Becoming a Software Developer?

This week may be one of the most important one in my process of becoming a software developer. Well, in general, 4 things happened that made me feel like I’m making progress and make me feel like I’m on the right way.

Timothy Ferriss said, “A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.”

Over the weekend I made the decision to quit my job as a developer. It was difficult to do it, but on Monday I spoke with my boss and my mentor so I could get out of the project as soon as possible. It was my first job and I learned too much but it had started to get tedious. I started doing activities that I did not like and did not correspond to me, that really tired me, and I could not perform in an effective way in what I really wanted to study or do.

At first, I thought that maybe it was not the right thing to do but every time that the days pass. I noticed that I did the right thing. (I will stop working there on January 31.)

The next thing that happened was that in the company where I am taking my internship process, I was considered for an interview with a client and for a role of Full Stack Developer with Java and JavaScript that I really like, and it excites me.

After that on Thursday a startup interviewed me, and I felt confident with my English, my answers, and the exercises I solved. At the end of the interview, I was able to realize how much I have grown as a professional since last summer when I started working. Although an interview is always difficult, every time I feel more comfortable doing them.

Finally, I can see how comfortable I am with solving algorithm problems. Between the MIT algorithms course, the Cracking the Coding Interview book and the pair programming that I do with some of my classmates at night where we try to solve a HackerRank problem. They have made me learn to identify problems and have a certainty of the approach, algorithm or data structure that I should use to solve them.

It is too early to say that I have mastered all types of algorithms and data structures, but it is true that the more I study and practice, the more I feel capable of solving the problems that come up. After all, the point is to surpass ourselves, isn’t it?