Stop Chasing Shiny Objects as a Junior Coder

30 Jan 2025 #career

“Focus on learning one thing.”

I heard that from a coworker at my first job. At that time, he was the IT/network guy. Years before that, he was a certified Java engineer or something.

I was new at this coding thing. I was trying to learn about everything at once. It was back in 2010ish. I was reading The Clean Code, learning Python, using C# at work (coming from Java), and watching PHP presentations in my lunch break.

Passion without direction.

I remember that story because today I read this post titled, why juniors are burning out before they bloom, on Medium.

It says that instead of chasing new and shiny objects like tools, libraries, and frameworks, juniors are better off going deep into fewer tools and concepts. Oh there’s a new framework. A new C# version. A new CI/CD tool. Arrggg!

Frameworks and libraries come and go.

Today it’s React with Typescript. Before that, it was Bootstrap with Ember or Knockout.js. And before that, it was WebForms. And before that, I guess it was Perl scripts or something.

And who knows what AI will bring to the table.

But chances are we’ll be working on a C-type language, still using text files, and writing SQL. That hasn’t changed in ~50 years. And it will remain the same. I wouldn’t bet all my money though.

If you’re starting your coding journey, master the topics that have passed the test of time: HTTP, debugging, C, design patterns, data structures, clean code principles (not necessarily the book), Linux, vanilla JS.

And more importantly than spitting out code, master your soft skills: negotiation and persuasion. Coding is more about collaboration than cracking symbols on a file.