Junior Developer Left to Own Devices
I currently work as a frontend developer, but my background is in an unrelated field (coding used to be a hobby). When I decided to make a career change, I taught myself as much as I could, made it through a coding bootcamp and finally landed a junior dev job – this is where I work now. I’ve been here for 10 months.
There are two of us working on the frontend part of the project. I was hired as the junior and the management sees the other developer as my senior, but the trouble is that she's not really acting as one. Her main expertise lies in CSS and design and unfortunately, after 10 months on the job, I know both the framework and our codebase much better than her. I feel she always picks the easier tasks/stories/bugs, and I literally have to force her to do code reviews for me and she never tells me anything except "it's okay". I am constantly terrified that something will go wrong, because the app is being developed by an unsupervised junior. It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow.
On the one hand, I see it as a great experience – I am basically doing the work of a mid-senior developer and have zero official responsibility. On the other hand, my code is probably really bad, and I would really like to be mentored and taught and supervised. Also, my work is not visible - everything we produce is seen as the work of the frontend team, so I am not "proving myself" capable of handling larger tasks or anything. Also, I don't feel comfortable taking on any advanced responsibilities, because I feel my experience is really very junior.
My senior has been with the company for a long time and is respected and well-liked (she's a very friendly, extroverted person). I am in no position to even hint that she's not doing a good job. At the same time, I have become very resentful of her.
What can I do? I can probably switch projects, but it will take at least another six months. The company is great, I don't want to leave. Is there a way to get more formal training while staying on this project without implying that my current senior is not doing their work?
work-experience
asked 1 hour ago
Avi
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I currently work as a frontend developer, but my background is in an unrelated field (coding used to be a hobby). When I decided to make a career change, I taught myself as much as I could, made it through a coding bootcamp and finally landed a junior dev job – this is where I work now. I’ve been here for 10 months.
There are two of us working on the frontend part of the project. I was hired as the junior and the management sees the other developer as my senior, but the trouble is that she's not really acting as one. Her main expertise lies in CSS and design and unfortunately, after 10 months on the job, I know both the framework and our codebase much better than her. I feel she always picks the easier tasks/stories/bugs, and I literally have to force her to do code reviews for me and she never tells me anything except "it's okay". I am constantly terrified that something will go wrong, because the app is being developed by an unsupervised junior. It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow.
On the one hand, I see it as a great experience – I am basically doing the work of a mid-senior developer and have zero official responsibility. On the other hand, my code is probably really bad, and I would really like to be mentored and taught and supervised. Also, my work is not visible - everything we produce is seen as the work of the frontend team, so I am not "proving myself" capable of handling larger tasks or anything. Also, I don't feel comfortable taking on any advanced responsibilities, because I feel my experience is really very junior.
My senior has been with the company for a long time and is respected and well-liked (she's a very friendly, extroverted person). I am in no position to even hint that she's not doing a good job. At the same time, I have become very resentful of her.
What can I do? I can probably switch projects, but it will take at least another six months. The company is great, I don't want to leave. Is there a way to get more formal training while staying on this project without implying that my current senior is not doing their work?
work-experience
asked 1 hour ago
Avi
211
New contributor
Avi is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Possible duplicate of Have the company dropped the ball with me as a junior developer?
– maksimov
56 mins ago
3
The only question I see is (What can you do?) Can't say with certainty but you sound like you know more than you may think. You've taught yourself a lot and are still teaching yourself. The 'hard work' you're doing may be unnoticed by management but 'you' know what you're doing and learning. My advice would be to stick to logic, look for good things to say about 'senior' coworker and be patient. Management will, most likely, eventually recognize your work and realize your efforts.
– Rose
56 mins ago
1
"It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow." That's pretty much what a senior developer does as well (at least some of the time).
– Calchas
16 mins ago
add a comment |
I currently work as a frontend developer, but my background is in an unrelated field (coding used to be a hobby). When I decided to make a career change, I taught myself as much as I could, made it through a coding bootcamp and finally landed a junior dev job – this is where I work now. I’ve been here for 10 months.
There are two of us working on the frontend part of the project. I was hired as the junior and the management sees the other developer as my senior, but the trouble is that she's not really acting as one. Her main expertise lies in CSS and design and unfortunately, after 10 months on the job, I know both the framework and our codebase much better than her. I feel she always picks the easier tasks/stories/bugs, and I literally have to force her to do code reviews for me and she never tells me anything except "it's okay". I am constantly terrified that something will go wrong, because the app is being developed by an unsupervised junior. It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow.
On the one hand, I see it as a great experience – I am basically doing the work of a mid-senior developer and have zero official responsibility. On the other hand, my code is probably really bad, and I would really like to be mentored and taught and supervised. Also, my work is not visible - everything we produce is seen as the work of the frontend team, so I am not "proving myself" capable of handling larger tasks or anything. Also, I don't feel comfortable taking on any advanced responsibilities, because I feel my experience is really very junior.
My senior has been with the company for a long time and is respected and well-liked (she's a very friendly, extroverted person). I am in no position to even hint that she's not doing a good job. At the same time, I have become very resentful of her.
What can I do? I can probably switch projects, but it will take at least another six months. The company is great, I don't want to leave. Is there a way to get more formal training while staying on this project without implying that my current senior is not doing their work?
work-experience
asked 1 hour ago
Avi
211
New contributor
Avi is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I currently work as a frontend developer, but my background is in an unrelated field (coding used to be a hobby). When I decided to make a career change, I taught myself as much as I could, made it through a coding bootcamp and finally landed a junior dev job – this is where I work now. I’ve been here for 10 months.
There are two of us working on the frontend part of the project. I was hired as the junior and the management sees the other developer as my senior, but the trouble is that she's not really acting as one. Her main expertise lies in CSS and design and unfortunately, after 10 months on the job, I know both the framework and our codebase much better than her. I feel she always picks the easier tasks/stories/bugs, and I literally have to force her to do code reviews for me and she never tells me anything except "it's okay". I am constantly terrified that something will go wrong, because the app is being developed by an unsupervised junior. It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow.
On the one hand, I see it as a great experience – I am basically doing the work of a mid-senior developer and have zero official responsibility. On the other hand, my code is probably really bad, and I would really like to be mentored and taught and supervised. Also, my work is not visible - everything we produce is seen as the work of the frontend team, so I am not "proving myself" capable of handling larger tasks or anything. Also, I don't feel comfortable taking on any advanced responsibilities, because I feel my experience is really very junior.
My senior has been with the company for a long time and is respected and well-liked (she's a very friendly, extroverted person). I am in no position to even hint that she's not doing a good job. At the same time, I have become very resentful of her.
What can I do? I can probably switch projects, but it will take at least another six months. The company is great, I don't want to leave. Is there a way to get more formal training while staying on this project without implying that my current senior is not doing their work?
work-experience
work-experience
asked 1 hour ago
Avi
211
New contributor
Avi is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
Avi
211
New contributor
Avi is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
Avi
211
New contributor
Avi is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
Avi
211
asked 1 hour ago
Avi
211
211
New contributor
Avi is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Avi is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Avi is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Possible duplicate of Have the company dropped the ball with me as a junior developer?
– maksimov
56 mins ago
3
The only question I see is (What can you do?) Can't say with certainty but you sound like you know more than you may think. You've taught yourself a lot and are still teaching yourself. The 'hard work' you're doing may be unnoticed by management but 'you' know what you're doing and learning. My advice would be to stick to logic, look for good things to say about 'senior' coworker and be patient. Management will, most likely, eventually recognize your work and realize your efforts.
– Rose
56 mins ago
1
"It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow." That's pretty much what a senior developer does as well (at least some of the time).
– Calchas
16 mins ago
add a comment |
Possible duplicate of Have the company dropped the ball with me as a junior developer?
– maksimov
56 mins ago
3
The only question I see is (What can you do?) Can't say with certainty but you sound like you know more than you may think. You've taught yourself a lot and are still teaching yourself. The 'hard work' you're doing may be unnoticed by management but 'you' know what you're doing and learning. My advice would be to stick to logic, look for good things to say about 'senior' coworker and be patient. Management will, most likely, eventually recognize your work and realize your efforts.
– Rose
56 mins ago
1
"It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow." That's pretty much what a senior developer does as well (at least some of the time).
– Calchas
16 mins ago
Possible duplicate of Have the company dropped the ball with me as a junior developer?
– maksimov
56 mins ago
Possible duplicate of Have the company dropped the ball with me as a junior developer?
– maksimov
56 mins ago
3
3
The only question I see is (What can you do?) Can't say with certainty but you sound like you know more than you may think. You've taught yourself a lot and are still teaching yourself. The 'hard work' you're doing may be unnoticed by management but 'you' know what you're doing and learning. My advice would be to stick to logic, look for good things to say about 'senior' coworker and be patient. Management will, most likely, eventually recognize your work and realize your efforts.
– Rose
56 mins ago
The only question I see is (What can you do?) Can't say with certainty but you sound like you know more than you may think. You've taught yourself a lot and are still teaching yourself. The 'hard work' you're doing may be unnoticed by management but 'you' know what you're doing and learning. My advice would be to stick to logic, look for good things to say about 'senior' coworker and be patient. Management will, most likely, eventually recognize your work and realize your efforts.
– Rose
56 mins ago
1
1
"It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow." That's pretty much what a senior developer does as well (at least some of the time).
– Calchas
16 mins ago
"It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow." That's pretty much what a senior developer does as well (at least some of the time).
– Calchas
16 mins ago
add a comment |
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Possible duplicate of Have the company dropped the ball with me as a junior developer?
– maksimov
56 mins ago
3
The only question I see is (What can you do?) Can't say with certainty but you sound like you know more than you may think. You've taught yourself a lot and are still teaching yourself. The 'hard work' you're doing may be unnoticed by management but 'you' know what you're doing and learning. My advice would be to stick to logic, look for good things to say about 'senior' coworker and be patient. Management will, most likely, eventually recognize your work and realize your efforts.
– Rose
56 mins ago
1
"It's me muddling through by trial and error with the help of StackOverflow." That's pretty much what a senior developer does as well (at least some of the time).
– Calchas
16 mins ago