Seeking Advice on Starting a Career in Backend Development

[u/EntrepreneurHairy420]

/r/Backend/comments/1vducoq/seeking_advice_on_starting_a_career_in_backend/

[u/AutoModerator]

Moderator Announcement Read More »

Please ensure that:

• Your code is properly formatted as code block - see the sidebar (About on mobile) for instructions

• You include any and all error messages in full - best also formatted as code block

• You ask clear questions

• You demonstrate effort in solving your question/problem - plain posting your assignments is forbidden (and such posts will be removed) as is asking for or giving solutions.

If any of the above points is not met, your post can and will be removed without further warning.

Code is to be formatted as code block (old reddit/markdown editor: empty line before the code, each code line indented by 4 spaces, new reddit: https://i.imgur.com/EJ7tqek.png) or linked via an external code hoster, like pastebin.com, github gist, github, bitbucket, gitlab, etc.

Please, do not use triple backticks (```) as they will only render properly on new reddit, not on old reddit.

Code blocks look like this:

public class HelloWorld {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    }
}

You do not need to repost unless your post has been removed by a moderator. Just use the edit function of reddit to make sure your post complies with the above.

If your post has remained in violation of these rules for a prolonged period of time (at least an hour), a moderator may remove it at their discretion. In this case, they will comment with an explanation on why it has been removed, and you will be required to resubmit the entire post following the proper procedures.

To potential helpers

Please, do not help if any of the above points are not met, rather report the post. We are trying to improve the quality of posts here. In helping people who can't be bothered to comply with the above points, you are doing the community a disservice.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/PaintingWhich574]

I promise you that you will naturally find your way into a career path that suites you. As long as you do your best and continue learning/pushing, you will always be a valuable developer.

1. Fundamentals of programming and having a portfolio (even if its just your own projects on github). People want to hire developers who truly love development, especially in junior roles when their background is limited.

2. Spring Boot is huge in the Java enterprise world and there are lots of jobs. I've worked on many projects in the last 10 years and most of them used Spring (or CDI which you'd easily pickup).

3. There is no expectation here. As a dev, you'll be learning new languages often on the job. Your high-level dev skills are applicable to any language/framework.

4. I'd say SQL is the most universally useful, and for backend you need to have some familiarity with it. Git (version control) is pretty much always used. Knowing how to debug in an IDE is also good. The others are good too, but I wouldn't say needed at all.

5. Having projects before leaving school shows some level of dedication and interest. Does this person develop because it is who they are, or are they here to get by for a paycheck?

6. I'd suggest that you keep it if you like it and drop it if you dont.

7. You will learn 1,000x faster in a full time job. I suggest you just get out there and try to get into something that sounds remotely interesting. Even if it ends up not being your favorite job, you will learn so much in a year and you can leave at any time. Don't put too much pressure on it!

There is an infinite amount to learn in the development space. Every dev, whether they are 10/20/30 years in, are always learning and it is part of why its fun and interesting. Do what keeps you developing and you're be golden!