Yay, I have a real job!

[presidentender]

So I gave two weeks at my on-campus tech support/programming job about two weeks ago, and did job hunting. Managed to find a job here in town (Missoula, MT for reference) for a software consulting place before the two weeks were up, so that's good.

Pros:
It's a "real job." That is, I would be comfortable continuing to work there after I graduate in May, so long as the money is good enough.

Everyone there is more experienced than I am by an average of a decade, so there's a lot for me to learn.

Money is better than the on-campus job.

They give me a work laptop.

I get to move off-campus (a condition of my on-campus job was that I live on campus).

More prestige. Everyone's all proud of me and whatnot.

Cons:
They don't hire college kids or green programmers as a general rule; I'm the first. Apparently I gave a good interview, but I'm worried that it was a better interview than I am a programmer: I'm concerned about not being good enough. They specifically said "This is not an internship." So I have to produce a lot.

I'll have to work more hours: again, they don't usually hire college kids, so I'll need to squeeze in more working hours.

The money's not great. It's better than what I was making, and I will renegotiate it later, but it's still not as good as what I've made in the past as a laborer.

I have to sign an employee agreement with some no-compete stuff: I have to give them 50% of my gross profits from any customer I steal from them. This isn't likely, but it's there.

So, with that said, what are some experiences that those of you in the professional world can point to? How was your first developer job? Should I be worried, or is this great?

Cliffs: Got my first "real" job. Gotta work there and go to college at the same time. They're apprehensive about hiring green coders and never hire college kids. Got war stories or advice for me?

 

[mundane]

Congrats.

 

[Markbnj]

Congratulations. No war stories, and the only advice I'll give is to loosen up, don't worry about being new, listen more than you talk, enjoy the work, but knuckle down and get it done.

 

[joutlaw]

Congrats.. I'd figure a consulting job is more fast paced than the company I work at with in-house programmers.

I doubt they are going to expect too much from you at first. We do a 90 day evulation period with our green programmers and the decision is made during their 90 day review to keep them or not.

The main thing I can say is to go in a with a drive and be eager to learn and take on responsibilities. Even if you aren't the best programmer they will respect your work ethic and get you up to speed.


What language(s) are you going to be working with?

 

[presidentender]

Originally posted by: joutlaw
What language(s) are you going to be working with?

My primary language so far has been PHP5, so I think they'll probably start me with that for early projects. They also do .NET, and use every database I've heard of. I get the impression that the job determines the tool we'll use to do it.

 

[drebo]

Originally posted by: presidentender
I have to sign an employee agreement with some no-compete stuff: I have to give them 50% of my gross profits from any customer I steal from them. This isn't likely, but it's there.

Just as an FYI, this is usually a scare tactic and isn't legal in most states.

 

[joutlaw]

Sounds like they tailor to the clients architecture which makes sense.

I think .Net is pretty easy to pick up. The framework makes it easy to connect to most databases with ADO.Net and use similar syntax. We're a M$ shop here so it's M$ SQL Server only for now.

I imagine they will pair with someone pretty seasoned to get familiar.

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: drebo

Originally posted by: presidentender
I have to sign an employee agreement with some no-compete stuff: I have to give them 50% of my gross profits from any customer I steal from them. This isn't likely, but it's there.

Just as an FYI, this is usually a scare tactic and isn't legal in most states.

Non-competes are typically enforcable to the extent that they are narrowly tailored with respect to industry and geographic market. It's true that most are not very sound as written, however leaving with a customer is a very direct form of competition that courts take a dim view of. That prohibition is almost certainly enforcable unless very poorly written. Whether a smaller employer will try to enforce it or not is another question, since that can be a costly process. A large one definitely will.

 

[SJP0tato]

Congrats! Be sure to learn all you can from your co-workers.

With that being said, the biggest shock to most people (me included) is usually how many "hacks" work in the development/consulting field. Be sure to listen to everyone's advice, but take it all with a grain of salt until you get a feel for who really knows what they're doing, and the "fake it 'till they make it" crowd.

Best of luck

 

[SunnyD]

Hey, I've been there too. My first job I was still going to college full time, and it was the most fun most exciting thing I had ever done. One thing that I learned over the years though - do not become complacent or think you're invaluable. You may be good at what you do, but always always put in the extra effort. If that effort goes unnoticed long enough, and you have a desire to move up the ladder, start looking for other jobs. Also, don't be afraid to look at other jobs especially if you're interested in learning new skills too. I've learned a good deal in the last 8 years or so, and I'm happy that I'll be sort of coming full circle in a couple weeks when I start my new job.