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I've been working as a Junior Developer for a while and I'm relatively happy with my job. What troubles me is that no one seems to bother with me unless I demand it. I mean they don't give me work unless I ask my mentor for something to do. When I complete a task I have to explicitly ask them to review it (after a couple of days me sitting there and doing nothing).

I know they are busy so it's no problem for me to wait. I am not of the people with constant need of attention. I'm just thinking how am I supposed to act.

So far i have always taken the initiative and asked for something to do. My question is: is this how the training is supposed to be like? I need some information and if possible some advice before speaking with a senior about it.

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    Does your team work in an Agile environment ? (most do these days). If yes, what do you tell them at your daily stand-ups (kind of universal thing in Agile) ? Don't you mention that you finished your task ? I ask because I just can't figure out how you can just sit around for 2 - 3 days and nobody notices. PS: An extreme example. – Radu Murzea Dec 10 '14 at 16:15
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    @RaduMurzea No mention was made of agile. Most teams don't use agile practices. – teego1967 Dec 10 '14 at 16:24
  • What sort of environment are you working in? Big company, with formal practices, or a small company where it's more up to the developers? Is there some sort of communal task list, or could you talk to your mentor/team lead/whoever about having nothing to do and being free to pick up stuff that other people don't have time for? I mean, generally, saying "I've finished this, I need some more stuff to do!" tends to go down fairly well, but I'd need more information about the environment before being able to offer a helpful answer. – Hazel Dec 10 '14 at 16:49
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    Use the spare time to learn new technologies and put these into practice for the company. Use the time wisely and you can invest in your own mind and be paid for it. – James Dec 10 '14 at 17:07
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    @Jimbo Thanks, that's what I've been doing so far :) – user138532 Dec 10 '14 at 17:13
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I am currently an entry level developer as well with your same situation.

When my boss has run out of project for me to work on I start working on programming challenges (currently pythonchallenge), reading about my field, or playing with the company's products to familiarize myself with code and workflow of a client.

Also if end up with a lot of free time, you should look into developer training courses offered either online or in-person. Generally company's want to invest in their employees if they think they will receive some benefit. For example if you are getting into Windows driver development take a look at OSR, if you are doing development for android stuff using QT, and the list goes on (there are also free ones).

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    If you want to make a name for yourself as a junior developer with initiative then figure out how to save everyone some time by automating boring and repetitive tasks. It requires you to keep your eyes open in order to identify the right opportunities but that tactic did wonders for me when I was a newbie. – Dunk Dec 11 '14 at 21:57

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