1 Don’t focus on reinventing the wheel
The expectations of you are probably lower than you think, because, hey, you’re brand new!
You’ll find a wealth of ready-made packages and libraries of code online to use at your disposal. Do your research and be sure to sense-check the quality, but don’t be afraid to use these resources to help you spend less time “reinventing in the wheel” and more time developing your skills and knowledge in other areas.
Which ties nicely with the next tip:
2 Make Google your friend
Seeking a solution online is often the most efficient first step towards a solution.
A great piece of advice is to “get good at Googling”. Someone has run into the same problem as you, you just need to find it. Once you’ve found it, try to understand the what, why and how before copying and pasting it. This is an opportunity to learn and develop your knowledge.
3 Be kind to yourself (and your team!)
It may sound cliché – and perhaps a little cheesy – but it’s important to be kind to yourself when starting out in your development career, as nobody becomes an award-winning developer overnight 🤷♀️
While it is sometimes easier said than done, don’t put too much pressure on yourself and make sure you allow yourself the time to learn, grow and most importantly, make mistakes!
And you will make mistakes – just remember that it’s solving these mistakes that will help you become a stronger developer. And try not to strive for perfection – aim to write clean, reusable and easy to read code in a timely manner.
And don’t forget to be kind to your team too and remember nobody comes to work to do a bad job. The key to a successful development team is helping and supporting each other. A happy team will always produce the best work – and it’s less likely to feel like a job!