The Jr. Dev Philosophy
The Endless Cycle of Learning
In the software world there’s always something new around the corner. New tools, unexpected bugs, and ever-changing frameworks—it’s a landscape that never stands still. That’s what keeps this career exciting. I have a pretty good grasp on Javascript and general programming concepts, but I still come across new and interesting problems all the time that trip me up. Programming is a never ending journey and It’s safe to say that we’re all “junior” in one area or another. But honestly? That’s the fun part.
I initially started this blog to share a few of the issues I ran into where I couldn’t find any solutions online. You know those threads you find on the last page of google where someone finally has the same issue as you, only to reply later with “Nvm figured it out”. I’ve ran into countless issues like this having to dive into source code, docs and other related threads. Although at the times this is stressful, it puts hair on my programming chest and gives me the confidence to work through any problems life throws at me.
Meet the Jr. Dev
Greetings from the vibrant city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin! I’m Andrew. Outside of work I like to keep active training MMA, volleyball, basketball, rock climbing, or snow boarding – you name it and I’ll probably enjoy it. Otherwise I love to cook, hang with friends (and my dog), play video games, and work on projects around the house. I’m always trying to learn some new hobby and I think that aligns well with my work as a developer. My journey into the world of coding began with a four-year degree in computer science. Since then, I’ve sent out hundreds of job
applications, and thankfully landed roles that I really enjoy.
My first job was doing custom software having many clients with desktop, web and mobile apps. Many of which were completely my responsibility to update and maintain as the customer requested. This gave me a lot of design and implementation freedom, but with great power came great responsibility. Being fresh out of college I’m not afraid to admit that I screwed up at times, but the direct impact I had on peoples lives and the lessons I learned were so worth it.
I then moved out to Denver and got a full-stack gig at a fortune 100 company. Here I currently work on one app using mostly Node, React, and Python. A lot was new for me – sprints, ticketed work, thorough code reviews, automated testing, CI/CD, and all the other industry standards aside from coding. Luckily I was able to pick up on all of it fairly quickly and have been able to make a solid impact on our application.
Both of these experiences make me the developer I am today, and I’m super grateful to be in this position. I really love what I do and if I can help at least one person out there through this blog I’ll feel like I’ve done my job.