3 Biggest Lies in software development

If you are just starting your career in software development, you might want to consider what I'm about to say very seriously. Breaking into tech is hard and you might be thinking, once I get that job, it'll be a cruise that is the furthest from the truth. Breaking into tech is just the start. You'll always be on the edge of your knowledge and this industry will break your fantasy. So in this video, I'm going to tell you the biggest myths and lies about the software industry. And I hope all this encourages you to pursue software as a career. So you know my story. I started my career at age 30, from an ESL teacher to a senior dev and even a tech lead. And if you find this video of use to you, please share it with the others so they can find this channel and please like and comment to help the YouTube algorithm. So myth number one, once you get the job and you get past the technical interviews and the algorithm test, the job itself will be easier than those interviews and algorithm tests. So, so that is furthest from the truth because at this stage, if you're just breaking the tech, you're really getting hired for your potential and rather than what you are right now, they see that you can learn fast, they see that you can adapt very fast. There's a lot of things that you have to learn when you get to a new software development position. You have to learn their stack, you have to learn what project management tools they're using. You have to learn basically how to work at that company. And a company really likes a fast learner. That's probably what you're getting hired on. So once you get the job and you pass the technical interviews and the coding tests the algorithms and you're talking to the team and they're like, okay, this guy's a good fit or this girl's a good fit, then they're going to push you. They're not going to give you such hard tasks, but they're going to want you to take the easy tasks first and then ramp it up. And every month, every two months, try to make you do harder stuff and challenge you. Because that's what the company should be doing, right at the right pace to make you better and better. Honestly, it's not going to be super easy because you only get better through uncomfortable situations. Now the company will do things like peer, peer reviews or employment review every quarter or something and making you see your past self and see that, hey, working at this company, you did get better. And not just the coding, right? There's a Lot of politics and putting a good impression. So, yes, the coding tests and the interviews are hard, but you, you're going to want to ramp it up when you get into the job and go into uncomfortable territories and work on tasks that you've never seen before, because that's like the best opportunity to learn. It'll show that you're not scared and all this kind of stuff. The coding test is going to be hard. The technical interviews are going to be nerve wracking. But, you know, like, once you get the job, almost like a technical interview 24, 7. Right. Because they're always watching you and you have to watch yourself to like, make sure that you're getting better. So myth number two, a common misconception about getting the job is you get hired just for your fundamentals and you can just end up just sitting there listening to your headphones and not talk to anyone. Just keep on working. And the reality is the job requires a lot of communication, you know, maybe even more than other fields, because you have to see where the back end team is on their task and maybe the front end team is on their task and make sure everything's working. Because you're always going to have a deadline and you're always going to have to finish some kind of task at a certain point to get there. You need communication within the whole team to kind of get that done. You know, that requires a bunch of communication. You got to go to meetings, you got to go to have one on ones and through that communication. And even like, you'll do things like extreme programming or co programming where you're coding with other people, you're learning how they code. It's just a lot of communication. You have to talk to someone almost every hour. There's like times to get lost in the code. You do get left alone for like maybe 3 hours, 4 hours to finish your task. But a lot of the time to get to that point, you're going to have to communicate, hey, this is the task that I'm going to finish. I need this done so you're not holding me back. And I need to get this done so I'm not holding them back. And that's a common misconception. You have to keep working and you have to update everyone. There's. There's going to be a board of tasks and you have to keep that updated and document the process. Just keep everyone updated on what you're doing because you're going to have that morning meeting every morning. This is what I did yesterday. This is what I'm doing today and I have some blockers. And that's when you open up and then other people can help you. Unless you're programming alone. Programming in a company is a lot of teamwork. That good. Myth number three, One of the things that pushes someone away from coding is, is the notion that only geniuses can become programmers. That you have to be good at math and you basically have to be a computer to be one. And the reality is, I mean, look at me. I'm not that smart. I don't even think I took a trig class or a calculus class ever in my life. I'm not that good at math. And you don't have to be smart. And as long as you have a good senior developer and you have a good project manager, they're going to give you the tasks at your level, but you're going to be given the things that you can handle. But you got to make sure that you're going to challenge yourself at the company or else you're going to be stuck doing, you know, mundane tasks that aren't really going to challenge you. I mean, you do have to have hunger to want to know your field, right? That's going to be in any job. But you don't have to be amazing at math. You don't have to have high IQ and be fast thinker, but you should want to have fun solving problems. And honestly, rather than math, I think English or communication language is going to be more important actually, like computer programming is just learning a language to how to talk to the computer. Or actually you have to talk to the other developers a lot and communicate exactly where you are. So you do not have to be smart. You don't have to be an amazing mathematician or anything like that. Honestly, the math, it's done for you by your computer and the code. Look at me, I'm not that smart and I got there. So. So why can't you, right? I'm not that smart. I don't know how to hook up your printer to your laptop. I don't know how to hack into your ex's Instagram account. I don't know any of those kind of things. I barely know how to write, like use a computer. I just know how to open the text editor and write some code and deploy it if I need to. And there is a common misconception, like you have to be young and the brain is very, like, spongy and can absorb a lot when you're young. And honestly, what I have to say is you're only old when you think you're old. Like I like to think I have a young mind. I'm very curious all the time. I want to learn, and as most programmers should be, right? So as long as you have that mindset of I don't know everything, you know, like there's a Red Hot Chili Peppers lyric, the more you see, the less you know. And that's exactly how I think. So computer programming, the Internet is very big, so. So you get to see many things, and then you realize how much you don't know. And as long as that doesn't scare you and you want to learn more. Age is just a number, man. At the end of the day, as much as tech is difficult, it is very fulfilling, and it's an amazing career choice. But it's just like any other field. You have to work hard and you have to be very considerate of your fellow employees. And once you get good, you can even create a whole business and a platform for yourself. Sky's the limit for programming. And focus on the things that matter. You know, skills, pay the bills. And if you want to learn the way I did it, then come join the Discord Channel. Come join the free JavaScript course that I'm hosting every Sunday. And remember, if I can do it, you can do it, too. Coding saves lives.