Embarking on my maiden voyage as a SWE in a small business, I initially found myself cruising through calm waters. The first week at my new job felt like a leisurely stroll through a tranquil park. With no pressing deadlines or urgent tasks, I took my time familiarizing myself with the tools of the trade, guided by the wisdom of seasoned colleagues.
However, as the second week unfolded, the gentle breeze of tranquillity gave way to the gusts of real-world challenges. In our weekly “Tech Team” meeting, my manager handed me a task that would test my mettle: fix the company website’s landing page, plagued by erratic behaviour on smaller screens. At first glance, it seemed like a straightforward assignment, well within my capabilities. After all, I had honed my frontend development skills during my university days.
But as I delved deeper into the codebase, I soon realized that the waters were murkier than I had anticipated. The website’s code was a labyrinth of tangled logic and outdated practices, a testament to the hurried efforts of my predecessor. Hardcoded pixel values littered the landscape, and breakpoints were scattered haphazardly throughout the code. It was abundantly clear why my manager had chosen me for this particular task - TL;DR it was no simple fix.
Undeterred by the daunting challenge before me, I rolled up my sleeves and set to work. Armed with determination and a healthy dose of caffeine, I began the arduous process of untangling the web of inconsistencies. Each line of code was scrutinized, and every change was meticulously tested to ensure compatibility across a spectrum of screen sizes.
As days turned into nights, I tirelessly worked on refining my code, my focus never wavering and my determination unwavering. With each bug squashed and every line of code I refactored, my confidence as a developer soared. Finally, the moment arrived. I submitted my work for review, eagerly awaiting its merge into the main branch for production use. During the next weekly "Tech Team" meeting, my manager expressed little satisfaction with my work and proceeded to discuss...
With that, I’ll pause here. Join me in the next post as I delve deeper into what unfolded during the following “Tech Team” meeting. Stay tuned!