3 obstacles of a beginner junior developer and how to overcome them

Being a junior developer at a startup is a tough job, for a self-taught developer and who is also getting a degree in Computer Science. I started out as an intern and transitioned to a full stack junior developer position. And these are the three things that became my kryptonite for a short time.

Since these are problems and since we are problem-solvers, these are my analyzes.

1.Procrastination

So , you’ve realized those ugly blockers that are simple to solve yet take a long time to overcome. They really keep you from writing that sweet, well-formatted code. But as soon as you hit those kind of blockers, you take a small break before resuming knowing the time to solve it. This is a form of procrastination.

A good approach would be to remind yourself to snap out of it, but like all habits this will take time to stick.

How i got past this:-

I kept in contact with my project management tool/superior, this kept me focused on the task.

2.Decision making

Another problem that consumed a lot of my time was small decisions, that were based on the architectures and packages/plugins to use. I would wait to until my boss was free because i didn’t want compromise on the architecture and coding standards. This might’ve been better for some occasions, but in most cases, and we wouldn’t want to waste that.

How i got past this:-

I solved the problem in any way first and then took the overhead time to refactor the code. You could always go back but you cant solve it in 3 seconds when you’re asked to.

3. Underestimating project ETA

When you think a small task will take 15 minutes but you forget important factors. BUGS, BLOCKERS and the time it takes to find the solution. It completely alters the ETA by adding hours or even days. But you remember your 15 minutes ETA and then you start biting your nails.

It’s always good to ask your experienced counterparts/bosses for directions. One such advice i received was to divide the tasks into smaller tasks and increment time by that. So if a module is it be built, you factor in the time to refactor code, build repository classes, models, and then you estimate your time.

How i got past this:-

Divide the tasks into smaller sub-tasks and estimate all of their time together.

But Then Again

Since we’re all different and we navigate through life in our own ways. It’d be nice to hear how you overcame these obstacles.