A guide to the care and feeding of new devs
@amesimmons
"In my first week I went into panic mode. I was trying to do the job at 100%, but the reality of my skill base is that I know maybe 20 or 30%."
"One day a senior on my team said in a really frustrated voice, 'I don't understand why you still don't get this!' I felt really stupid and somewhat scared for my job."
"I was embarrassed to ask questions that I felt I was supposed to know."
My experience
Other experiences
How juniors can be better supported
2009
Journalist
2013
My first line of code
rails new railsgirls
2014
Learning in my spare time
Jan 2015
Web development immersive course
Apr 2015
First developer job
Sep 2016
#Twitter
Being a junior dev...
Key findings
On average, developers rated the level of support they received as a junior as 5/10
The top four emotions felt by junior developers were excited, overwhelmed, frustration and fear
80% of developers who responded said juniors could be better supported in the workplace
git.io/v41CJ
Insights
Make or break
Recommendations
For seniors...
Regular 1:1s
Weekly => fortightly
Unstructured is good
Pair programming
Expedite learning
Daily => weekly
Code reviews
Win-win
Time to learn at work
Reading time
Knowledge sharing sessions
Internal tech talks
Hack weeks
Online courses
For juniors...
Ask for help*
* ... but it's also ok to be stuck
Be open about what you do and don't know
Leads to opportunity and learning, not embarassment
Review your teammates' code
You're not too junior!
Get involved in the community
Meet-ups
Hackathons
Mentoring
Keep learning
Make time for any weak spots
"The best day was when my manager pulled me aside, asked how I was going and encouraged me to not be too hard on myself. He showed me I was valued, even as a junior. Without that I would probably have never made it to the day programming clicked for me."
A supportive environment where juniors can be vulnerable without fear