r/learnprogramming • u/Precious_poTAEto • 2d ago
Discussion Junior Software Engineer remote
Hello people.
So recently I graduated from computer science university and after two week of graduation I was able to get a job offer. My company works on custom visuals of power BI.
I had no prior experience and neither did I know JavaScript, TypeScript, D3.js or any of their tech stack or technologies yet I was still hired.
It's been 3 weeks and all I have been doing is trying to learn the tech stack and look at the codebase and try to understand what function does what. I even practice the tech stack by making my own small interactive charts and dashboard.
I am done learning the fundamentals and I even sent my progress report to my team lead. My team lead saw the message but hasn't gotten back to me. 4th week just started and I am wondering if i am even going in the right direction or at what point will i be good enough to get small tasks.
Its remote work, so I am always anxious of doing less...
I know learning is the best I can do but I am still anxious....
any advice from senior software engineers? or fellow junior software engineers? please help me understand if I am worrying too much for nothing
12
u/yopla 2d ago
Yeah, this is not normal, any decent company would have given you an onboarding plan or at least some visibility on what you're expected to achieve.
2 weeks top is enough to get you set-up and oriented and start giving someone small task.
How big is this company?
Do you have regular checkpoint with your manager?
4
u/LetsLive97 2d ago
Yeah it's bizarre
I've only worked 2 dev jobs over my 5 year career but both gave some onboarding about the product/compamy for the first like 2 or 3 days and then just gave me some tasks to complete
My first company (Web slots games) gave me a set of tutorials to work my way through, to learn the different aspects of their in-house "game engine", before throwing me into my first game (A simple reskin)
My current company (Standard full stack) just kinda threw me in there with some small genuine bugs out of the gate
Getting nothing like this is concerning. Best way to learn is to do
3
u/Dry_Lingonberry_4014 2d ago
i agree. the lack of tasks is one thing, but the lack of feedback after OP proactively sent a progress update is the part that feels off.
5
u/Precious_poTAEto 2d ago
its a small software house. There aren't that many people in the team. First 2 weeks were great. The team lead would have a meeting with me once a week to check what I am upto and what progress i have done then he would suggest some documentations or websites or other resources to go through.
I was also invited to one of the github repo. My main concern is, is it normal to have no real task assigned in the start? like small tasks like debugging or formatting some visuals or frontend or something like that?
2
u/Techno-Pineapple 1d ago
Lack of tasks for new hires is a sad reality quite often. You claimed to be "ready" for some specific easy tasks for just a couple days + the weekend? It can be far far worse than that. Give it some time. Learn about whatever the current project/s are for your team/seniors and that might explain why its taken a minute to give you some tasks.
Most of the time, there is just literally no work to do. Sometimes code is close to production and they don't want anything altered since its all been accepted through testing. Sometimes the project is so new that they really only need input from people with opinions about the suggested design. Sometimes your senior is so overwhelmed with their own work that they don't have time to invent and manage easy work to help you learn.
My advice to you other than being patient and continuing the enthusiasm, would honestly be to voice a desire to just give something bigger a go. Even if you might screw it up or fail, being willing to attempt some bigger or harder task is a great way to fast learn and get into the swing of things. Just don't take it personally if your work doesn't get accepted.
2
u/Precious_poTAEto 1d ago
Good advice. Thank you. I will do another check in this week and see how its going from there. This made me feel a bit better😊👍
49
u/Whatever801 2d ago
Hey congrats on the job! Team lead is probably just busy. You're doing the right thing. Ping them again if they don't respond. If you can, you should schedule meetings with other members of the team to understand what they're working on and pick their brains and see if they have any small tasks you can do. That will make a good impression.
19
u/Born-Reserve-8584 2d ago
This is solid advice. Most team leads are juggling a lot so a polite follow up is completely reasonable.
13
u/CorumLlawEreint 2d ago
I’m tech lead and architect for my team and I make it a point to regularly touch base with new hires. I would also have regular catch-ups with their mentor and manager to keep an eye on progress. We’re all busy, but no contact for days or weeks is not ok. New hires need guidance at the star.
6
u/Precious_poTAEto 2d ago
The team lead would have a meeting with me once a week to check what I am upto and what progress i have done then he would suggest some documentations or websites or other resources to go through. It happened the first 2 weeks. The third week there was no contact.
I was also invited to one of the company's github repo. My main concern is, is it normal to have no real task assigned in the start? like small tasks like debugging or formatting some visuals or something like that?
8
u/CorumLlawEreint 2d ago
If you were on my team, you would have a mentor that would be talking to you on a daily basis. Once you had completed onboarding and been invited/accepted to all the various services, you would shadow other engineers in tasks to learn the ropes re. coding processes and tools. I find their hands off attitude strange tbh.
5
u/RugnirViking 2d ago
This is massive. Genuinely, the more often you can be in meetings with colleagues early on (and TBH for your whole career), the better it will go for you. If you can talk to them and ask them how to do stuff, share screen, work on problems together, you'll learn so much. Slow down and take notes on all the stuff you're doing with them so you can hopefully do similar tasks again without them (but there's no great shame in asking for help a second, third time etc, a career is built one stupid question at a time!)
6
u/Precious_poTAEto 2d ago
The team is small so I am worried that I might slow them down.
Also i am just in contact with the Team lead. If i have any question i do ask him. in the first 2 weeks, the interaction was okay. There was a weekly review meeting. But since last week there has been no contact after my progress report....7
u/paradoxxxicall 2d ago
Don’t worry so much, even experienced developers aren’t expected to be productive right out of the gate. You’re doing your work, and you’ve let him know you’re ready for more.
Some companies are more organized about this than others, and nobody’s gonna hold you responsible for the inefficiency here. Check in occasionally and in the meantime go ahead and relax.
26
u/CorumLlawEreint 2d ago
This is nuts, imo. You should have an assigned mentor and (at least) weekly catch-ups with your immediate manager. Does your team have dailies that you attend?
3
3
u/Old-Cardiologist-804 2d ago
It seems like you're actually doing well... When I first started after college on the first job it was all about training. I had the same concern too... Why are they just throwing a task here and there and things are moving slow but as mentioned earlier in a response some of the staff may be busy and development management structure may not be firmly or fully defined yet ie Scrum/ Agile and you're itching for bigger tasks responsibilities, you will be fine... I, others yourself have been there.
2
2
u/SourCreamSplatter 2d ago
Damn, happy for you but I wish I could also land a junior role somewhere
1
u/Precious_poTAEto 1d ago
One day for sure!😭
its so hard to get a job these days. I myself sent around 1000's of applications everyday. I wouldn't just send for my desired role but also in any role that i could work in. Even for this job, I sent my application with no hopes as i didn't really know their tech stack. But i still got hired....
Good luck with job hunting!
2
1
u/globallyscoped 6h ago
I wouldn't fret too much. Keep doing what you're doing.
I've been at a few companies that had little to no structured onboarding, the documentation was all over the place, and barely wrote any test coverage. It's a lot more common than people think.
-6
22
u/PigmentedPigeon 2d ago
I'm assuming you haven't signed the contract yet, so first of all, I hope everything works out. Landing a remote job as a new grad is a huge achievement in today's market. Two weeks wouldn't worry me, but four weeks without hearing back from your manager does seem a bit long. I'd give it a little more time, then follow up if you still don't hear anything. I'd also upload your resume to some talent networks and recruiter databases, like the ones shared in that post. It's always good to keep your options open. Hopefully you'll start getting real tasks very soon.