Transitioning from student to web developer at Springtimesoft

After having studied web development for two years, the time had come for me to complete a 10 week placement at a web development company as part of my final exam. I sent out numerous emails to web development companies all over New Zealand and was lucky enough to hear back from Perrin at Springtimesoft with an offer to carry out my final exam with them. This blog post will hopefully provide a glimpse into the challenges, little victories and lessons learned while taking the big step from student to web developer in the hope to encourage others into web and software development careers.

The first shaky steps

My time as an intern at Springtimesoft has been a whirlwind of learning and growth. I have absorbed new knowledge like a sponge and pushed my mental ability further than I thought was possible. From getting to know the different tools used and setting up new projects to diving into files and code I’ve never encountered before it has been an adventure to say the least. During my time at university, I was fully in charge, crafting projects all by myself. It was like being the master of my own domain, knowing every nook and cranny of my work environment. Stepping into the real world, I quickly realised there were a lot of new things to adapt to. I had to learn to navigate through bigger projects than I had ever worked on before and on top of it all created by someone else. I frequently found myself disoriented in files and code until I finally started to grasp the underlying structure of the projects.

Working in a team as opposed to alone

Working in a team as opposed to working alone has been an absolute blast and collaborating with the awesome team at Springtimesoft has been a game changer. Engaging in problem solving, discussing possible solutions and simply just listening to discussions has been like opening a treasure trove of knowledge. It has been a great way for me to use every bit of my knowledge and I have learned a lot just by listening. During the past two years of studying from home I often found myself stuck on a problem with no one around to ask for help. In situations like that I quickly lost my motivation and the will to keep going. After joining the team at Springtimesoft I felt incredibly fortunate to have a whole team at my aid whenever I needed a push in the right direction. Not only has this been helpful when getting stuck but to have someone checking in every now and then just to see how things are going has been a great motivator.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges I have faced is letting go of my decision-making. In the past, I made the calls on everything from layout, fonts, and colours, to what functionality I wanted to implement. Here at Springtimesoft, the styles are set by Dom, the designer, and the functionality needed is determined by user testing, research and business requirements. Even though I frequently had to remind myself not to take matters into my own hands, I have grown to appreciate looking at problems through other people’s eyes. It has broadened my perspective and I now see a wider range of solutions to different problems than I did before.
As part of my final exam I was required to write a report on the work I carried out at Springtimesoft throughout my internship. Writing this report was not all laughs to say the least. After a long day of learning and coding, the last thing I wanted to do was to sit down and document every detail of the work I had done. I would have rather spent a few more hours coding away than putting words about it on a piece of paper. However, as the report started to take shape, it became oddly satisfying to see my journey described. It turned into concrete evidence of the work I’ve put in and the accomplishments I’ve achieved.

Conclusion

In just two months, my journey going from student to web developer has been filled with invaluable experiences. Working for Springtimesoft has not only accelerated my technical skills but also provided me with a deeper understanding of the web development industry. As technology progresses there are always new things to learn as a web developer. Being a newcomer within the field I have not only tried to stay up-to-date with new technologies but have also had to learn a lot of the fundamental concepts within web development. When the mountain of new knowledge has felt too high to climb it has been crucial for me to stop and reflect on the things I have already learned. Doing so has given me perspective and motivation to keep going and to embrace every opportunity to learn new things. Web development, like many other things, is all about problem solving. As stubborn as I am, and as much as I would love to solve problems on my own, it has become important to learn when enough time has been invested on a problem without progress and then asking for help. Not only have I received answers when asking questions, but also explanations of how things work and why things are done in certain ways which is essential when facing similar problems in the future. Apart from all the learning and personal growth during my placement at Springtimesoft the absolute best part of this journey has been becoming a part of the Springtimesoft team. They have all been beyond supportive and this experience would not have been the same without them.