Switching careers: my first month as Software Engineer
Today I have completed my first month as an Associate Front End Software Engineer at Genesys.
As you may already know I was a Technical Recruiter before. I’ve always been so curious about why Software Engineers are so happy and driven in their jobs, and now I understand why.
If you are considering changing careers or doing it already, I hope sharing my experience would help you to know what to expect. But first of all, I want to confirm that as everyone says, it’s awesome.
Getting ready
A little piece of advice, ask during the interview what you should be learning to be ready for the job if you (hopefully) get it. For me the answer to that question was Typescript.
Once I accepted the offer I had one month to get ready and learn some of it before I got started, so I did these courses on Frontend Masters:
First week
I will always remember how nice everyone was! Overall, it was a pretty quiet week. I think here every company works the same way, so what is always expected is lots of company training, including company compliance, security, and HIPAA. Also, a big part of the induction is meetings with HR, IT, and the teams you would be working with.
Second week
During my second week I got all the systems up and running, and access to the codebase. But also the exciting part, getting my hands dirty getting started with some tickets.
This part was scary for me as it feels everything is going to break. But you only need to make sure you are in the right branch, you pulled the last version, ask questions in case you are not sure, and everything will be fine.
I also started the React — The Complete Guide (incl Hooks, React Router, Redux) course on Udemy so I split my time between working and learning (unreal, right?).
Third week & Fourth week
These last two weeks have been similar to my second week, but I got to make my first pull request and see the first few changes I made become a reality in the application.
I’m also still working on my React course. I’d say the biggest challenge I faced is starting with the integration of Line migrating it from Ember to React.
To sum up, it’s unbelievable how much I’ve learned in this time compared to before when I had to juggle my full-time job and study. But also how supported I am to keep learning and improving by my team and my manager.
If you are going through a career change or considering making one, you don’t know if it’s going to work out and you are not sure it’s the right choice. Keep moving forward and you won’t regret it, I promise.
Thanks for reading! Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or you are considering a career change.
