How much should I be doing as the Junior Developer?

Question

Background: Junior Software Developer working for 3 months at a new company, been paired up with a Senior Developer (4+ years) on an on going User Story for about 2 months now

Issue: Contrary to struggling, on this story, I feel like I am doing more work and the more complicated work than the senior developer has been doing, and am usually handed the more difficult tasks when we talk about the requirements. I don't feel like I am getting adequate support from this senior dev, but have been getting help from other developers so have made progress. I find this strange, as the senior developer is usually the one who leads the task - although we are both new to this framework I have never worked FE before, whereas this senior has. I am unsure whether this is a situation where I should just knuckle down and finish the work, and risk not getting the credit for the work I have put in, or whether this is something I should bring up with him or someone else?

If this sounds like more of a complaint, that's because it may well be. I am a little unhappy with the situation at the minute and an unsure what the solution is. Ideally, this task would be done tomorrow and I will be on the next sprint(s) with the team delivering where my contribution is obvious.

Answer 1

Let me restate things a little bit and provide some interpretations:

• Difficult tasks are being assigned to you. That means people think you can do it.
• As a junior developer, it seems like you make significant contributions to the project. You can be proud of that.
• There is lack of support from your senior dev, but other team members fill in the gap. Maybe the senior is not that kind of person who likes to instruct others, but you are part of a well-working team with people who help each other.

I would say you are on the right track.

As to whether you will be adequately credited for your work, my advice is to invest now and do the best job you can. In a good work environment, people will notice and appreciate your effort. If they repeatedly do not, then come back and deal with that issue.

Answer 2

Senior engineers usually have a lot of "off book" work that isn't very visible, even less visible if you are working remotely and can't see the foot traffic to their desk. You see a tiny sliver of it when you get stuck and ask for help, but you don't see the half hour of research he does before getting back to you, or the three other people who required a similar level of help, or the reviews, or the design work, or getting the build green so everyone isn't blocked, and often a smattering of administrative work.

In other words, a senior engineer's productivity is frequently measured by keeping team members unstuck, more than his or her individual output. It's not uncommon to go an entire day without having any time at all for my "official" coding task.

I remember having similar feelings about credit, especially when the senior engineer is handling a lot of the communication. Credit doesn't work the same as in school. The credit often goes to the team in larger contexts, but trust me, people closer to you know what you are contributing.

As far as support, I also don't see it as that unusual that you are primarily getting it from other team members. What would be a problem is if you are asking your senior engineer for specific help and not getting it. If you feel there is a specific question or task that he should be handling, be proactive and ask. If you feel you are still not getting what you need, bring it up with your manager.

Or the guy could be a flake. That's certainly a possibility, but I think it's more likely there are things going on you don't have the perspective to see yet.

Answer 3

There are lots of things that could be happening. Here are some to consider:

• Maybe your estimation of what is more difficult is just straight-up wrong

• Maybe the task itself is 'simple' but you don't yet have the necessary business knowledge of all the other systems/processes it has to feed into

• Maybe the Dev has lots of other important work that needs doing so they're doing less important work on your specific project but much more demanding work elsewhere

• Maybe they are trying to actively develop you. Imagine they start you off with the easy stuff, and as long as you keep handling the work they gradually give you more and more complex/difficult tasks to develop your skills & experience. At a certain point, you'll have conquered all the easy tasks on any project so they'll have to give you the harder/hardest ones in order to keep you progressing, leaving them with just the simpler ones

I would check in with them on whether you're doing a good job, and as long as they say that you are then keep focusing on yourself, do your best work and welcome any opportunity to advance the level of what you do.

Answer 4

You may be looking at this the wrong way.

You are unlikely to become a better developer by staying within your comfort zone. You should, assuming you want to progress in your craft and your career, grab these opportunities with both hands and relish the chance to tackle bigger and more challenging problems. You will learn and grow much more quickly that way.

The fact you are getting through this work without extensive hand-holding is a testament to your work ethic and ability. You should be proud of that - and hopefully it gives you the confidence to continue in that manner. I wouldn't worry too much about getting credit for now - though don't hesitate to include your name in file header comments (though your check-in history will help here too) or keep track of how work was divided between you and the senior dev. (This will be helpful in annual reviews of if your workplace is one of those political, back-stabby ones)

It's possible the more senior dev is also from the same school of thought that believes you progress more from being thrown in at the deep end, has seen what you can do and is happy to nurture your talents by letting you work un-assisted.

It's also possible he/she is work-shy and/or not as talented as their title might suggest. I've come across more than a few of those in my time and I'd take a I-don't-know-the-first-thing-about-it-but-I'll-have-a-go junior ahead of them any day. Given time you can teach somebody how to write and design good code. You can't teach that fearless, willing to get stuck in attitude.

Answer 5

Do what you're asked to do, that's your job and that's what you're getting paid to do.

Regarding the credit, just be sure to talk about your contributions to the projects in your performance and salary reviews/interviews, and sure, feel free to talk about how much you've done in comparison to others, but make it about how well you find you've been doing and not about how poor you find your co-workers.

If you find you're not getting the actual support you need, from someone whose job it is to do so then you should talk about that with your manager but that should not be about how much you're doing in comparison to said individual. There can be a variety of reasons for their poor performance at the time and they don't really concern you unless they get in the way of you doing your job.

Answer 6

To start off with I would very rarely consider any dev with 4 years of experience a true senior. It could be that they have very recently been promoted into the position and have very little mentorship experience. They could even be as new in their role as you are in yours! I would cut him or her a little slack, and just enjoy the unique opportunity you've just had drop into your lap.

As a junior developer you can't really do much that's too wrong, aside from being completely unable or unwilling to write code. You may have felt that graduating from college would have you perfectly prepared to create the next Facebook. While that may be true your hiring manager, team lead, and senior team members will not share that expectation of you. If a deadline slips, it's because you were simply overburdened. If code is non-functional, it's because your code reviewers didn't catch it in time.

If I were you, I would use the opportunity to take on as much difficult work as I could get ahold of. It may pay off in the form of promotions and recognition at your current company, it might not. But it most CERTAINLY will pay off when your resume shows that you have professional architecture experience two years in to your career.

Best of luck!

Answer 7

• Your job is to do your bosses job.
• Their job is to their bosses job.
• The boss's job is to do a job for the client.

If you are aware and critically asking these questions at this stage of your career, without coming to premature conclusions as to others motives, then you are on the right path.