What My First Job as a Software Engineer Taught Me About Coding and Life

02 Sep 2024 #career

My first coding job was far from being like a Silicon Valley job at a startup.

I didn’t have ping-pong tables or slides to go between offices.

It was, by all means, a boring job at a local non-tech company. There’s nothing wrong with a boring job if that’s what you want. But it taught me valuable lessons about life, coding, and money. Here they are.

You Are Not Your Code

My first job was with a small team. One team member took care of one project, from start to end, wearing multiple hats.

Things got complicated when we had to work together and inherited the code from a coworker. It was messy code, to say the least. He put all actions and logic inside event handlers. Those were the days of WinForms applications: Drag and drop a button, double-click, and connect to the database right there.

We had to fix his issues and rewrite his code. Nobody wanted to do that. And I started to judge him because of his code. “What if he does everything else the same way he codes?”

Don’t judge someone by their code. Don’t take it personally either. You could miss professional connections or friendships by judging people for their code.

Assume everyone does their best with the resources they have at hand.

In the future, someone will inherit your code and say “What a crappy code. Who wrote this?”

There will always be different opinions and better ways of doing things. And even you will think of better ways to do your current work!

Coding Is Not the Only Thing

In my first days, I only wanted to code.

I had just finished reading the Clean Code and wanted to refactor everything around me. I didn’t want to attend meetings, answer phone calls, or even reply to emails. I only wanted to code. That’s what I was paid for, right?

More than once, my boss called me to his office and I arrived minutes late because I was coding in my cubicle. I don’t know why I didn’t get in trouble for that.

Software engineering is about collaboration.

You won’t be locked in a basement coding. You must talk to clients, conduct meetings, agree on estimations, and ask for help.

I had to learn there’s more than just typing symbols in text files.

Live With Half of Your Salary

That’s the best life advice I’ve ever received for free.

My cubicle was next to the coffee machine, in a corner that had once been a bathroom.

One day, another coworker, a “veteran of many battles,” came over to have his coffee. And he said something like this:

“Hey Cesar, here’s a free piece of advice. Now that you can, imagine you only make half your salary and save the other half. Sooner than later, you can buy your own apartment.”

Years later, while reading money books, I found similar advice. And it reminded me of that conversation.

I’ve followed that advice, but not exactly. I’ve saved less than half of my salary.

Today, I’d rephrase it like this: “Imagine you make half of your salary, save, and invest the other half.”

You Don’t Have To Feel Miserable

I thought talent and good work were shortcuts to breaking the rules of the corporate world. I was soooo wrong! The Matrix is real!

Endless meetings, office politics, and a fixed schedule.

It all started to take its toll on me.

There were days when I felt I was leaving my life behind while sitting at a computer. I felt demotivated and disengaged. I was craving variety and change. I didn’t know there was a term for that: burnout.

Always have an exit plan.

Change jobs when you wake up and can’t get out of bed to work.

Find a way to motivate yourself: start a side project, learn a new tech stack, or discover a new way of doing your work. Or simply update your CV and LinkedIn profile and move on.

Parting Thoughts

It’s been more than 10 years since my first job. I’m only grateful for it. Somebody took a leap of faith with me and gave me a chance when I had 0 hours of flight time.

I took these lessons to my next job. And every time I can, I give the same money advice my coworker gave me: save and invest half of your salary.

Often what we value the most from past jobs is not the money, but the friendships and connections. From time to time, I meet with coworkers I met at this first job for coffee.

For more context, read 8 lessons or so for new software developers and my predictions for Software Engineering in 2034.

Whether you’re starting out or already on the coding journey, join my free 7-day email course to refactor your software engineering career now.