Job diary #1

Today was the day!

My first day as a web developer intern. Thing is, I still pinch myself over the fact this startup with the coolest guys gave me an opportunity to join the team and see how things go. Since many people asked for more details and gave such heartwarming encouragement in the web dev community, I'll try to do my best to document my journey :)

My background

• No formal CS education nor even university degree 
• Previous work experience in fintech customer support with a touch of product management as a side project
• 100% self taught via online courses 
• Colt Steele's Bootcamps (CSS, Bootstrap, jQuery, Javascript, Nodejs)
• various Youtube tutorials on Javascript
• a few projects along with my portfolio https://anzudev.com

What's the company like?

It's a startup of 6 people, focusing on improving the microclimate of workplaces. Their webapp has a user-friendly and engaging twist on feedback surveys that employees get. Results are displayed in a visual and meaningful way, allowing team leaders to track trends, mark down problems, set deadlines, delegate issues etc. 

What was the job opening?

They were looking for a front end web developer to finalise their webapp 100% (big part of it is served to clients with Google Charts and manually put together slideshows at the moment). The advert has been taken down right now, but it did state a few years of experience, knowledge of Vue/Vuetify and using CSS preprocessors. 

How did I apply?

I was not fooling myself, I was missing some major requirements they were rightfully looking for. But I decided to go for it anyway, since startups are my weak spot and it was one of the few places where German was not a necessity (in Zurich that is a thing!). In my cover letter I decided to be honest and just a tad bit pleading. Here's what I sent:

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Hello, I am writing to apply for a junior front end web developer position. As someone self-taught via online courses, I am hoping to practice my skillset in a real-life work environment to bring aesthetically pleasing and responsive projects into the world, one pixel at a time!

I've always enjoyed an ambitious environment of a start-up company, especially with no ironclad "hierarchy", allowing people's creative minds work together for a common goal. I am very passionate about proving myself in this field as an asset to the development team with my dedication, enthusiasm and an eye for detail. My work ethic of encountering a technical problem is to try and tackle it independently first and never shy away from learning a more elegant solution. 

As a junior web developer, I take responsibility and initiative for improving my skillset. This means that if a framework or library which I am not familiar yet is needed for the project, I will make it a personal priority to find online resources to teach the concept to myself instead of expecting others to tutor me from ground-up (for example for this opening I expect to spend many evenings with Vue courses!). 

If a standard position is not available due to me being relatively new to the field, I would be interested even in a minimally paid temporary intern position assisting the senior frontend developers. Perhaps this way I could showcase my working ethics and earn a place in your company in the future. You may find more information and work examples on my portfolio site here: https://anzudev.com. I'm excited and hopeful to hear back! 
With best, 
Anzelika 

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Interview
They replied that for a front end developer position they were looking for someone a bit more experienced which was absolutely expected. BUT! Here comes the unexpected part. They said they noticed the drawings in my portfolio which matched their app's illustrations and that they really liked my last paragraph offering myself up as an intern, as it showed my eagerness to learn. I was invited to a meeting in their office and I immediately loved their easygoing vibe, product idea and how it was visually presented to clients.

The only pickle was: they need the project to be finalised with Vue/Vuetify. I just straight up honestly said: "Phew, it has been in my bucketlist for months, but I am a total green leaf on that as of right now!". Here's where the magical bit lies: instead of sending me out of the door they said "Well, why don't you come and learn it in our office? Let's have a trial period of 2 months and see how quickly you can catch things on"

Needless to say, I was on board! Some would say "Eh, just as an intern?", but for me, that's everything. As someone self-taught without a physical support system or team work, this experirence would be invaluable for the hands on approach.

As for money, that's not my main concern right now. I asked for a modest internship paycheck, just to cover the basic bills (health insurance, public transport, food etc), since I literally opened up the documentation for the first time alongside them and it takes some time until I can contribute to the product in a meaningful way. If my brain co-operates and they still want me 2 months later, the contract is re-evaluated for a permanent position.

First day
I was of course a complete nervous wreck, barely slept the night before! I did not know what to expect, will they slap on some tasks, maybe make me do a technical test? I did some tutorials on Vuetify and grasp the concept of importing components and how they interact with each other, but I'm a long way of bending them to my will at ease!

Honestly, I needn't have worried. I arrived to the office, everyone was super encouraging and welcoming. My station was set up and they basically said I can just spend the day continuing the same tutorials to get a bit more comfortable with the component library! When other people arrived, they spoke German about some project specifics, but everyone still went out of their way to speak English as much as possible so that I would be included. Felt really precious :)

We had lunch together, I shared my lovestruck "move to Switzerland" story, we laughed about Swiss stereotypes, pondered about intermittent fasting and with these personal touches it feels like a small family already.

During the other half of the day I got a bit overwhelmed with Vuetify documentation and trying to vaguely put things together. I stumbled on obscure terminal errors (SCSS files for some reason were not loading and Youtube tutorial just did not mention how or which SASS loaders were used)

So to shake it off I asked one team member to show me some UI concepts they were working on. I find myself more comfortable knowing exactly what visuals I need to achieve, so by the end of the day I had put together a toolbar and a deadline date-picker component. CELEBRATE! :D

Tomorrow we agreed to go over some UI concepts and agree on something specific I can work on while digging in Vuetify resources.

I left the office with my brain fried from new information, but happy nevertheless. I really hope I can be a good enough sponge and find my footing in this field :)

..to be continued!