I finally got my first real compliment on a code review last week

I've been a junior dev for about 8 months now and mostly just fix typos and add comments. But last Tuesday my senior dev said my refactor of the login module was really clean. She said I caught three edge cases she would have missed. Has anyone else had that moment where you finally feel like you belong on the team?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_king6d ago

Oh man, that feeling is the best! Honestly, that first real "you know what you're doing" nod from a senior is huge. I remember mine happened when I caught a race condition in a background job nobody else saw. It took me a good year before I stopped second guessing every single line I wrote. What helped me was keeping a little list of things I found and fixed that the senior devs missed. Not to brag, but to look back on when I felt like a fraud. You earned that compliment, and it sounds like you're already thinking ahead more than you realize. Keep doing that and the belonging feeling comes naturally.

wells.olivia6d agoMost Upvoted

Right, because nothing says "you belong" quite like keeping a trophy list of bugs you found to fight off the imposter gremlins. Maybe I should start framing mine and hanging them in the break room. Let's be real though, we all have a little voice that whispers "they're onto you" no matter how many bugs you squash.

price.gavin6d ago

Friend of mine kept a "wins" folder on his desktop for the same reason. Eventually he showed it to wells.olivia and she laughed, said it was genius, and now their whole team does it.