In 2019, I read the success stories of other JavaRush students and thought that I would definitely write my own when I find a job and have that “success”. Next month it will be a year since I have been working as a Java Developer, so with this story I would like to say thank you to JavaRush and motivate those reading to continue learning, because there were many moments when I gave up. I would like to tell you about everything from the very beginning, so the story will probably be long, I will break it into chapters, so you can skip uninteresting lyrical digressions. Spoiler: the process of learning and finding a job begins with the 3rd chapter, the first 2 chapters are stories from life. 1. Lyrical digression (Preface) My story will be a little different from others, since it begins with the fact that in 2013 I studied to become a programmer and received a diploma from one of the best universities in the country (I checked the rating now, it’s still in the top 5 , Nice). But the further path took me away from programming. I studied quite well at school and at the university, passed all exams with an automatic machine, and the dream of driving a Porsche 911 always flashed in my head (oh, this Californication). Plus, at that time (2012-2013), my friends and I got into the BM (Youth Business) party. Therefore, in the 4th year, I decided that “working as a programmer for my uncle” did not correspond to my ambitions and that in this way I would not earn more than 200,000 rubles a month (how wrong I was) and one of my classmates and I decided to open our own web -studio. We were mainly involved in the creation of large online stores, corporate portals and their SEO promotion. I didn’t touch on the technical part; my task from the very beginning was to find clients, communicate with them and manage processes (essentially: a manager). The entire implementation was carried out at first by hired freelancers, and then by our own full-time employees; a classmate was responsible for the entire technical process and team management. All the internships at the university, where I had to gain real experience as a programmer, I arranged for myself from one of our clients (by giving him a good discount on the site). Thesis, where there was also a real opportunity to write an excellent PET project. Our graduation project was an ERP system in C# and ASP.net, we wrote it in a team with several classmates, dividing all the tasks into three. But here again I was not involved in programming; my part of the work was planning business processes, designing the system interface and database. As a result, in 2018, 5 years passed after graduating from university, by the time I decided to change my activity, I, in fact, had no real commercial experience in writing code. At the university there were many opportunities to gain this experience, but since at that time I was already developing a web studio and did not connect my life directly with programming, I successfully dodged these opportunities. 2. Lyrical digression 2 (How I got to the Czech Republic and why I was looking for work there) Despite the fact that among our clients there were quite large and well-known online stores, as well as some foreign brands, the web studio ultimately did not provide the desired level earnings (spoiler: I didn’t buy a Porsche). Most of the proceeds went to pay employee salaries and other expenses. But I am still grateful for this great experience, because this work brought many interesting contacts, events and travel opportunities. And most importantly, on one of these vacations in Italy, I met my wife (we will call her A. in the future). A. comes from a small town in the Czech Republic. For the first years we lived in Moscow, sometimes going to the Czech Republic for several months. As a result, for various reasons that are not related to this story, in 2018 we decided that it would be better to live in the Czech Republic, which means I need to “remember my roots” and find a job there as a programmer. The language level allowed me to think about looking for work abroad. I knew English perfectly well since school, plus at home, although I tried to learn Czech, A. and I also almost always spoke in English, occasionally switching to Czech. I would rate my English as confident C1, and Czech at that time was at the B1 level, if not higher. The plan was to find a job as a Junior developer in an international company, where you would mainly need to speak English. At that time, I myself was often thinking about changing my type of activity, since the myth of “working for my uncle” was successfully dispelled by my classmates, since I had their successful experience before my eyes. They followed the standard path: internship in their final year, junior, middle, senior - and in 5 years they grew to become highly paid developers in large companies. I think this is where the introductory part is over and you can move directly to the process of learning and finding a job. 3. Start of training At the beginning of 2019, 6 years have passed since I graduated from the university, where I mainly learned to work with two languages: Java and C# (eternal confrontation) - and since receiving my diploma, I have no longer encountered these languages. After sitting one evening reading various articles “Which programming language to choose in 2019”, “Rating of popularity of programming languages” and so on, I quickly decided to remember Java. The concept of this language was closest to me during my student years. After choosing the language, I decided that I needed to remember all the basics and syntax of the language. I downloaded the book “The Complete Guide” by Herbert Schildt; this book was recommended to us back in college. For about a month and a half, I read it with varying success on my way to the office or in my free evenings. I remembered the basics and syntax of Java, but felt that this was not enough. Everything I read and did not put into practice was forgotten after 2 weeks. Something needed to be changed and a Google search brought me to the foreign service CodeSignals, where I could practice and try to solve various problems and puzzles that came up during interviews with various technology giants. It was interesting for a couple of days, but I didn’t feel much progress or results, since the tasks were mostly algorithmic and not about language knowledge. I went back to Google to search for an internship and came across an advertisement for several online training programs with mentoring and a job guarantee. But they guaranteed work in Russian companies, so they didn’t interest me. Plus, I didn’t really like the idea of giving several tens of thousands of rubles, since I understood that learning to program is, in any case, self-education and all that these courses give is the structure of training, and most importantly, a “kick in the ass” and motivation to learn, because training has already paid. I decided to find something cheaper and simpler. And then I ended up on the JavaRush service, it was an ideal option, where the training was structured for you, they gave you practice, but you couldn’t do without self-training. The price of 1800 rubles per month did not seem very high, but at the same time it was an excellent monthly “kick”. I read reviews and real stories on the Internet and decided to try it, taking a subscription for a month (I don’t remember exactly, perhaps at that time it was possible to get 10 levels for free to start with). In March 2019, I started learning JavaRush. At the same time, I was working on a web studio and also 2 times a week in the morning I communicated online with an English tutor (for English I chose the Preply service), so there wasn’t much time left for JavaRush, but I had nowhere to rush. If I remember correctly, I completed the first 25 levels in the first 5-6 months. First I went through Java Core, then Java Collections, and finally left Java Multithreading. I went through multithreading on a residual basis, simply because there were still 3 months of subscription left. It was very difficult, because subconsciously I understood that this will not be particularly useful at the very beginning (looking ahead, I can say that questions on multithreading were encountered, but very rarely, and in the work itself for a year, I have not yet encountered it). Now, when I started writing this story, I see that a new JSP & Servlets course has appeared, at that time I think this course would be very useful, since this is what I am mainly working with now. After level 25, I decided to try to go to the first interviews for the Java Junior position in Moscow. I understood that knowledge would most likely still not be enough, but I did not plan to get a job in Moscow. The task was to gain first experience of interviews in general, to understand what questions are being asked, how to behave and test yourself. My first resume was quite short, I described in detail my experience in managing a web studio, but there was nothing to brag about in Java and I simply indicated the books I had read and also mentioned JavaRush. I applied to everything where I saw the words Junior Java, but my resume didn't seem to make an impression. As a result, I received only one invitation for an interview and it went as ridiculously as possible. It was one of the real estate aggregators (something like CIAN, but not CIAN). I arrived at the company office, the interview was conducted by HR and the team leader. The first thing they asked me to do was tell me about my experience in Java, and I honestly said that I didn’t have much experience and it was all described in three lines in my resume, and that’s where the interview ended. They didn't have any other questions for me. I remember leaving the office and being very angry with myself that after so much effort and time spent studying, my first interview only lasted 5 minutes. That's how long it took them to realize that I wasn't suitable. It seemed that it would continue like this, but it only got better. In a couple of months, I completed level 30 of JavaRush and went to a couple more online interviews. They went better, but always ended in refusal. With this result, at the end of 2019, A. and I moved to the Czech Republic. The entire team of our web studio and my partner, as its leader, were embraced by our regular and largest client. Previously, he outsourced all technical tasks to us, but now he had his own technical department, which developed and developed the project from the very beginning. The client paid me monetary compensation, which should have been enough for my first time in the Czech Republic. The task was to gain first experience of interviews in general, to understand what questions are being asked, how to behave and test yourself. My first resume was quite short, I described in detail my experience in managing a web studio, but there was nothing to brag about in Java and I simply indicated the books I had read and also mentioned JavaRush. I applied to everything where I saw the words Junior Java, but my resume didn't seem to make an impression. As a result, I received only one invitation for an interview and it went as ridiculously as possible. It was one of the real estate aggregators (something like CIAN, but not CIAN). I arrived at the company office, the interview was conducted by HR and the team leader. The first thing they asked me to do was tell me about my experience in Java, and I honestly said that I didn’t have much experience and it was all described in three lines in my resume, and that’s where the interview ended. They didn't have any other questions for me. I remember leaving the office and being very angry with myself that after so much effort and time spent studying, my first interview only lasted 5 minutes. That's how long it took them to realize that I wasn't suitable. It seemed that it would continue like this, but it only got better. In a couple of months, I completed level 30 of JavaRush and went to a couple more online interviews. They went better, but always ended in refusal. With this result, at the end of 2019, A. and I moved to the Czech Republic. The entire team of our web studio and my partner, as its leader, were embraced by our regular and largest client. Previously, he outsourced all technical tasks to us, but now he had his own technical department, which developed and developed the project from the very beginning. The client paid me monetary compensation, which should have been enough for my first time in the Czech Republic. The task was to gain first experience of interviews in general, to understand what questions are being asked, how to behave and test yourself. My first resume was quite short, I described in detail my experience in managing a web studio, but there was nothing to brag about in Java and I simply indicated the books I had read and also mentioned JavaRush. I applied to everything where I saw the words Junior Java, but my resume didn't seem to make an impression. As a result, I received only one invitation for an interview and it went as ridiculously as possible. It was one of the real estate aggregators (something like CIAN, but not CIAN). I arrived at the company office, the interview was conducted by HR and the team leader. The first thing they asked me to do was tell me about my experience in Java, and I honestly said that I didn’t have much experience and it was all described in three lines in my resume, and that’s where the interview ended. They didn't have any other questions for me. I remember leaving the office and being very angry with myself that after so much effort and time spent studying, my first interview only lasted 5 minutes. That's how long it took them to realize that I wasn't suitable. It seemed that it would continue like this, but it only got better. In a couple of months, I completed level 30 of JavaRush and went to a couple more online interviews. They went better, but always ended in refusal. With this result, at the end of 2019, A. and I moved to the Czech Republic. The entire team of our web studio and my partner, as its leader, were embraced by our regular and largest client. Previously, he outsourced all technical tasks to us, but now he had his own technical department, which developed and developed the project from the very beginning. The client paid me monetary compensation, which should have been enough for my first time in the Czech Republic. but it only got better from there. In a couple of months, I completed level 30 of JavaRush and went to a couple more online interviews. They went better, but always ended in refusal. With this result, at the end of 2019, A. and I moved to the Czech Republic. The entire team of our web studio and my partner, as its leader, were embraced by our regular and largest client. Previously, he outsourced all technical tasks to us, but now he had his own technical department, which developed and developed the project from the very beginning. The client paid me monetary compensation, which should have been enough for my first time in the Czech Republic. but it only got better from there. In a couple of months, I completed level 30 of JavaRush and went to a couple more online interviews. They went better, but always ended in refusal. With this result, at the end of 2019, A. and I moved to the Czech Republic. The entire team of our web studio and my partner, as its leader, were embraced by our regular and largest client. Previously, he outsourced all technical tasks to us, but now he had his own technical department, which developed and developed the project from the very beginning. The client paid me monetary compensation, which should have been enough for my first time in the Czech Republic. 4. Continuation of studies and job search in the Czech Republic In the Czech Republic, I continued to consult with my old clients who wanted to work with me and were ready to do it remotely. This income and compensation allowed me to continue to leisurely study and look for work in the Czech Republic. I continued to apply to all remote vacancies in Moscow (to continue to pass online interviews and gain experience) and began to apply to vacancies in the Czech Republic. After each unsuccessful interview, I wrote down all the questions to which I did not know the answer, and also polished my resume. My Czech became more and more confident, apparently due to the fact that in the Czech Republic A. and I began to constantly communicate in Czech. Therefore, when I was interviewed at Czech companies and they asked me which language would be more convenient for me to communicate in: English or Czech, I answered that it didn’t matter to me and most often we continued in Czech. So in 2020, I went through about 10 more unsuccessful interviews. Most of these interviews occurred in the second half of the year. In the first one, it was necessary to resolve too many organizational and bureaucratic issues related to the move, and there was not much time. Plus, we live in the third largest city in the Czech Republic and the number of vacancies there was limited. But in the second half there was a coronavirus epidemic and strict lockdowns in the Czech Republic. This greatly simplified the search; after the start of the lockdown, all companies switched to remote work and interviews were also held online. Therefore, I calmly responded to vacancies throughout the country. Almost all interviews followed the same path: a short interview with HR, then a homework test (almost always there were several algorithmic tasks that needed to be solved on a special portal in a limited time, but a couple of times it was necessary to write a simple REST service) and the final technical interview with the developer. I always passed the first two stages without problems, but on the third, something went wrong and I was rejected. If at the beginning of the search I myself did not believe that I could successfully pass the interview, then by this time I believed that I had an excellent resume and level of knowledge for the Junior position, so each refusal was very difficult. The refusal of one of the large international companies was especially offensive. I passed the first two stages without any problems. At the final technical interview, you need to use Debug tools in 30 minutes to find and fix a bug that prevents you from passing one of the tests in jUnit. All this happened during an online Zoom call with a technical specialist, so every action and train of thought had to be commented on. I found a bug, but I spent a lot of time on it, since I spent a long time understanding the project itself, the class hierarchy and the code. As a result, there were about 3-5 minutes left to fix it, I got nervous and thought more about time than about fixing the bug, and in the end I couldn’t remember in time how to correctly combine 2 lists (yes, just such a little thing), namely this was needed to solve the problem. Naturally, I remembered the required method immediately after the interview, but it was too late. After this refusal, thoughts swirled in my head for a couple of days that everything was hopeless. But as it usually happens: “darkness gathers before the dawn” (Eye of The Tiger from Rocky should play here). I realized that something needed to change radically and thought that since it was so difficult for me to get through theoretical questions, I needed to supplement my resume with real and interesting projects so that they would be discussed at the interview, and not theoretical questions from the Internet. I slightly tweaked the front-end of two REST services that I did as test tasks for past interviews, uploaded them to Git (I learned this whole process on YouTube) and added them to my resume. By describing the technologies of these projects, I significantly increased the section with experience in Java, and reduced the section with management experience in a web studio. I also realized that I needed to learn Spring, since questions about it came up in almost every interview, and then I remembered the JavaRush internship. This was a great option to do a resume project and get the experience you need. 5. JavaRush internship I completed the test task required to sign up for the internship (YouTube also helped me a lot with this) and paid for it at the beginning of 2021. At the very first lesson of the internship, I received, as it turned out later, key advice: by responding only to Junior positions without experience, it is almost impossible to find a job, since the number of candidates exceeds hundreds and many of them are much more experienced than me. Knowledge after the JavaRush internship allows you to add a link to a large project with all the necessary technologies to your resume and apply for the position of Middle developer. I didn’t wait for the internship to end and after the first lesson I removed all references to “Junior” from my resume, added a link to the test assignment for the internship, described all possible technologies, and also described in more detail and “beautifully” my experience working on my diploma project in university. With this final version of my resume, I got the hang of it and started applying to all possible vacancies from Junior to Middle developer (of course, vacancies that required five years of experience - I skipped, but three years - why not). I never completed the JavaRush internship. The first time, after the third lesson, there was too much work and other life issues, and I decided that I would take it again in 4 months, when there was a better time. I started taking it again, but when I got to the 3rd lesson, I was hired and there was no time for it again, and, frankly speaking, there was no motivation anymore. But the project there is very interesting, so I definitely plan to finish it this year. 6. 3 job offers in a week In the spring of 2021, I applied to all Java-related vacancies every day. At that time, I had gone through about 25-30 unsuccessful interviews and for me this whole process had already become routine and a second job. But what was my happiness when, after one of these ordinary interviews, I received a job offer, and then two more. The first company in which I was offered a job was a large international integrator, whose offices are located in 3 largest cities in the Czech Republic. Their interview went surprisingly easily. I really didn’t like it when the interview consisted of 30 theoretical questions, like: “How does SOLID stand for?” I believed that if I could find this information on Google in 3 seconds using the first link, then I did not need to remember it and therefore often could not answer such theoretical questions, and I did not see the point in cramming them. I believed that somewhere there was “my” ideal company, which would be interested not in my ability to cram text, but in my skills to look for solutions in various non-standard situations, because as it turned out later, 50% of a programmer’s work is searching for solutions on stackoverflow and its adaptation. As a result, all three companies where I was offered a job were just like that, “my” companies. I’ll tell you more about each of them and about my choice. As I already mentioned, the first company is an international integrator. I was hired for the position of Junior Java Developer. Their interviews consisted of three stages. A short 10-minute conversation with HR, during which you simply go over your resume again, I call this an adequacy test, I think there is no chance of not passing it. Then there was online testing, where on a special service in 45 minutes you had to write a solution for 2 problems in Java so that it would pass all the tests that were pre-defined in the system. And the third stage, the final one, where I once again went through my resume with the team lead and solved a problem like how to pour a certain amount of water, having 3 specific jugs. They made me a job offer at the end of the same conversation via Zoom and gave me a week to make a decision. I studied everything I could find about the company: its projects, clients, technologies and reviews of its employees on the Internet. After so many months of unsuccessful interviews, I think I would have agreed anyway, but on the whole, the results of the analysis satisfied me, and I accepted the offer the very next day. The interview was at the beginning of June, so the company proposed to start work in July, since each Junior must undergo an initial two-week preparatory training in a group (corporate culture, etc.), and the next group is recruited just a month later. I thought, great, just during this time I will have time to close all my current affairs and then completely immerse myself in work. I had another interview scheduled for the end of the same week, and I decided to go through it purely out of curiosity, because it definitely couldn’t make things worse. It turned out to be an interview with a second company where I was offered a job. A small IT company with an office in Prague, but which was looking for Java Developera to work completely remotely. Interestingly, it was a vacancy for a Middle developer and the requirements stated that 3 years of experience in commercial development was required, but since I knew all the specified technologies, I responded to it. The interview was unusual, as it began with the manager getting caught up in his work and forgetting that we had an interview scheduled. After waiting for 15 minutes on Zoom, I reminded him of this with my call. He immediately got involved and apologized, said that he did not understand how this happened, and that HR did not include the conversation with me in his schedule. But because of this fact, I subconsciously no longer wanted to work in this company, so during the interview I was as relaxed and confident as possible. We went over my resume and discussed in detail my experience as a web studio owner. Regarding the Java experience, the supervisor said that he did not see the point in asking various theoretical questions and that he would like to give me a test task, if I know how to use Google and complete this task, then he will be fine with it. The task was to write a standard REST service. Even though I already had a job offer, I was curious about how it would turn out and decided to take it on. Over the weekend, I completed the assignment for the second company and, without a drop of hope, sent it for evaluation. Imagine my surprise when the next day the manager contacted me and said that they positively assessed my task, and that he was ready to take me to the position of Middle Java Developer. They were very impressed with my experience in the web studio, since they are a small company and working for them largely implies independence, I would need to solve many issues myself, and I would also need to communicate with their American client in English. I took a week to make a decision and began studying all the information about the company on the Internet. Since the company is small and I already had one job offer in my pocket, I decided to act more boldly. I found 5-6 developers from the company on LinkedIn and wrote to them on Facebook from the left account asking them to tell me their opinion about the employer. Almost everyone responded and the reviews were extremely positive, so I was faced with a difficult choice between two completely different proposals. But more on that a little later, because while I was studying the second company, they contacted me and agreed on another interview. The third company was an outstaffing IT company, but a little larger, judging by Linkedin, 50-100 employees. The interview was for the position of Junior Developer and was as similar as possible to the previous one, a minimum of theory questions, they went through my resume and gave me a test task for a REST service. After 2 days a positive decision came. But I almost immediately refused this offer, since the company had a huge number of negative reviews from employees on the Internet. They wrote about the uncomfortable working atmosphere, pressure from management, constant unpaid overtime, crazy deadlines and much more - it clearly lost to the other two proposals. I had to choose between the first two companies, the choice took me several days and cost me a lot of nerve cells, but I think in the end I made the right decision. I’ll tell you in more detail about the pros and cons of both companies, write in the comments so that you choose. Among the advantages of the corporation's offer: - A beautiful Google-style office: with breakfasts, lunches, recreation areas and much more. - Clear corporate structure and development plan. My offer at the post office consisted not only of a salary for the first time, but also a clear plan for my development for the 3 years ahead, with a planned increase in grade and salary every six months. Meet the planned KPI and get a promotion. ⁃ I was assigned an experienced specialist who would be responsible for my training and development during these three years. ⁃ The first month of work is exclusively an introductory month, no work tasks, only training and induction. - Excellent reviews on various portals, where employees anonymously leave reviews about the employer. These reviews talked a lot about corporate culture and lifestyle balance. It sounds ideal, but not everything was so sweet and there were some disadvantages: ⁃ The company is international, it is an integrator for various foreign clients, and my job would be to travel around the world and help clients integrate our products locally. I was warned about this feature during the interview. Judging by reviews on the Internet, the ratio of work in the office and on the road for the client is approximately 50-50 (that is, a week in the office, a week with the client, and so on). For some this could be a plus, but I already had a family and I wouldn’t want to be a husband and father who was away from home 2 weeks a month, so for me it was a significant minus. ⁃ The second minus is the rather low salary, low even for a Junior position in the market. Apparently the company takes the name and other advantages listed above, so it pays less than the market. The low salary was also mentioned in reviews on the Internet. Considering the planned increases every six months, I would reach the desired level of income only after 2 years. ⁃ The third disadvantage is that the projects use a specific, rather old and not popular stack, which is quoted only by similar integrators in the insurance industry. Plus, judging by the reviews, in conjunction with Java, some projects use the less popular GoLang programming language, and its share is almost 30%. As you can see, there are also a lot of disadvantages, but the company’s name was captivating, plus this is exactly how I imagined the job of a programmer (beautiful office, breakfasts, lunches, corporate culture, and so on). Let's move on to the advantages of the second offer from a small company: ⁃ High salary, which was 2 times higher than the first offer and exceeded my current income. It seemed to me above average even for a Middle developer. ⁃ Fairly flexible schedule. The supervisor mentioned that they do not use any applications that take pictures of my monitor or monitor my remote work. They trust their employees and that ideally, if my working day is from 9-17, so that the entire remote team works at the same time, but this is not necessary. In general, I plan my work day myself, the main thing is to meet the sprint deadlines. ⁃ Quite a modern and popular technology stack, clear tasks. Of the minuses: ⁃ Remote work. For me this was both a plus and a minus. But due to the lack of experience, it’s rather a minus. I believed that in the office it would be easier for me not only to fit in and start working, but also to learn from more experienced colleagues. ⁃ The manager warned me during the interview that from the very beginning I would largely be left to my own devices and they did not have many resources for training. For about three days I racked my brains, changing my favorite every 3 hours. As a result, the second company was chosen at the family council. The key was a significantly higher salary and the absence of constant business trips, and I was never afraid of difficulties in learning and independence. This month it will be exactly one year that I have been working for this company, and I am very pleased with everything. The main group of developers from my team works from an office in Prague, I and several other specialists work remotely. It turned out to be not difficult to join the project; I also had a whole month to familiarize myself with the project, the system and the technologies; I didn’t have any tasks that month. Apparently this is standard practice in the Czech Republic. At first, I worked on very simple tasks: simple bugs in the system that were solved in a few hours or 1 day. The team has 2 developers with more than 20 years of experience, I consider them simply gurus. They regularly conduct code reviews of our solutions. One of them quickly noticed me and now I’m working as his “padawan” on new “features” of the system; I haven’t encountered any bugs in the tracker for a long time. This year, the company has already brought all remote developers to Prague twice for several days to work together from the office (the visits were purely optional for integration into the team and in many ways resembled a multi-day corporate event). Last month I received a significant promotion, so there are no problems with development either. ⁃ The manager warned me during the interview that from the very beginning I would largely be left to my own devices and they did not have many resources for training. For about three days I racked my brains, changing my favorite every 3 hours. As a result, the second company was chosen at the family council. The key was a significantly higher salary and the absence of constant business trips, and I was never afraid of difficulties in learning and independence. This month it will be exactly one year that I have been working for this company, and I am very pleased with everything. The main group of developers from my team works from an office in Prague, I and several other specialists work remotely. It turned out to be not difficult to join the project; I also had a whole month to familiarize myself with the project, the system and the technologies; I didn’t have any tasks that month. Apparently this is standard practice in the Czech Republic. At first, I worked on very simple tasks: simple bugs in the system that were solved in a few hours or 1 day. The team has 2 developers with more than 20 years of experience, I consider them simply gurus. They regularly conduct code reviews of our solutions. One of them quickly noticed me and now I’m working as his “padawan” on new “features” of the system; I haven’t encountered any bugs in the tracker for a long time. This year, the company has already brought all remote developers to Prague twice for several days to work together from the office (the visits were purely optional for integration into the team and in many ways resembled a multi-day corporate event). Last month I received a significant promotion, so there are no problems with development either. ⁃ The manager warned me during the interview that from the very beginning I would largely be left to my own devices and they did not have many resources for training. For about three days I racked my brains, changing my favorite every 3 hours. As a result, the second company was chosen at the family council. The key was a significantly higher salary and the absence of constant business trips, and I was never afraid of difficulties in learning and independence. This month it will be exactly one year that I have been working for this company, and I am very pleased with everything. The main group of developers from my team works from an office in Prague, I and several other specialists work remotely. It turned out to be not difficult to join the project; I also had a whole month to familiarize myself with the project, the system and the technologies; I didn’t have any tasks that month. Apparently this is standard practice in the Czech Republic. At first, I worked on very simple tasks: simple bugs in the system that were solved in a few hours or 1 day. The team has 2 developers with more than 20 years of experience, I consider them just gurus. They regularly conduct code reviews of our solutions. One of them quickly noticed me and now I’m working as his “padawan” on new “features” of the system; I haven’t encountered any bugs in the tracker for a long time. This year, the company has already brought all remote developers to Prague twice for several days to work together from the office (the visits were purely optional for integration into the team and in many ways resembled a multi-day corporate event). Last month I received a significant promotion, so there are no problems with development either. to work together from the office (arrivals were purely optional for integration into the team and in many ways resembled a multi-day corporate event). Last month I received a significant promotion, so there are no problems with development either. to work together from the office (arrivals were purely optional for integration into the team and in many ways resembled a multi-day corporate event). Last month I received a significant promotion, so there are no problems with development either. 7. Brief summary It took me two and a half years and about 25-30 failed interviews to re-study after university and find a job. It seemed to me that the number was much higher (according to my feelings there were at least 60), but after I began to remember, it turned out to be much less. I can’t count the number of vacancies for which I responded, but I think there were at least 500. I want to say thank you to everyone who is working on this project. He was my main source of information and motivation to learn. I don't know of any other similar projects. To be completely happy, the only thing missing was information on Spring; I had to figure it out myself using YouTube lessons, but for Spring there is an internship. I hope that I didn’t describe everything in too much detail and that I didn’t waste a few nights. If this story becomes a great motivation for anyone, that will be great. I will be glad to have questions and reactions in the comments.
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