The probationary period has ended and it’s time to tell “how I became a programmer.” In November 2014, I stopped my decade and a half activity that had nothing to do with IT and began to look for myself. I had the ability and interest to work with data. By this point, for several years now I had been creating, for free and for money, small, simple websites assembled on CMS Modx and it was more of a hobby. At the same time, the desire to write code, which appeared in school, but was not realized for many reasons, did not fade away. By the coming New Year, I had definitely decided that I wanted to work as a programmer and there was only one small thing left to do: choose a language. I had already seen languages such as Java and C++ before, and in the distant 90s I wrote in Pascal and Basic. As a result, having looked at the range of tasks of interest, the final choice fell on Java. And the learning process began...
First run
The basics of programming were clear, the syntax of simple programs had also been studied a long time ago - behind me there were a couple of simple Android applications collected from lessons and several Java classes that solved my everyday problems (one of them recalculated tire parameters for different rim sizes). First of all, a book was selected and the learning process began... After 3 weeks, I no longer had the strength to read about programming at all - it was dull and boring. I overestimated my talents and diligence. For about another month I tried to read the Oracle manuals, which also did not inspire optimism. By the end of February, I began to realize that I needed a computer... (: Since I had not worked for several months, the choice fell on an old laptop claiming to be an ultrabook, having on board an SSD, a first-generation i5 and 3Gb of RAM. By the beginning of March, everything was ready for me to learn and I came across the site JavaRush.ru... Now it seems to me that it was March 7. From that moment on, I could not be torn away from the computer. The first very simple tasks, Intellij Idea, large tasks . I objectively understood the requirements for a Java programmer and had no illusions.
Project
The test task immediately marked my programming level at a level just above zero, and I was looking forward to the first lectures and assignments. I won’t go deep into the technology stack and the description of the course - everything is exactly what is now required from applicants, and the author himself offers a truthful overview of the course itself. This is a valuable set of knowledge that turns Java into an Enterprise tool. More than 3 months have passed since the end of the course, and I still realize what exactly this master really showed. The most important thing that you will get from the internship is a charge of interest and the ability to learn new technologies in programming. The project that you will receive as a result is not the most important thing, but it is very useful.
Additional knowledge
I can’t help but complement the idea of my training. Besides the fact that I sat from 8 to 15 hours a day at the computer and solved problems, I looked around and here is a list of things that need to be at least touched: mysql, postgresql, mongo, js, html, css, linux (debian, mint , ubuntu - choose any), spring boot, freemarker. And, of course, Java Core and all the technologies of the project must be taken as the basis. There is a huge list of questions on the Internet to prepare for interviews. Very common topics: collections, exceptions, multi-precision. Learn English - start right now. For example, try reading the documentation. In a good company where they write in Java, they have foreign customers. You may have to communicate with them - I was at a general meeting a month and a half later. In international companies, all information in bug trackers is also in English. Read books. In any language, but better in the original.
Interviews
For me, the most educational stage. Here I found out what exactly they want to get from the applicant, and improved my knowledge in accordance with the requirements. I tried to get to interviews for Middle developers and avoided Junior ones, but they also happened. I've never been to Senior. The first thing that emerged in my brain: regardless of the position for which you are applying, the questions at interviews at different levels are the same and differ only in depth. People are interested in collections everywhere. Sometimes they ask tricky questions. At the stage of going through interviews, you need to be aware that you have to go through a lot of them before you find the job that suits you and where you suit it. All interviews before this key one are your path to go through, experience disappointments, draw conclusions and move on. At this stage, it is important not to forget about this for a minute.
Now
At the moment, the third and final month of the trial period in a large outsourcing company has ended and I have remembered the project with kind words many times. I don’t have a gradation, but it seems to me that I have a Middle level. I don’t ask questions - the experience of participating in a real project takes its toll, I get big tasks and make decisions about implementation myself. During my work, I applied all the knowledge of technologies learned earlier and even more new ones for me. My probation period ended exactly a year later, to the day, with the start of training in JavaRush. Over the 3 months of commercial production, of course, a lot of new experience and new knowledge came, and everything that came before seems no longer at all difficult, but no less important.
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