Engineering leaders hiring junior developers want self-sufficient candidates who can explain their technical choices. Many juniors fail when asked why they built something a certain way, and that gap signals a lack of communication skills that managers see as a red flag.
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The one thing I hear from engineering leaders is that they don't have time to hold people's hands. So you come with 15 years of sales experience, like you're a professional. You don't need your hand held. You're a go-getter, right? And I think that's the biggest thing people want when they hire a junior developer. Yes. They want somebody who's asked questions, who can go to them and be like, hey, before— be proactive and not just sit there. Also, communication skills are huge. Why did you build this is another really big reason in an interview that people want to see. Junior developers— I've talked to a lot of hiring managers about this. They say junior developers, when they ask them why they did that, they don't know how to answer it.