Roadmap · Career
Your first tech job
FreeFor students and graduates who have accepted, or just started, their first software job and want to do well in it rather than just survive. By the end you can find your way around a new codebase and team, ship reviewed pull requests safely, keep your manager informed, look after yourself and walk into your first review and raise conversation with evidence.
Curated by Tauseef Fayyaz8 stages, 59 topics~4 months at a few hours a weekBy the end, you will be able to
- Read your contract, spot fake offers and arrive on day one with accounts secured and questions ready
- Get a working setup and merge a first small change within your first two weeks, with notes you can reuse
- Open small, well-described pull requests, take review well and review teammates' code with useful comments
- Send short weekly updates, raise blockers early and run your own one-on-ones with a list
- Keep a work log all year and agree written goals, so your probation, first review and raise conversation rest on evidence
The path
8 stages, in the order to learn them. Open one to start.
1Before day oneThe weeks between accepting an offer and starting: check the paperwork, avoid scams, learn about the company, secure your accounts and arrive rested. Skip it if you have already started.7 topics · ~2 weeks
- 1Reading your contract before you signYour employment contract is the written agreement between you and the company.
- 2IP, non-compete, side work and bond clausesSome clauses in a contract reach beyond your working hours.
- 3Spotting fake offers and joining feesFake job offers target graduates in every country, and the warning signs are much the same everywhere.
- 4Learning about the companyCompany research means spending a few hours understanding the business before you start.
- 5Paperwork, accounts and security basicsAround day one you will send documents, maybe open a bank account for your salary, and receive many new accounts: email, chat, code hosting and cloud consoles.
- 6Light preparation, not crammingTeams expect to teach a new joiner their system, so you do not need to master everything before you start.
- 7Managing nerves and impostor feelingsMost new engineers feel they were hired by mistake and will soon be found out.
7 in this stageOpen this stage2The first two weeksGet your environment working, agree what success looks like, find your way around the codebase and people, and learn to ask for help in a way people are glad to answer. The goal is one small change merged and a lot written down.8 topics · ~3 weeks
- 1Agreeing your onboarding planIn your first week, agree an onboarding plan with your manager.
- 2Getting your development environment workingYour first technical task is getting the code to build, run and pass its tests on your own computer.
- 3Reading an unfamiliar codebaseReading an unfamiliar codebase does not mean reading it from top to bottom.
- 4Following one feature end to endPick one feature a real user touches, such as signing in or placing an order, and follow it through the code.
- 5Asking good questions, at the right timeIn your first weeks you will ask more questions than at any other time.
- 6Finding a buddy and meeting the teamMany teams give a new joiner an onboarding buddy: a teammate you can go to with everyday questions.
- 7Taking notes you will actually reuseFrom day one, keep one private document of working notes.
- 8Shipping your starter taskMost teams give a new joiner a small, low-risk first ticket, such as fixing a typo, a small bug or a missing test.
8 in this stageOpen this stage3Working with your teamLearn the rhythm of a software team: standups, tickets, estimates, sprint meetings and written updates, and how to work with product and design, in plain English whether or not it is your first language.8 topics · ~2 weeks
- 1Standups that help the teamA standup is a short daily meeting, often 15 minutes, where the team checks progress toward its current goal.
- 2Tickets and acceptance criteriaWork usually arrives as a ticket, a short written task in a tool such as Jira, Linear or GitHub Issues.
- 3Giving honest estimatesTeams estimate tickets to plan how much work fits in a cycle.
- 4Sprint planning, reviews and retrospectivesMany teams work in sprints: fixed cycles of one or two weeks.
- 5Written, low-context updatesMuch teamwork happens in writing: chat, tickets, pull requests and documents.
- 6Getting value from meetingsYour calendar will fill with meetings you do not fully understand at first.
- 7Working with product and designProduct managers decide what to build and why.
- 8Plain English at work, as a first or second languageMost tech teams work in English across many first languages.
8 in this stageOpen this stage4Your first pull requestsOpen small, well-described pull requests, take review without taking it personally, start reviewing others, test your changes and learn how your team avoids and handles production problems.8 topics · ~4 weeks
- 1Keeping pull requests smallA pull request asks your team to review a change and merge it into the main code.
- 2Descriptions and self-reviewBefore you ask for review, do a self-review.
- 3Testing your change and passing CIEvery change should come with evidence that it works.
- 4Receiving code review without taking it personallyReceiving code review is one of the fastest ways to learn in a first job.
- 5Reviewing other people's codeReviewing other people's code is something you can do from your first month, even when the author is senior.
- 6Not breaking productionEveryone ships a bug eventually.
- 7Incidents and on-call at a junior levelAn incident is when something in production, the live product that users rely on, is broken or working badly.
- 8Owning your mistakesAt some point you will break something: a failed deploy, a bad database migration, a deleted file.
8 in this stageOpen this stage5Communication and visibilityKeep your manager and team informed without being asked, raise problems early, make one-on-ones useful, ask for feedback and keep a record of your work from the start.7 topics · ~2 weeks
- 1Short weekly status updatesYour manager sees much less of your work than you think.
- 2Raising blockers and risks earlyA blocker is anything that stops your progress or puts a date at risk.
- 3Running useful one-on-onesA one-on-one is a regular private meeting with your manager, usually every week or every two weeks.
- 4Starting your work logStart a work log in your first month and add to it every week.
- 5Asking for and receiving feedbackAsking for feedback should not wait for a formal review.
- 6Saying what you will deliver, and whenPeople judge your reliability against what you said you would do.
- 7Giving credit to othersWhen a teammate helps you or does great work, say so.
7 in this stageOpen this stage6Productivity and learning on the jobManage your time and focus, get unstuck methodically, use AI assistants within your company's rules and learn the business as well as the code.7 topics · ~2 weeks
- 1Knowing what matters most this weekA new engineer is rarely short of work.
- 2Protecting focus timeProgramming needs long stretches of uninterrupted attention, sometimes called deep work.
- 3A routine for getting unstuckGetting unstuck works best as a routine, not as random code changes.
- 4Using AI assistants within company policyMany companies now allow AI coding assistants, but with rules.
- 5Owning what an AI assistant writesYou are responsible for every line you submit, whoever or whatever wrote it.
- 6Learning the business domainEvery product serves a domain, an area of business such as payments, logistics, healthcare or education.
- 7A small, steady learning planMost learning in a first job happens on the job, but a small, steady plan speeds it up.
7 in this stageOpen this stage7Workplace basicsProbation, reviews, pay, leave, notice periods, your rights and how to report harassment, plus burnout, boundaries and remote or office etiquette. Details vary by country and company, so always check your contract and local law.7 topics · ~2 weeks
- 1Getting through probationMost first jobs start with a probation period, often three to six months.
- 2How performance reviews workMost companies review performance once or twice a year.
- 3Payslips, leave and benefitsRead your first payslip carefully.
- 4Notice periods and leaving wellYour notice period is how long you must keep working after you resign.
- 5Workplace rights and reporting harassmentYou have a right to a workplace free from harassment, bullying and discrimination.
- 6Burnout and healthy boundariesThe World Health Organization describes burnout as an occupational phenomenon: the result of chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.
- 7Remote and office etiquetteSmall habits shape how easy you are to work with, especially before people know your work.
7 in this stageOpen this stage8Your first year planAgree goals with your manager, read your career ladder, earn more responsibility, have your first pay conversation with evidence and decide calmly whether to stay or move.7 topics · ~2 weeks
- 1Setting goals with your managerOnce probation is behind you, agree three or four written goals with your manager for the rest of the year.
- 2Reading your career ladderMany companies publish a career ladder.
- 3When and how to ask for more responsibilityYour scope, the size of what you own, grows by stretching a little and succeeding, not by waiting to be noticed.
- 4Your first raise conversationIn many companies, pay changes mainly at review time, and the budget is often set before your conversation happens.
- 5Mentors and your network inside the companyYour manager is not the only person who can help you grow.
- 6When changing jobs early makes senseMost first jobs are worth at least a year for what they teach, even when they are not perfect.
- 7Looking back on year oneNear your first anniversary, read your work log from the beginning.
7 in this stageOpen this stage
Related on Sefism
Picked from the other libraries by shared topics.
Best practices
See all- Engineering Career Growth Best PracticesCareer growth best practices for engineers: read your ladder, grow scope and impact, own outcomes, work with your manager, use feedback, build promotion evidence, pick a staff or manager path.
- Technical Writing Best Practices for EngineersTechnical writing best practices for developers: write for your audience, clear sentences, scannable structure, design docs, READMEs and docs, PR descriptions, async updates and blog posts.
- How to Learn a New Programming Language or FrameworkBest practices for learning a new language or framework fast: set a goal, start with official docs, build small projects, practise deliberately, use spacing, read real code, learn with AI wisely.
Checklists
See all- Career Switch into Tech ChecklistMove into software from another field step by step: choose a direction, follow a learning plan, build proof of skill, use your previous domain, network, plan your runway and target a first role.
- LinkedIn Profile Checklist for DevelopersCheck your LinkedIn profile section by section: photo, headline, About, Experience, Featured, Skills, custom URL, Open to Work, posting and privacy.
- First 90 Days in a New Developer Job: ChecklistWhat to do before day one, in week one and by day 30, 60 and 90 in a new developer job: setup, codebase, first PR, your manager, questions and feedback.
Career questions
See all- How do I negotiate my salary when switching to a new developer job?Research a realistic range, avoid naming a number too early, let the employer make the first offer where you can, then counter once with a specific figure backed by your scope and the market. Look at the whole package, and for remote dollar roles compare the real take-home after fees, taxes and missing benefits.
- Everyone around me has internships, GitHub projects and achievements, and I have almost nothing. What should I do?Stop comparing your starting point with other people's highlights and start producing evidence of your own. In the next three months you can build one solid project, one smaller one, a clean GitHub and LinkedIn, and a targeted internship pipeline. That is enough to change your position.
- I wasted the first few years of my degree. What can I realistically accomplish before graduation?More than you think, if you stop spending energy on regret and pick a narrow goal. With six to twelve months left you can build solid fundamentals in one stack, finish one strong project, possibly land an internship and graduate with a real job search already running. The key is focus, not intensity.
Cheat sheets
See allWork with me
Stuck on something specific?
Writing only gets you so far. If you want an answer to your situation rather than the general case, book a session and we will work through it together. Sessions are free for approved Sefism members, and a few slots open each week.
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