5 Takeaways From Working Remotely at a Startup During a Pandemic
The image above perfectly depicts how my journey has been for the past couple of months working as a software engineer at an education tech startup company known as WorkSchool. Just as attempting to walk the bridge above, working at a startup has been a giant step out of my comfort zone. The thought of working at a startup always seemed intimidating to me since I never have worked in that type of environment before and I had no idea what to expect at all especially now being remote due to the current pandemic.
But in order to get to the end of the bridge, you have to take the first step. Taking on this position at this startup was the perfect opportunity for me not only to gain professional software development as a fresh college graduate, but to finally gain exposure to startups and to get out of my comfort zone. Furthermore, here are the things that I have learned throughout my journey in startup land so far that I shall take with me not only throughout my career but for the rest of my life!
Yeah that’s right, I said it. Failure is ABSOLUTELY normal. There have been so many times that the code I have written would either stop working or would completely crash. Every failure has given me the chance to learn something completely new that I never would have learned if I didn’t encounter failure in the first place. Moreover, I have learned to appreciate all of the failures and mistakes that I have made so far so that my team and I will not have revisit them at all in the future and we can focus on the fun parts of building our services!
However, if you are going to fail try to do it as fast as you can especially since the work at startups are known for being very fast-paced. Work can become a lot more complicated not only for yourself, but for your team if you fall behind. It can negatively affect not only your work and team’s progress but the company’s growth as well; it is simply a domino effect.
As discussed above, failure is very common no matter what type of company you choose to work for. There have been plenty of times where I would have difficulties trying to pinpoint the location where my code would either fail or not work the way I wanted it to. It would be in these scenarios that have called for the perfect time for me to gain outside perspectives on these bottlenecks from my teammates. Moreover, I have recently learned that a fresh pair of eyes can help you discover potential solutions that can prevent you from dreading these roadblocks in the long run. This also gives us an opportunity to learn from our peers and maybe pick-up on a concept or skill we have never learned before.
Also, working in a fast-paced environment comes with curve-balls of information that is constantly being throw at you whether it be about the company’s agenda or your assigned work. Thus, questions may arise in order to get clarification on these details so that not only it can become less overwhelming but you will be able to understand it to a greater degree. It is essential that you ask the right questions to your fellow peers that will help you clearly grasp this material which will ensure that you will do your best work. It has also been crucial for me to constantly communicate with my peers especially since work is now remote so cannot just simply walk to any of my teammates’ cubicles during this time.
There have been countless times that I have felt overwhelmed about the tasks that I would be assigned with during each sprint. It would be in these situations where I often questioned my abilities as a software developer and if I really was able to to handle all of these tasks given their reasonable deadlines. Some of the tasks that I was given also required implementing features that I have never built before for my past projects and utilizing technologies that I have never used before. It was in these moments that I had to “step up to the plate.”
Looking back now, deciding not to walk from this discomfort was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I was able to successfully build my first ever micro-service that scrapes thousands of different online courses at once! I was also able to gain hands-on exposure to new technologies such as Docker, AWS (ECS, ECR, EC2), and Next.js. More importantly, I also learned what it takes to effectively work in a team where collaboration and communication is paramount. Furthermore, these opportunities gave me the chance to not only sharpen my software development skills but the soft skills that are necessary no matter what career path you take. Do not shy away from discomfort because there is a greater reward that lies ahead if you do not push yourself away from it!
Without knowing why we need to make changes to a product can prevent you from understanding what the purpose of that change is in the first place. For instance, let’s say I was responsible for implementing a new feature called “X.” It would be very difficult for me to begin working on X without knowing the motivation behind it so I can have a better perspective on the feature’s expected functionality. As software developers know, it is impossible to work on a solution without seeing the vision of how it’s supposed to work first!
Therefore, common questions that should pop up include “How is this change going to affect this product?” and “Why do we need this change at all?” These questions must be answered before proceeding any further into development. These answers set up the blueprint for the implementation of the feature as it becomes much more clearer where development must start.
If it is one habit that I regret not developing until the past couple of months is note-taking. I was never a fan of putting a pen to paper which was one of the reasons I decided to pursue a career in tech! I much rather preferred typing notes than writing them down. Even when I was in school, I would study for my classes using my laptop where I had all of my notes and classwork instead of utilizing a traditional notebook.
It is no secret however that the workflow at a startup is exactly like a fast break in basketball. Thus, a lot of information has been thrown at my direction whether it be in team meetings or 1–1s with my work peers. It would have been much more difficult to type all of this out than it would be to just simply write it down on paper. Moreover, writing notes throughout my meetings has tremendously helped me retain these information fastballs. It has also helped me formulate questions based on my handwritten notes that I can bring up in future discussions. Utilizing this habit, I am easily able to look back and reflect on what was discussed so that I am not behind at all! Hand-writing has been a “work-hack” for me.
Even though joining a startup like WorkSchool during these unexpected circumstances seemed very daunting, I can now say this is the experience that I needed to launch my career in tech. WorkSchool has prepared me for working in any type of environment and has also helped me take the leaps outside of my comfort zone.
I challenge you now to go do something that seems intimidating for you whether it be learning a new skill that you always wanted to learn, or doing something that you have never done before. This is your time to take the leap of faith like I did that will definitely aid with your own personal development. Who knows, maybe you’ll find new passions and delights within this new personal expedition of yours.
Finally, to learn more about WorkSchool, you can visit here at https://www.workschool.co/ . You can follow WorkSchool on Instagram, LinkedIn , and Youtube 😃
About the author. Matthew Henschke, Software Engineer at IBM, Fitness Enthusiast.
Originally published at https://blog.usejournal.com on November 30, 2020.
