Top 4 mistakes you should avoid as a junior developer

Whether you are beginning your career or switching fields, starting at a junior level is usually daunting. You expectedly know less than your peers and are bound to make mistakes. Junior developers are not expected to know everything, but there are some common developer mistakes they must avoid. When you start, you must keep a learner’s outlook, try to learn, and prevent imposter syndrome. Rather than faking it, try to learn through your mistakes.

In this article, we are listing the most common mistakes that junior developers tend to make and how these developer mistakes can be avoided.

1. Googling rather than reading documentation

Indeed, Google has made it a lot easier for developers to find solutions when they are stuck. It is quicker to Google the answer rather than reading the official documentation. We understand it’s boring to go through the documentation, and it’s not as fast as Googling the solution.

However, as a beginner, you are depriving yourself of learning the broader side of development by depending on Google. Documentation is one of the best ways to learn about several user cases and possible bugs.

Contrary to what most junior developers believe, reading docs provide better insight. It saves you a lot of time that would be otherwise wasted on Googling dozens of answers. 

When you read the docs, you know what to search in Google. Furthermore, referencing documentation is a great habit that helps you become a better developer.

When you start a new project or join one in the middle of the development lifecycle, you will most likely depend on the Readme documentation to understand the requirements and scope of the project.

2. Not asking for help when needed

One of the most common problems a junior developer faces is not knowing when to ask for help. You might start working on a project and decide to deliver results on your own without taking assistance from peers. As a beginner, you will get stuck with a problem, and after a few tries, you will find the solution, but it might not always be the case. Some issues will be too hard to solve on your own, no matter how much time you spend trying to solve them.

While repeatedly trying to solve a problem is part of learning, you need to know when you need help. There will be issues beyond your knowledge’s scope and require clarification. You cannot waste too much time on a single problem as your team needs to move forward with the project. 

When the deadline is looming, or you have tried everything in your capability and are still stuck with the problem, be open to help. Seek help from your peers and senior developers and ask them to explain the solution to you.

3. No risks, only comfort

Not only for developers, but comfort is a growth-kill for any profession. Junior developers pick easy and comfortable tasks and enter a comfort zone that hinders their growth. You get a false sense of accomplishment when you only stick with the easy development tasks. It will put you in the habit of not challenging yourself to take responsibility for your growth.

Junior developers who do not challenge themselves for growth and get complacent in their comfort zone hardly move up the career ladder. If you do not want to be stuck at the same level, it is necessary to punch above your weight. Proactively ask for challenging tasks but not all the time. You must balance easy and challenging tasks to avoid your comfort zone and not get overwhelmed by the challenges too often.

4. Stop watching tutorial videos

Tutorials are great for learning new technologies, but watching tutorial videos and not practicing actual code will not do any good. While tutorial videos are fun to watch, a reason why many junior programmers try to learn through video tutorials but they forget that it’s a costly venture. 

When you stick with video tutorials, you are trading time to watch those videos. You will have much less time to code and learn by doing.

When you code yourself, your progress is much more accelerated. Junior developers should start a project and ‘learn with a purpose.’ There is no point in randomly watching tutorials if you are never going to use what you see. 

This is why it is essential to use the information you learn from the tutorials by implementing it in your code. When you work on a project, you have a reason to search for tutorials and implement what you learn immediately.

Apart from nurturing technical skills, junior developers must also focus on essential soft skills.

Conclusion 

As a junior developer, you are prone to make these mistakes. We hope you understand what causes these mistakes and what can be done to avoid them.

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