When you start a new technology or learn anything new, it might be easy to get started. There is often a lot of starter material, tutorials, guides, exercises, and entry-level project examples. Plus, you might even find blog posts, StackOverflow questions, and other types of materials to help you. The on-boarding process for new technologies continues to get simpler and easier. But what happens when you understand and can tackle all the beginner-level materials?

Oftentimes, we tend to sell ourselves short when we are talking to interviewers, professionals, or other career authorities. We don’t want to seem arrogant and inflate our capabilities, right? What if they don’t see the value of our journey that we see from our path, decisions, experiences, etc? There is a very fine balance between being humble and arrogant, and it is a tough one to achieve. We all have different backgrounds, achievements, struggles, and experiences.

One of the greatest questions to consistently badger a developer is "what technology should I use?". The analysis from days of thought and input determines which option(s) (from an increasingly growing number) best suits the need, manages volume and demand, plans for long-term strategy, simplifies/reduces support, and gets approved by colleagues and management. This may sound even simpler than it sometimes can be in real life. The decision’s complexity is often compounded by how much buy-in is needed, and the current constraints of existing technology and developer knowledge.

As I approach my 5-year anniversary in my career as a developer, I wanted to reflect on what I have learned up to this point. While I still have much to learn (one constant in life), there are some things I have found in my experiences thus far. Everyone treks a different path filled with vastly different experiences, so you may relate to some of these or simply add to the list of possibilities you may or may not encounter along the road.

Photo credit What is so exciting about a career in software development? There must be something that makes the blood-shot eyes, sleepless nights, and coffee-bolstered being worthwhile. While stressing over deadlines, fixing code bugs, and balancing personal life, some part of the true developer in us keeps chugging along, having faith that the reward is far greater than each obstacle. Whether you are a young student choosing a career in an endless array of possibilities, an individual stuck in another career looking to make a switch, or a seasoned professional trying to remind yourself of the highlights in a career of software development, I hope there is something in this post for you that encourages you to thrive in your software development career and to bask in the light at the end of each tunnel.