What is the path from junior to middle developer and how to get there faster?

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Both external and internal factors can influence your career development. The former will not depend on you and you can only adapt to the circumstances, but the latter are completely in your hands. We talked to Yulia Razhabova (HR Business Partner TeachMeSkills) to figure out how a specialist can make a good impression and move up the career ladder faster.

A person who guides you from the beginning of your training and on your first projects (we are talking about working in a company). A mentor answers questions, tells you where to find information, how to google it and then apply it, conducts code reviews, checks how well you have learned the topic, and much more. Most often, this is a person who acts out of his own desire. After all, he was once taught the same way. And, most likely, you yourself will want to help in the future.

And then you came across a mentor with social media marketing service whom things did not work out. This disconnect can occur for various reasons: the person seems unfriendly, explains in a difficult way (this happens when there are no teaching skills), or is not interested in his mentoring.

Sometimes juniors themselves are embarrassed to ask again, seem stupid, intrusive, or dependent. But this is exactly the stage when you should be helped to structure the learning and work process - so that you do not try to embrace the immensity.

If you want to look for answers on your own - great. But if after reading several forums, articles, comments, you still do not find the answers - ask a mentor. It will be faster and more reliable.



The last two years have shown us that external factors can change the way of life of all mankind. Pandemic, forced self-isolation, transition to distance learning . Here, of course, your self-discipline will play a significant role. But the learning/work processes are not built perfectly everywhere. Your "workplace" at home may be less comfortable than several monitors and new chairs in the office. And some people really need an office to work effectively. The company

also plays a role in the development of a specialist. Most often, it is interested in your career growth, so managers create suitable conditions for this. But it happens the other way around. When there are no conditions or they, on the contrary, interfere with your progress (pressure, lack of dialogue, legal tricks, etc.).
Now about personal factors.

First of all, it is your interest . To learn, to study, to find answers, to improve your skills. Let's be honest, we can spend a sleepless night because of "one more episode" of our favorite TV series. This should be the case with programming - "one more article and I'll definitely go home", this is the way.

Of course, no one encourages you to work until you burn out, but if you got into the field, then without interest and sincere desire it will be difficult. IT is not only about high salaries and good conditions. Therefore, if you do not have the motivation to figure out when the working day is over, you should think about it.

Let's move on to technical skills

You will never master everything, this process is endless. And that's what makes it interesting!

First, you will have to get acquainted with the language itself, its syntax. Then start studying the libraries used, arrays, strings, frameworks, mastering version control systems (for example, MySQL). Each company may have its own, special requirements. And you will need to not only theoretically learn all the working tools, but also understand how exactly you can use the knowledge you have gained in practice.

A more experienced developer will think not only about what to write. But also how to write. You work in a team, so the code should be understandable to colleagues. For example, if in the future the project is given to another programmer. And the ability to simplify comes with experience.