How to Stay Motivated While Becoming a Programmer: Alum Advice

At Microverse, we work hard to support our students on their journeys to becoming global software developers. Our team provides motivation, resources, and guidance but the support of our amazing community is a huge part of Microverse. 

Recently, two of our alums shared some great words of wisdom and encouragement with their fellow students. Their advice was so actionable and inspiring we wanted to share with all the aspiring software developers out there.

Oluwadamilare Olusakin (known as Dami) from Nigeria, recently landed a job working remotely for a company in Spain. Dami shared some great advice for both those just getting started in the program, and those that have been in it for some time. Here’s what he had to say;

“I recently landed a remote job with a team in Barcelona. I'm sharing this because I know that just like I felt last year, and even up until 1 month ago, a few people may be uncertain about where this journey with Microverse will lead them. I can tell you that it's not a straight path... you may know this already, but you may also be wondering - like I was -especially if you are new to the program.” - Dami Olusakin

Another student, David Auza from Colombia, recently landed a job working remotely for a company in the US. David shared some really great advice on staying focused and motivated. Here’s what he had to say;

“I just want to share my happiness with all of you, so hopefully, if you need it, you get some extra motivation. I signed a contract yesterday to start working as a Full Stack Developer for an American company. I had one selection process and one offer, and wanted to share so you might achieve similar results.” - David Auza

Dami and David both went on to share many of their learnings from their time in the program as well as the interview process. They shared great, actionable advice on staying motivated, succeeding in the program and building a network and community. Here’s what they had to say;

Staying Motivated and Resilient

Dami's Advice:

• Your hard work will pay off (if you put it in).
• Focus on doing quality work, and focus on the knowledge you’re gaining.
• Be confident. You will be amazed by what you can do when you believe you can.
• Be confident but humble. And always be polite in all your interactions (this indirectly got me my job).
• Stay strong mentally. Your journey may be short, it may be long, but decide now that you won't relent or give up because the process can and will try to break you.
• Focus on what you can control; your attitude, perspective, energy, work ethic. 
• Try not to worry about the stuff you cannot control.
• Set clear goals each day and know that it's okay to rest when you're tired, just don't give up.

David's Advice:

• Be the best. Be the best student, the best professional, the best person you can be. 
• That means working a lot - extraordinarily hard - but there is no other result than achieving success. 
• That doesn't mean you should feel bad if you are not the best on your team, but work to be the best. Eventually, even if you don't get it, you will become so much better than you ever imagined. 
• You will question yourself a thousand times, people around you will sometimes too. But continue working. Do what is needed, even if you question yourself, even if you’re afraid, just go and do it!
• Learn to be effective - that means strategically choosing what you need to do. In my case, I looked into in advance what skills my company was looking for. Two weeks before the technical test I was very focused on becoming proficient in them. Then, I got the job. Focus on what you need to do and know, and then go do it.

Helping Others and Mastering the Curriculum

Dami's Advice:

• Give. Give everything you know and have to those coming behind you who need it.
• Contribute. Find a good open-source community and immerse yourself in it.
• Connect as much as possible. Yes, software developers write code but there are always humans behind the software. Make meaningful connections - one good way to do this is through open-source.
• Be a human being. Take corrections and be humble, not arrogant - even if you think you are the greatest developer of all time.
• Focus on learning. Getting to the end of the curriculum without arming yourself properly for the kind of job you want isn't beneficial for you.
• Extend the curriculum, study more outside of it, revisit concepts over and over again until you can teach it to anyone and everyone.
• Value every single bit of the Microverse curriculum, it will show up in what you become.

Tips for the Interview Process

David's Advice:

• Interviews are processes led by people, so focus on being good with people. Smile, tell them your story, tell them why you ended up being a developer. People love getting to know others. Interviews, even technical interviews, are all about you and the interviewers.
• Make a genuine connection with the people interviewing you. If you do, chances are they may want to hire you even if there are other candidates more qualified technically, but not as special as you prove to be.

Dami's Advice:

• Learn to laugh at yourself. I went through 80-90 interviews in the last year. There were many disappointments but I kept my head up and studied what I needed to change and improve on. When it's your time to interview, please do the same.
  

As you can see, Dami and David, had really great words of wisdom to share with their fellow Microverse students and aspiring software developers. Programming is a life-long learning experience, but being patient and working hard - continuously - will help you go a long way. On that note, we’ll conclude with this line from David;

“I wish you the best in your career. Be confident, the future is brilliant if you keep working hard. That's what Microverse promised me, and that's what I'm living now.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

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