how to balance web develop

Being a web developer is a path full of mental traps. Step carefully on the muddy footprints of those who walk in front of you.

Three and a half years ago, I left a career in banking and started a far more fulfilling career as a web developer. Recently, I compiled the stories and lessons I learned into an ebook titled How To Become a Web Developer: Career Changer Guide.

If being a developer is your goal, here are some common pitfalls to watch out for.

Scattershot Syndrome

You will get many suggestions from experienced developers. They will tell you the best language to learn, the skills you need, and the tools you really should use. Their advice will be solid - and just the opposite of the advice you got yesterday.

Don’t get lost in a sandstorm of good advice.

If you are dabbling in a new language every month, switching text editors frequently, and jumping from resource to resource, STOP! You’re walking in circles.

Language and tool choice feel very important in the moment, but in reality, they’re just details. Any popular language will get you where you need to be. The important thing is consistency.

Pick one language and learn it so well you could write a book about it. Choose one resource and exhaust its usefulness. Download the simplest text editor you can find and marry it.

Whatever you do, don’t waste time dabbling in a million different technologies.

Nobody Here But Us Impostors
Some days you will wonder if you are really suited for this coding problem.

That feeling is called impostor syndrome, and this is kryptonite for developers.

Anything can trigger the feeling of being a cheat. It could be a glimpse of a man at an unbelieving meeting. You do not know what polymorphism is. This may be a semi-finished app that gets damaged every time you touch it. Maybe your Twitter feed, full of congratulations on this amazing project, will get you back to this state of mind.

The first step to treating Impostor Syndrome is to admit that you have a problem. Bonus points if you recognize it to other budding developers. The amazing thing happens when you claim to feel like a fraud. Often your confessional confession, "I think I'm the only one!"

Another key to eliminating self-doubt is evidence. Record your failures and your accomplishments. Nothing feels better than looking back and realizing, "Hey! The concept I faced three months ago was easy for me now!"

No developer is an island

Technical skill is only one ingredient in the recipe for a successful career in software development. The other ingredients are luck, coffee, and other people.

Aspiring developers often think they’re not finding a job because their technical skills aren’t strong enough. In reality, their job search skills are more often to blame.

Imagine there are two developers who start applying for jobs at the same time, in the same city, with the same employment history.

Developer A is a “whiz kid”. She started learning to code at the age of 10, and she can practically fix a bug by looking at it. She throws together a resume and puts in hundreds of online applications.

Developer B is your average newbie. She has a lot of promise, but she hasn’t been doing this for long. She also throws together a resume and then gets feedback on it at the developer meet-up group she attends each week. But she also tells everyone she knows that she’s looking for work and is interested in talking to anyone who works in the field.

Who will find a job first? I’d put my money on Developer B.

Developer A may be some kind of code ninja, but that doesn’t matter if no one knows it. Her resume will sit under a stack of 1,000 other resumes, or worse, get filtered out by an algorithm and never pass before a human’s eyes.

Developer B, on the other hand, has an army of people searching for her next job. Eventually, she’ll talk to someone whose brother or cousin or best friend works at a company that’s hiring. That person will hand-deliver her resume, which has been improved by a team of proofreaders, and she’ll get an interview.

The brother/cousin/best friend will give her the inside scoop on the interview process, so she’ll be very prepared. The interviewer and hiring manager will also know that she came with a personal recommendation. She’ll be halfway to “yes” before she ever walks in the door.

Crossing the Finish Line
Self-taught developers are often unsure when to start job hunting. It’s very difficult to judge your own skill level, and there are no clear guidelines as to what a Junior Developer should know.

How can you tell if you know enough to be taken seriously by employers?