Summer has not yet arrived, but the scorching heat of the sun quietly emerges in the crowd of this city, and people are desperately shuttling between the two points of survival. In the more than a year I have been in Hangzhou, my desperate desire to take root here has been worn down by time into a numb goal, as if I have returned to the confusion I felt when I just graduated. Recently, my thoughts seem to have changed a bit, and I suddenly want to calm down and review my experience of growing into a programmer. In fact, my career growth experience is mentioned in the annual summary every year, but it was only talked about more in the first year of work in 2015.
Why choose such a profession
To be honest, until I was in my second year of college and switched to software engineering, I never thought I would become a programmer in the future. At that time, I chose the telecommunications major because I could switch to the electrical automation major, and in the future, I could take a postgraduate exam like my cousin and find a job at the power bureau, ensuring a stable life. However, my poor scores, which were only supported by programming courses, could only allow the school to transfer me to software engineering, so I embarked on this irreversible path.
In my third year, I started thinking about doing some freelance website projects. I pretended to be a professional and negotiated business with various heroes. Later, I realized that I never completed a single project properly. At that time, I didn't even have a concept of being a programmer. I was just fooling around and didn't know anything. I pretended to know everything, and in the end, I even believed it myself. This is what they call the balloon theory. When you don't know anything, the unknown area you come into contact with is very small, and you will feel like you know everything. When you know more and learn more, the area you come into contact with becomes larger and larger, and you will feel like you still have a lot to learn. It was because of this that I began to seriously understand the profession of a programmer. If you say you don't envy the salary of a programmer, that's nonsense. Anyway, for various reasons, I unknowingly fell into the path of a programmer.
How I entered this industry
At that time, I didn't know where I saw it, a high-achieving college student went to a well-known company to work without pay in order to quickly adapt to the work environment, so-called "getting close to the red". As a result, I believed it, but the only difference between me and him was that he entered a big company, while I went to some unreliable companies. So I became the second half of the sentence, "getting close to the black".
The first internship company at that time was a company in Ningbo that was super far from my school. I have forgotten how I found this company, maybe it was through a senior's introduction or online resume submission. Anyway, I went to Wangju Wuyou, a pure outsourcing company. I thought it was big, but later I gradually discovered that there were actually very few employees inside, including the boss and the boss's wife, you could count them on one hand. I didn't get paid, and I went there for about three days a week, bringing my own computer. I was always excited every time I went there because it was a regular company. A bunch of things came at me, and at that time, in order to be able to work, I learned a lot of miscellaneous things, PHP, front-end, design, a bunch of fancy stuff. The boss would occasionally teach me something, but I was completely confused. However, it was because of him that I truly entered the ranks of programmers. I started by fixing bugs, writing small requirements, and gradually started to work on new projects. After all, some of the basics taught by teachers in school were still useful, so I didn't feel completely lost. I did it for about seven or eight months, during which I honed my learning ability and adaptability.
Later, through a classmate's introduction, I went to Sanjiang, where I single-handedly took on the project of Sanjiang Shopping Micro Mall. I was really clueless at that time. What? Ionic? What is Angular? I felt like I had no hope of becoming a programmer and was really frustrated. Then I desperately studied front-end knowledge, relearned basic JS and CSS, and then learned Angular in an accelerated manner. It was also because of this that I became interested in front-end development, and from this point, an infinite amount of unknown knowledge radiated out. I really learned a lot from this project, although the code was not standardized, but it laid the foundation for me to enter the front-end development field. In general, the work at Sanjiang was relatively easy, and later I started to explore some interesting things, such as trying out new things, chatting with good friends about technology. At that time, I didn't realize that I had already taken on the label of a programmer, I just felt like I was doing something I loved.
After graduation, I came to Hangzhou and went through some twists and turns to join my current company, Tuibao. After joining, the first problem to solve was to refactor a client for managing public accounts. It was a familiar plot again, so I studied NW.js and some other related knowledge intensively, and learned while doing. Being a front-end developer, the threshold is relatively low, and through accumulating experience and divergent learning in project after project, you will gradually gain a deeper understanding. Honestly, at that time, I didn't see much accumulation of technology stacks in the company. So after discussing with the leader, we chose Ant Design as the company's basic framework library and promoted the use of React. Then, the experience I gained from the public account client was applied to the multi-platform version of a new project, and we had more considerations and improvements in terms of architecture and stability. In addition to that, I also worked on plugin projects, mini-program projects, and numerous website projects. Although I was puzzled by the company launching so many products, I was still willing to try many new things. However, unlike before, I started to think more about the products, why we should make such products, the relationships between products, how to monetize product traffic, and so on. Through conversations with many product managers and experienced individuals in the company, I gradually gained knowledge about non-technical aspects of the internet industry.
After a period of accumulation and learning, the company also explored many interesting things, such as WebSocket communication servers, server-side projects based on Node, and automated build and update processes. I also started to think about problems from a product perspective, not just focusing on technology, as technology serves the product. In short, I have gained a deeper understanding of the internet industry, and the company has also started to accumulate. I am happy to grow and explore together with our team, although the tedious and repetitive work can be tiring, but if you can make some tedious work easier, you will feel a sense of accomplishment.
Future plans
In the future, to put it simply, I want to "do cooler things and earn more money".
Maintain good health
To achieve these goals, the first thing is to maintain a healthy body because health is the foundation of everything. As a programmer, it is easy to neglect one's health due to long hours of sitting and working, which can lead to problems with the eyes, back, and hands. That's why I got a gym membership, to motivate myself to exercise and maintain a healthy and energetic body. Life is about movement. Although I am personally lazy, I used to always take a taxi instead of riding a bike, and I would never walk if I could ride a bike. Now I clearly feel tired, both mentally and physically. Later, after traveling to Sichuan, I realized some things. Anything you do must be based on a healthy body, everything else may belong to others, but your body will always be yours.
Maintain positivity
I remember when I first came to Tuibao, the leader said to me, "Your age is the happiest time, no pressure, you can focus on technology." Maybe this stage is the golden period of a programmer's growth. The enthusiasm for technology doesn't need any reason, and talking about technology with friends doesn't necessarily have to be work-related, it's like a hobby. Perhaps, as time goes by and life's trivial matters begin to take up more of our attention, our passion may gradually fade. However, no matter what, please maintain a positive attitude and actively seek knowledge, whether it's in technology or other fields. The world is changing rapidly.
Have something to show for
The so-called "something to show for" can take many forms, such as an open-source project, an article you write, or a presentation you give. Express your ideas, speak out, not only will you deepen your learning, but it will also increase your personal influence, which may benefit your future development. When you can easily write or speak about what you know, then, may I ask, would you still worry about communicating with interviewers?
In the end
It took me about three days to write this, spending about ten to twenty minutes each day, summarizing my experience of becoming a programmer. I remember that winter break in Ningbo was really cold, even with two quilts, I could still feel the hostility of winter. I also remember when I first came to Hangzhou, the damp single room in the internet cafe.
Life must go on, Keep alive & Do better.