Hey,
I currently work in engineering and I am looking to take the leap into web development. I have a few questions (worries) about this and was hoping that they could be answered here, so I’ll begin.
The more I progress with my studies and the closer I believe I am to securing a web development job, the more I am starting to worry about the transition from working in a loud, dirty factory wearing a boiler suit all day to the completely different working environment of a web development job.
How do you cope with the transition? How do you ease the nerves?
Also, since the world of web development, and tech in general, moves at such a fast pace with new frameworks, tools etc coming out frequently, how do companies respond to this?
Say that a company wants to start using a new framework. How do they generally approach employees about this? Do they allow time for the developers to learn this new framework during working hours, or do they expect it to be learned during their free time?
Lastly, I know this well depend upon the company but how stressful do you feel being a web developer is?
Working in a team development environment/office will most likely be a lot quieter, if you’re not used to the “quiet” you’ll certainly notice it. At the end of the many web dev offices are just that - offices.
Really all these things are just tools - in the real world there are maybe a dozen or more makes of hammer, you try a few and see which is best for you - you don’t usually buy one of each! I’d like to think that for web dev departments the whole team has a say as to whether any particular tool could be adopted and used, whether that’s just for one project or many.
I’d hope that the developers would be writing the code for the framework, can’t see management doing it?
No more stressful than any other job. Of course with web dev you never stop learning, there can be deadlines to meet, customers to liaise with, and lots of problems to be solved on every site you work on.
I guess I just need to take everything in my stride and adapt. Going for an interview, moving to a new city, being the “new guy” at work are the main things that I am anxious about. Have you got any tips on how to deal with this?
Going back to the question about stress, do you feel that a lot of your free time is spent coding/learning? Are working hours a standard 9-5 or are overtime hours usually required? Do you feel like you get a lot of “me” time, or does the job consume you?
I’ve never made a big move like that, new city, new job etc, so can’t really comment.
About stress, I work as a freelancer so I don’t have any fixed hours - I see it more of a lifestyle rather than a job. Some days I do very little, but other days I’ll work 12-16 hours well into the night sometimes, it all balances out in the end, and having happy clients is my main aim. It’s pretty stress free for me! Like everyone else I’m always learning and take time out nearly every day to catch up on dev blogs, playing with code and so on.
Working for someone else will be different of course, your hours and any overtime commitments would be covered in your contract of work. Some modern agencies are often flexible with work hours, offer work at home, team away days, “learning fridays” (where you have one day a week to pursue your own projects in work time) etc, but older style companies may want you sitting at your desk from 9-5 with no leeway.
That’s funny how you mention that freelancing is stress free (for you). I have read numerous posts and articles about the worries of freelance work, for example not knowing when your next paycheck is going to come.
I like the idea of, at the very least, giving freelancing a go once I have some good experience under my belt, so your opinion of it being pretty stress free gives me confidence.
Working from home is also something that I like the sound of, even if it was just one day a week. From what I have read it seems to be quite common in the USA, not so sure about the UK though?
As previously stated, I work full time so I only have a few hours each night to study. I manage this quite well, although some days I do come home and feel pretty exhausted so tend to put off studying (this is rare though).
I have flirted with the idea of leaving my job and studying full time in order to speed up the process of getting a web development job.
I currently live at home with my parents and have money saved up to pay for my own personal bills and for them to keep me for a few months. I feel that I am in a good position to be able to study full time, but I worry that it may take a long time for me to get my first job.
What are your thoughts on this?
EDIT
Going back to the point about free time, I have been reading through various forums and articles, and there seems to be this idea that all developers never have any free time. All that they do is code.
I do enjoy coding, and I imagine that once I get a job there will be nights where I would just sit and code for fun.
However, I don’t want to feel like I HAVE to do that every single night.
I guess I just need somebody to tell me that you can lead a life where once you come home from work you can go out and meet friends, go to the gym, enjoy sports and so on. I do not want to have to come home every single night and code.
One of the positive sides of freelancing is that you set your own schedule. This means that if you don’t want to come home every night and code (in other words, you want some balance to your life), you make the decision not to do that.
Often when you are contracting to do some work for a client, you have the freedom to choose your deadlines. If you know enough about how long it takes you to do certain jobs, you can allow yourself the extra time for “life”, based on when the client needs the product and when you need your pay checks, and factor that into the contract that you provide the client.
Unfortunately, it will take some time for you to be able to gauge your timelines and you may make some mistakes here to begin with, but eventually you will figure it out.
If you want a 9-5 job as a web developer, you might find that your boss expects you to work overtime when deadlines loom. That is all part of the job. I asked the son of a family friend who is a developer for a large company once why younger people often were preferred over older people in their hiring. He said that the younger people had fewer obligations and were more willing to work long hours when required.
I’m fortunate in having built up a client base over the years, that means I’m never short of work. Yes in my early freelancing days I went through periods with no work, that’s when a bank reserve and tightening your belt comes in to see you though the dry times!
Working from home is quite common in the UK - stats suggest something like 1.5 million people. Then you have other self employed people who work home some of the time.
Developers not having free time? If they don’t then then aren’t making time for themselves, or they don’t want to.
There’s nothing to stop you finding a work/life balance, that’s really up to you to work out what you do outside of work hours
In freelancing you create your own schedule. but you have have to work very hard in web developing. Keep in mind long hours sitting in front of your computer.
I’m getting a lot of positivity from these replies, thank you
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy coding and will probably code in my free time be it working on personal projects and such or enhancing my skills so that I become a better developer. I understand that to progress I will have to put the time in here and there, I just don’t want it to consume my life.
With regards to my post about leaving my job and studying full time, do you think this would be a good or a bad idea?
I have a similar story. I’ve been working in all kinds of Industries before moving on as web developer. I have been working as metal worker, telecommunication technician, electrician, painter, gardener and many other jobs. I’ve studied web development in private ( and i still do) but 5 years ago I managed to become a professional developer. Two years ago, I moved from Austria to Germany. This was only possible because I have friends here (although, no family).
You will learn an awful lot of new things. I had a lot of trouble in my first two dev jobs. Mainly because I want to create maintainable code ( I put a lot of effort into improving my quality) and agencies dont have time for that usually. Set up goals! Both you and the contractor need to know where to go with your carreer. Most of the time, I wanted to push further where my bosses said it is “good enough”. It is very tough to deal with that. Especially when it is “your” project and “your” baby. I had to learn to let go. This really depends on the type of company you work with.
While it feels like getting into a much better work environment (and it is great to feel happy about that!), you will soon set a new standard of how things are supposed to be. Maybe even though you are happy about your new job and can’t deny the contract, have a very good and close look at it. You and your friends and family. You could soon discover restrictions in the way you are allowed to work and how salary, worktime and leave works. My first boss made use of my situation as first time dev. So he could basically define anything in the contract, because I was willing to start as dev.
