writing like **On Writing Well** By  **William Zinsser** or books from **John McPhee** that was recommended by **Jim Collins** the author of "Built to Last".

## Meeting New People
![rawpixel-797112-unsplash](//images.ctfassets.net/ly2f59p4unnn/6XZoMj0KeEvMR7ylGG9kIQ/b44236abfa2db81689d27778cc4bf32d/rawpixel-797112-unsplash.jpg)
I know when the first thing that goes through my mind when I heard the word **networking**. 

I always had stomach aches and anxiety whenever I'm chatting with a new person.

 Jobs are filled through **referrals** who is provided by **developers** who are working for the company.

By attending meetups and conferences with the focus to meet awesome developers. 

Like a developer that focuses on **software-defined networking** technology or a UX researcher that was previously in MIT media labs to conduct UX research even a developer who is taking classes to be a pilot.

## Conclusion 
I hope these tips are useful for **junior developers** like you who are thinking of joining a startup. 

This article is something that I had a wished that someone who would give it to me when I was just starting out or had graduated from university. 

So that it could reduce the **number** of times that I had to knock the **wall**.

Well, we live and learn from our mistakes, how I **love** the school of **hard knocks** and consuming materials of people's perspective on life.
## References
* [Writing Well Classic Guide To Nonfiction Writing by William Zinsser][2]
* [Soft Skills in Writing Can Boost Any Software Developer's Career Profile][3]
* [Pomodoro][4]
* [RescueTime][5]
* [Jim Collins — A Rare Interview with a Reclusive Polymath (#361)][6]
* [Talent Stack][7]
* [How to Become a Networking Master with Jordan Harbinger][8]

If you like my article either sign up for max [adventurer's newsletter](http://eepurl.com/dOUoUb) or you can **follow** to get the **latest** update of my article on **Dev** 

This post was originally posted on max's blog at [Tips For Junior Developers Heading To Startups - Reading Time 4 Mins](https://www.maxongzb.com/tips-for-junior-developers-heading-to-startups-reading-time-4-mins/) and [Photo by Frame Harirak on Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/Ei_lQ6kTwiI)

[1]: https://www.maxongzb.com/why-be-a-full-stack-developer-reading-time-3-mins/
[2]: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548
[3]: https://smartbear.com/blog/test-and-monitor/soft-skills-in-writing-can-boost-any-software-deve/
[4]: https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique
[5]: https://www.rescuetime.com/ref/323693
[6]: https://tim.blog/2019/02/18/jim-collins/#
[7]: https://personalexcellence.co/blog/talent-stack/
[8]: https://www.scienceofpeople.com/networking-master/