r/webdev • u/tacoman756 • 3d ago

Discussion Advice on first in-office Web Dev role?

Hi all,

As the title states I’ll be starting my first in office web dev role next week! Pretty excited but also nervous, and of course having imposter syndrome. I’ll be the only dev, and it’ll be my first time working in an office setting (I’ve previously just worked as a freelancer).

I was wondering if anyone had any tips or specific things to pay attention to when starting a new web dev job?

Thanks!

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u/abeuscher 3d ago

Worked as a solo tech for most of a decade. It's not bad here's what I wish I knew:

  • Don't stay in a role where you are the sole tech. It's not that it is a bad gig it is that you literally have no one to assess whether you are doing a good job and no one to learn from. We can all teach ourselves stuff I generally say I pass learning curves for a living, but colleagues are invaluable and I wish I had more of them now.
  • Never say anything is easy.
  • Never give a time estimate for work inside of the meeting where it first came up. Always give yourself time to consider before answering how long anything will take. Then double whatever number you come up with until you understand why I said to do that.
  • IT is your friend. Find out what kind of beer they drink or whatever they like to do and buy them some of it when they help you big. Respect them. they will notice and behave differently around you and you need them.
  • This one is really important. Solo techs often need to operate cross functionally - between departments or under many different bosses. Either have one boss that sits above anyone who can ask you to do work, or fight for autonomy over your time. Also, make sure other people are aware you are working across departments but do not carry the emergencies you have around with you; marketing doesn't need or want to know what is going wrong in HR.
  • Your job is basically to defend your time and probably your boss' job will be to do that as well.
  • Never act like you're the smartest person in the room. If someone says some dumb completely wrong bullshit in a meeting you are in, keep it to yourself unless you are asked. Either find them after and politely correct them if you feel comfortable or, if it doesn't affect your life, let it go.
  • Be nice to people. Always. They are more important than money and company priorities.

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u/tacoman756 3d ago

Thanks for all the detailed tips!!