Hey lovely readers,
My 3-year anniversary of graduating from university with my bachelor's in Applied Computer Science is coming up. It feels like 5 centuries and 5 minutes ago at the same time.
I started working right after graduation, and let me tell you, I learned a lot about the working field, and even more about myself. I quit a company that offered me a contract barely above minimum wage. I experienced a company not liking me, and me not liking them back. I even got fired from a job before my trial period had properly started.
None of that felt great at the time. But looking back, it all led me to where I am now. So let's talk about it. Let's talk about why it is completely okay to still be figuring yourself out, and what you actually want, as a junior developer.
Before I go on, I do want to be honest about one thing. I started looking for my first dev job in 2023, and the junior job market looked very different back then compared to now. Getting a first developer job in 2026 is a lot harder. Entry-level job postings have dropped a lot over the past few years, and companies now ask junior candidates for more experience and a stronger portfolio than they used to. On top of that, I already had my Microsoft MVP title back then and was speaking at events, so companies already knew who I was before I even applied. That gave me an advantage that most junior developers simply do not have, and I do not want to pretend otherwise. So please read the rest of this post with that in mind. The lessons still hold, but walking away from a bad offer, or leaving a mismatch, was easier for me in a market, and with an advantage most people do not get. If you are job hunting right now, it makes complete sense if some of this advice is harder to apply, and that is not a reflection of you doing anything wrong.
