Hello, I’m looking for some advice / opinions please:
The role is entry level and the company is looking for somebody to hit the ground running asap with Angular 2. The person with the most Angular and Js experience is leaving (if successful I would be replacing them)
During an interview the CTO said upfront that there would be nobody to ask JS or Angular specific questions. The general tone was that I would be on my own, to a certain extent.
Is this a red flag? It’s clear that the CTO and lead developer are highly knowledgable in their own domains. I’m sure I would learn a lot from being around them. Generally I’ search the web to figure out a problem anyway. But I had envisioned for my first role that there would be other experienced JS developers to learn from. Also for something like Angular some guidance on best practices and patterns etc.
Just trying to do what I can to make the right decision if I am offered the job - What are your thoughts?
Quite often, companies don’t have much time to spend training up an employee. You are expected to have the ability to research on your own and pick things up quickly. After all they are paying you to do a job, usually at a rate where they don’t expect to hold your hand.
I think this would be quite a normal situation. There should be seniors you can ask questions when you are stuck but remember they have a job to do too. Perhaps look for an organisation with a larger team if you are not happy with this.
However much of what you say goes against my own experience in talking with hr and senior developers at various workplaces. Although they’re eager for the project to continue - I’ve been told I would be able to learn on the job and that the company see it as an investment rather than a burden.
My concerns aren’t ones of working independently or being in a small team, or being able to pick things up quickly - but wether or not this is the best start for me.
On the plus side, I would be the sole front end developer and there is a lot of opportunity for responsibility and a ton of interesting work, on the other - should I be leaning towards a role where I’m working alongside devs experienced in Angular (or the framework used) in order to learn the best practices and how they apply to modern front end development.
I feel like often even if I was hired based on my experience in one technology, by the time I get started at a company I have to learn an unfamiliar technology. In my current job I was hired to work in AngularJS and Angular4 without any background in either. At my last job I was hired on at a team working in Java, but soon after I started, the team was told that it would be switched to a Python project. So I went off and learned Python and the technology stack on my own while the rest of the team wrapped up their Java work.
It can definitely feel more stressful not to have experts on hand to get guidance from, but on the other hand you get to be the expert from the get-go.
Thank you for sharing your experiences they are helpful to read while thinking through this and I can see the value of being adaptable and to have the ability to thrive in the deep end.
It can definitely feel more stressful not to have experts on hand to get guidance from, but on the other hand you get to be the expert from the get-go.
I guess this is my thinking too. The worry is if it’s a good idea for me to be the ‘expert’. Thanks again!
Thanks, that is definitely me! Once again I appreciate the responses.
for the record i just started a throw away account for this q as my fcc login is my real name and just wanted to keep this private for whatever reason. I’m not a ‘regular’ but i have helped people out here with a few css and js bugs etc, so nice to get some advice in return.
yea, i wouldn’t underestimate yourself - especially if it’s understood that you will have to learn as you go - and them knowing you’re being hired as entry level. I bet at some point you didn’t know anything about any coding language and you managed to learn how to use a bunch of them I’m sure. Bust your butt for the first few weeks or so to get a good enough grip on angular to use it. How hard can it be?