Whilst I was coming from a Quality Assurance background I hope these tips will also prove useful to anyone currently doing another role within a tech team looking to become a developer.
Make a plan
Whilst having the thought of becoming a developer is all well and good, actually writing down a high level plan of where I wanted to get to and the main steps I thought I needed to take made things more concrete. For me, this was a flow diagram I jotted down and whilst I didn’t expect this would be exactly the process I’d end up following - we’re not doing Waterfall career development here people - it did provide a useful basis for discussion so I wouldn’t head too far down a wrong alley. I was fortunate enough to have supportive managers at the Guardian who liked my plan (with a few adjustments) so I felt good to go. Whilst I guess not all employers will be so supportive I think it’s definitely worth sounding them out before looking elsewhere, as you will be able to apply your existing domain knowledge to your development work, rather than starting from scratch.
Stretch the bounds of your current role
Though you might have the go-ahead to work towards a developer role this change isn’t going to happen overnight. Rather than see this as a downer, use it as a chance to start incorporating bits of development work into your current role. A great candidate is any repetitive tasks you have. Doing the same task in your browser every day? Why not try and automate it, thus saving time and learning some development skills along the way. If you spot the need for a simple product change like fixing a typo or a styling tweak, why not try patching it yourself rather than raising a bug? Your team will appreciate a pull request much more than another to-do and at the same time you’re building up valuable product knowledge.
Study
While doing bits of hacking in your day job is useful I didn’t find it gave me the broad knowledge needed for a development role. This is where self-study came in. I found the plethora of material online both a blessing and a curse. With so much available it can feel difficult to know where to begin. It’s worth sounding out trusted colleagues and friends for their suggestions and finding one or two high quality materials on which to concentrate your efforts. Perhaps counter intuitively for a tech subject, I found it easier to concentrate using old-fashioned paper books rather than online resources where distractions are always a click away.
Face to face is the highest bandwidth
When doing self-study sometimes the learning curve can feel like climbing a mountain obscured by fog, making it hard to measure your progress. A great antidote for this are face to face events. Dojos are an open style of meet-up where you can partner with others on a problem. It’s an opportunity to learn from people with more expertise and you might just find yourself sharing some of your own knowledge, which is a great way to build confidence as well as gauge your own level.
Don’t forget your soft skills
When studying to become a developer it’s tempting to focus solely on the most technical details of coding. However, this would be to overlook that development; especially in a team environment; is about so much more. The good news is that you may already have many of these other ‘soft’ skills, whether it’s leading stand-ups, dealing with non-technical stakeholders or thinking about improving the user experience these are all skills that are relevant and transferable and you can emphasise in your application for a developer role.
If at first you don’t succeed…
It was agreed I would need to follow the standard Guardian developer recruitment process and this didn’t prove to be completely smooth sailing. Whilst I failed at the first attempt, the constructive feedback I got at this point was some of the most helpful advice I had throughout. So I would say it’s critical that you don’t give up at the first rejection and instead demand constructive criticism that will improve your future efforts.
This is only the beginning
Having made it through the process and become a developer it’s time to pour yourself a well-earned drink and relax. Right? Well, kind of. Whilst I grant you a fleeting moment to celebrate your achievement, remember you’re only at the start of your development career. A field in which the only constant is change but if you do find learning new things fun it’s probably the right career for you….