Juggling work with school

In July 2021, I joined Staizen as a part-time developer while attending university. I enrolled myself in some tough classes in my program. One where I was the lead for building a software component for a robotic system, one using math to create 3D shapes and animations, one learning about computer architectures and how assembly code maps to different components on a CPU. Most of these classes were widely regarded as the toughest classes in my university program. And I took them in the same semester. While I was adjusting to my part time job. What was I thinking??

Meanwhile, on the job at Staizen, I reflected on my new role as a junior developer. I was no longer an intern, and the decisions I make now have real impact on my career. This role is not something I can take lightly. Within 2 months, I was a certified scrum master and by the end of the year, I was a certified AWS Cloud Practitioner, all while juggling with the toughest possible classes in school.

Junior developer, the early months

At Staizen, I had the chance to work with interesting technologies in the web development space. I could apply my skills to real projects and collaborate with a talented team of developers. This experience allowed me to gain invaluable insights into enterprise requirements and constraints, and I was able to contribute to the company in meaningful ways. I worked on technologies ranging from GraphQL solutions to integrating complex Stencil components in React.

In addition to my work at Staizen, I made a point to continue my professional growth. By the end of 2021, I obtained my PSM1 certification for Scrum development, my AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner certification and I am dedicated to continuing my learning beyond my immediate field at work.

My last year in university

With 2022 comes a new set of challenges in school. I have to complete a research project where I explored SME solutions with Smart Contracts while obtaining enough credits to complete my program. Just like my previous semesters, I continued to take on managerial roles in my school projects. I organized a team with two other members in a CTF competition and I ran a 6-person team in researching and reporting on the top cloud security trends among other more theorical classes.

Even though I have put in the hours and work to manage my school teams, most of the members that worked with me were incredibly professional and often very knowledgble about the topics we were researching. They often put in the hours along side me to complete these subjects. I am very proud of these teammates and I am proud of the work we have done together.

Recognition at work

The effort I put in to horn my skills and keep up with the latest trends also paid off at Staizen. During the 2022 promotion cycle, I got raised to be a mid-level developer where I had more autonomy in my daily work. Many ideas proposed by me were implemented in new features and there entire sets of features that were largely designed by me.

While I was starting my final school term, I got reassigned to a new project at work. In this new project, there were help from other frontend colleagues, but ultimately, I was the sole frontend developer who had to implement the entire application frontend and ultimately responsible for all the technical decisions in the application. This, of course, includes coordination and discussions with the other entities within the team like the Backend team proving the GraphQL API and DevOps supporting our application. It was a difficult few months, balancing between my school research, the school lab projects, studying for the exams and keeping up with the constant changes and new requirements at work expected from a new application.

I have to thank my managers and my colleagues for allowing me the flexibility to schedule work around my university commitments.

It was also an empowering moment when my colleagues have enough trust in me to be the main frontend developer to build the foundations for an important product to the company.

What is next for me?

Today in 2023, I will be continuing my current role full-time. Now that I can commit my full working hours to my work, I am excited to finally explore the myraid of different solutions I can implement. I am amped to learn more about topics related, and adjacent, to my field and further my qualifications and skillset. I am ready to be humbled and meet new people and learn about the different types of work they do. So what is next for me? Well, anything.

Some highlights from the 2021 and 2022:

• You know who you are, thanks for driving me around after classes and listening to my rants when I needed a ear. I don't know many people like us, having to juggle professional work and studies, so having a friend (and often role model) I can look-up to was very encouraging. Really appreciate the conversations we had and let's continue to support each other through our careers and friendship. 🎉
• I am now a Mac user, and I might never go back. Other Apple products, maybe, but wow, Macs are really good.
• I started to take care of my fitness and run a lot more. I still don't have enough commitment to consider myself a true runner, but I will get there some day.
• react-query - this will change how you think about frontend applications.