I started a new job in the beginning of April. My first job as a software engineer, though, will always have a special spot in my heart. I accepted my first software engineering role because a) I’d be working for a well-known company with a prominent reputation in the tech space and b) I really needed some hands-on experience. My only experience prior to my first job was a summer internship at a start-up, where I really had no clue what the heck was going on. “What’s an API?” Haha! There’s quite a gap between learning software development in a university classroom and actually building applications for a business.

My First Job

My first job served its purpose. I am very proud of the projects I completed, the technologies I learned on the job, and the social skills I acquired in order to deploy my work. Seriously, social skills in the office are highly underrated! I leaned on my co-workers a lot so I could understand how to do Jenkins deployments, merging changes in Github, and running applications in Docker containers. My boss was very hands-off. He generally told me what to build and it was up to me to build it. I was a very competent developer, though. UPenn and my true mentor (my husband) prepared me well and I made short work of most of my projects! After a month or so into the job, my boss trusted me enough to allow me to select which technologies to use for my projects. I became an AngularJS master! I was really grateful that I was able to do full-stack development there. Some people like front-end dev, others like back-end, but I’ve never wanted to choose between the two. I like the challenges of both.

Honest Job Searching

If your first job is your dream job, you’re probably very, very lucky! While I liked my first job, there were some hard truths that I’d come to realize as I sat in my cubicle. What makes a fulfilling career? I wanted my next job to make me really happy to come to work. I didn’t want just a paycheck. I’m giving up 40+ hours of my life every week and I wanted those 40+ hours to count for something other than dollars. My first job was really just a job. I wasn’t unhappy, but I wasn’t exactly joyful either. There was a slowdown of projects and I was bored. I knew that I wanted my next job to have lots of work to keep me busy and engaged! I also wanted the option to work from home. I really hated that office. I had a terribly uncomfortable chair, noisy cubicle neighbors, and I felt alone in the cubicle maze. Software development is a pretty sweet career - it CAN be done at home. And I wanted to be in the comfort of my home some days, sitting on my comfortable couch in the peaceful quiet thoughtfully writing code. When I earnestly started my job search, I told my recruiter that I was looking for a full-stack position with the ability to work from home. And she found a great company for me!

My New Job

I can’t say enough good things about where I am right now! I think I’m the happiest I’ve ever been! I truly LOVE my new job! The people I work with are really fun people. There’s a nice culture in the office where people say hello to one another in the morning, chat casually in Slack, and go out to lunch together! It’s an open office, which I thought I would come to hate, but it’s actually grown on me. I truly feel like I’m part of the team (♪♪ everything is awesome…. ♪♪). The product I’m improving and building out is really interesting and has a lot going for it! I’m definitely challenged by the large codebase and I celebrate every time I fix a bug or make an improvement. Raising my hands in victory a few times a week feels very, very good! I work from home some days and that’s really improved my quality of life. I can really get in the zone at home. There’s no need for putting on headphones with white noise playing in the background. And it’s also nice to ‘work’ with my favorite coding partner: my dog!

Final Thoughts

If you’re just starting out in software engineering, don’t be discouraged by being told you don’t have enough experience. An opportunity will come your way and you’ll make the best of it. When you’re ready to move on, be honest about what you want. It is achievable!