
Ask HN: Starting my first development job. How should I focus my first month? - jjjjjjjjjjjjj21
I have just accepted an offer for a junior developer role. This is my first job in development and I&#x27;m hoping to avoid getting fired for being incompetent in the first month.<p>I have a background in startups working in app support&#x2F;DB analyst roles.<p>The role I&#x27;m starting is a backend node.js role focused mostly on AWS Lambda&#x2F;API Gateway tech. The company is pretty small (3 people).<p>What should I focus on in the first month to have the best foundation? E.g should I focus mostly on reading the existing codebase, start working on small bugs ASAP, self-study on the tech stack areas I&#x27;m less familiar with, etc.
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memexy
All the questions you're asking now will be asked by another junior engineer
down the line. Keep good notes on how you answer them at your current company
and then share them with other junior engineers. So practice taking notes and
learn to use or develop your own system for keeping track of them in a way
that enhances what you're learning.

That's not advice specific to your current job. That's general advice I wish
someone had given me when I started writing software. A good knowledge/note
management system is a worthwhile investment and the earlier you start the
better.

Also, HN has a search function. I searched for the phrases "junior developer"
"advice" and this is what I found:
[https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...](https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=junior%20developer%20advice&sort=byPopularity&type=all).
There are some good references that might be applicable to your situation.

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znpy
I want to suggest what to try and understand between an task and the next one,
and during coffee breaks.

I'd start by getting acquainted with the people, the tools, the projects and
the processes in the company.

The idea is to understand what projects are being worked on, by whom, with
what tools (languages, libraries etc) and following which process -- so that
you can have an idea of what you don't know yet and who to ask to, should you
need.

