Being a university student means, you have a lot to learn and simply sticking your courses is not likely to get you anywhere and that applies to every field out there, including being a developer. But what does it mean to be a student developer, or a junior developer for that fact? Here my present my journey from a student to a student developer, and yeah don’t be surprised if I tend to talk about emotions and mental states.
As important as it is to read about interesting things in the field of computer science, it is that important to try them out and doesn’t have to start from a big leap, it could might as well be small step, but it’s important you try it out and not to mention it also applies to experienced developers too.
An easy example we all can relate to is when we try out a new language or a new module or a new feature. Although it may feel intimidating, I personally feel, writing a piece of code of it, which could be the smallest example by yourself, gives you immense confidence in it which would eventually drive you to learn more.
Something we often feel about doing - asking others if we don’t get something, mainly because we have a sense of ego attached to it or a sense of inferiorty. Partially true, because simply asking would solve your problem, because now both of you know it, and so are at the same level. To be honest this is something, which I used to persoanally face a lot, however I have managed to cope with it. How you may ask? We’ll talk about
I think blogging can be substituted with maintaining a record, or a diary, whichever you prefer. Writing is definitely important, because it gives you confidence about what you write and can, in most cases can be an interesting conversatiuon starter to something interesting and personally it feels good.
Apart from the above fact, I definitely feel it is humanly impossible to remember everything you have learnt during the course of college, and thus on a more logical basis, making a record of what you have learn becomes important.
At the end of the day, don’t stress yourself out, because being busted by stress, doesn’t make a you a better developer, unless of course you are a person who works under pressure. The point being feel free to loosen up and take a break from work, by doing something you enjoy doing, or talking to people. Don’t worry your work is not going anywhere. Contrary to this is the situation of having a lot of work. This is where time-management and prioritization come into play. Seem like big words, but they are actually a keen part of a student’s life.
A good example I can give, is something I am going through right now (as I am writing this). Third year is the time of the year when your academics comes in the way of your job/research work, because you want to enough knowledge and projects under your belt, in order to get a good internship, at the same time, you don’t exactly want to screw up your academics. Other necessary positions of responsibility add up to one heck of an year, but to be honest, I think it’s been my best year of college till now.
I think an important point which I forgot to mention is to love what you are doing, because if you don’t there is no point of doing it.
In a world driven by numbers, it is hard to not care and I am not talking about the times when we we are at a higher position rather, the times when we feel low and numbers tend to demotivate us. Of course, if something like this doesn’t affect you, that’s well and good, but if you are, don’t worry you aren’t alone.
I think at times like this, not being alone tends to helps, which brings me to my last point.
Studying a subject or topic, with like-minded people helps a lot. Not only does it allow you to answer queries quicker, but emotionally it makes you feel secure. I have no actual reason as to why it feels so, but I am sure it definitely helps
I hope the following helps you in your life, in a way or other.
cheers!
- Jayakrishna Sahit