Growing as a Junior Developer

4 months and 2 weeks.

That is how long I have been at my first web development job, and it feels like I have already been doing it for a whole year. I was planning on writing my experiences after 6 months, but time is weird, and I have been feeling ready to share.

In the beginning, I fell in love with the tech scene. People were so gracious to help and bring me up to speed. I was receiving many words of advice, networking was helping me carve out a name for myself, and I was excited to improve my newfound skills.

Now that I have been in the weeds for a minute, I have learned that the hard work does not stop. The mind gives itself thoughts of grandeur when one does a career switch and comes out successful. "Anything is possible!"

The scary thing is: anything IS possible. All you have to do is work your ass off to get it.

My newfound skills are now less "newfound" and are becoming more honed. I took the words of advice from some of my early peers, and became really good at one thing first, before moving on to a second thing. Before landing a job, I was focusing on learning a little bit of everything to trying and make myself more accessible to landing a job. Now that I have, I am dialing in the exact needs of my role.

Becoming a specialist is what I think will elevate me to a mid-level developer. I no longer feel like I am in the honeymoon stage of my job anymore. I have gotten into a groove. Shaving seconds off my PRs. Getting into a rhythm.

We all know it takes a few months to adjust to a new job, but my old classmate, and colleague, Brian Soldani once told me that you don't really start settling into a job until you can complain about it. I found this so funny and it stuck with me. Well...

It's true!

I love the job I have. The company I work for has a great initiative, promotes a very progressive and healthy culture, and gives us great work/life balance. I love working remote, and the people on my team, but having things to complain about is human, and there is always room for improvement. I think voicing your concerns shows that you care enough about your job and the company, that you want to make things better.

If I didn't care, I wouldn't say anything. But I do, so I do.

A true mark of a good company, and good management, is what they decide to do when their employees speak up. So far, I have been listened to! In previous job environments, this would have not been the case. I am thankful for my managers and teammates. We really all want to see each other do well. That means a lot to me.

The feeling of thinking "anything is possible" has carried over into other aspects of my life.

Cursed with the taste of success.

I started a photography side business, registered an LLC, built myself a second website with a portfolio of my work, started networking again, started planning out other business moves and side hustles, restructured one of my investment portfolios, and more. I am going to get my OLCC license and start bartending on the weekends for a little more fun money, and to meet more people. Networking got me to where I am, and networking will carry me farther. I have been traveling a lot, seeing sights and enriching my life with experiences. To facilitate this, I did research on the best credit cards and started racking up travel points. I am removing all debt, and saving and investing more money than I have ever before.

Having a win under your belt carries you to the next win, and the next, until it snowballs. For me, becoming a web developer at a great company makes me so thankful, and inspired to do so much more. These past few months have been a whirlwind, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

- Keith Billings