The Struggles of Being an Entry-level Software Engineer

[@pheeuh]

congrats on your promotion 🎉 this video made me feel seen, heard, and validated!! I just finished my software engineering program as the only woman in my cohort, and you hit the nail on EVERYTHING. it’s nice to hear someone articulate everything i’ve been feeling. it’s so overwhelming as a type A person, especially the endless learning. at times, i have severe imposter syndrome. fingers crossed, I get an entry level SE position soon! and I honestly hope I have someone as encouraging you as a mentor in the near future. I love your videos 💗

[@jelanah_]

Awww thank you 🥰 good luck! I know you’ll land something soon 🤞🏾

[@mr.getrighhttt3433]

So I definitely agree with every point that was mentioned here. I too work as a SE except I specialize in mobile application development. I have had two positions thus far: one at a startup and I currently work for a very large tech company. I would say that solving problems and debugging wasn’t the most difficult part for me because I like to work on tons of side projects… it was working with version control and learning advanced Git topics. Til this day, I still have issues with submodules and random issues here and there that lead me to having to clone repos over and over again. That’s probably been my biggest learning curve overall. The company I work for tells you when you’re initially hired that it usually takes 4-6 months for app devs to onboard because the code base is that massive. We essentially just have to jump right in and start working on small bug tickets. Pair programming helps a lot at first, but what really helped me was implementing a cross functional feature. I had no idea how to do it, so being thrown in the fire forced me to learn fast as hell. And now after 5.5 months, I’m pretty confident with the code base. Being black in tech, we have no choice but to go above and beyond to show that we can do what we say we can. That’s personally why I continuously work on side projects, and why I keep learning. We gotta represent.

[@eoschill7438]

I be struggling on every ticket but somehow I get the job done most of the time lol sometimes my senior or software architect swoop in and save me!

[@jelanah_]

Lmaooo that used to be me 😂 I was reallll quick to slack my tech lead

[@TAHJBecomeYourBestSelf]

Hey tell me your story!

[@mariamadebola]

Thanks for this video and congratulations on your promotion 🎉🎉🎉

[@jelanah_]

Thank you 🥰🥰💞💞

[@xokferg894]

I'm currently in school for my master's degree in human resource management but I've been looking at switching my career and going back to get my bachelors in SE at WGU. Thank you for everything you've mentioned. It has been most helpful!

[@JaydeSDon]

Needed this I’m in my last year of my CS degree thank you for your transparency

[@JaydeSDon]

Also, congratulations on the new promotion 🎉

[@JasmineWuRealEstate]

This is 100% true. The assholes that don’t want to answer questions

[@user-wf8ph7hi5i]

Really helpful video, subbed. look forward to more like this one, although not sure how youre gonna make another vid like this because you went so in depth on this one.

[@jelanah_]

Lol I was thinking the same thing 😂😂😂 if you have suggestions let me know!

[@yellaomo]

This video is spot on

[@jelanah_]

thank you!

[@zoubawithsiba6597]

I really enjoyed this video. Great to see someone in tech from a different background. Being the one with the least experience can be really challenging but I'm glad to see that you overcame that and are doing very well. Maybe you can make a video about this? I know you brushed over it in the video but what helped you build your confidence even though you had the least experience in the team?

[@jelanah_]

You’ll get much better with each project!

[@zoubawithsiba6597]

@@jelanah_ thank you

[@user-wf8ph7hi5i]

i went through all these struggles and got fired lmao. i thought i bombed the job, but turns out from this video what i went through is a common experience..

[@girlanonymous]

The asking questions part, I agree! I don’t care who is annoyed lol. I told a tech lead that he was new once upon a time so….and he said “you’re right you’re right schedule 30 minutes”. We are lunch buddies now lol. I am not going let lack of knowledge derail my money lol…so research first then ask.

[@diantesanford9345]

I’m so happy I found your page 😁❤️

[@jelanah_]

Thank you 🤍 if there’s anything that you want to see, let me know!

[@marshunnaclark5829]

Congratulations on the promotion!!!🎉

[@jelanah_]

Thank you! 💞

[@user-ok5yv6hc4r]

Fantastic video and advice. Thank you!

[@Chocthagoddess]

More a day in the life vlogs please!

[@ri3706]

Congratulations on your promotion, I’m loving your videos! What made you go with front-end over back-end and what made you decide to get into this field from marketing?

[@MsAlexis]

Noted with Thanks

[@kamertonaudiophileplayer847]

It is a very good point, before asking a question, you should explain why you ask the question. Generally, because any answer you looked before wasn't a proper answer. It's only stackoverflow can tell - I do not know how answer your question, I close it 😄

[@deedeeh4071]

On point!

[@Lissaleggz]

It be the small things make you just 😮😮 ohh you forgot a ; , and then everything works.

[@jelanah_]

Right 😂😂 a few weeks ago I spent hours trying to debug something and all I was missing was { } 😭😭😭😭

[@maddisonboomert5743]

Thank you so much for making this video! So informative. My question is - it might not bother me that i'm taking 2 weeks to problem solve, but i don't want to feel rushed. Do you face a lot of pressure to finish projects fast? Did you get stressed when you were taking a bit longer to figure something out?

[@natrelletyson]

Hello! I’ve been saying since I was 18 I was going to be in the healthcare and went from saying CNA, to LPN, to Dentristy, lol I was all over the place! I am now 20 and yes Healthcare is a good field, but for some reason I am just not into that anymore. I have switched my major to computer science and I’m currently trying to learn in Python as my first language since Python is pretty simple. Computer science is very difficult, but it’s worth it in the end and can be fun creating all different kinds of projects. My classes start fall and I’m trying to learn as much as I can now and even have a few mini projects built up so I can maybe land an internship and be more prepared for my classes. Do you mind giving me tips on where you particularly started?

[@funshorts2462]

Apply for paid tech apprenticeships

[@funshorts2462]

Ask chat gtp paid apprentices you can sign up for. They will pay you to learn

[@treyaInTech]

🎉 congratulations

[@Toyamarsh.]

Hey I know you’re now a software engineer now but are you able to speak on the data role as well?

[@TheLildarksavage]

i just graduated from Famu with a degree in electronic engineering in technology. And it’s been hard for me to get an entry-level job. I’m starting to feel like I wasted my four years and should have studied something else. Everyone says tech is a great field and everyone is hiring but the reality is that nobody on these jobs look like me. Any advice

[@jelanah_]

the market is extremely tough right now! Just hang in there. You might have to get a little creative with how you get your foot in the door.

[@KennyCSalmon]

You should hide the viewfinder on your camera so you don't spend the entire video looking at yourself talking. it could be a little distracting to the viewers. train yourself to look in the lens and not the viewfinder. great video though

[@jelanah_]

Thanks for the tip 🤍 will def do that moving forward

[@Divyv520]

Hey Jelanah , really nice video! I was wondering if I could help you edit your videos and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail which will help your video to reach to a wider audience .

[@jelanah_]

[e-mail]

[@vanessalewis1449]

Congratulations on your promotion!

[@jelanah_]

thank uuuu 🥰

[@TAHJBecomeYourBestSelf]

Shidd after struggling with leetcode and watching this video, I might as well become a data analyst and use SQL, Excel … sounds easier than being a software engineer. Is my assumption correct?

[@jelanah_]

Depends on how much you like numbers. I prefer code!

[@TAHJBecomeYourBestSelf]

@@jelanah_ Why do you prefer code? I went to college for software engineering but because I’m struggling so much, I’m wondering if it’s really for me. You did both so I’d appreciate your perspective. What are the differences and pros and cons between software engineering and data analytics?

[@Tezah89]

1. You are so pretty 2. This video is perfect!!, 3. I’m in the process of starting the software engineering degree at WGU 4. I love seeing women in tech, especially, dark-skinned women 5. I worked in education with children with disabilities, and you never knew what your day would hold 😅. It was lovely sweet children or fights or parents ready to fight... 😂

[@jelanah_]

ugh so sweet, comments like these truly keep me going 🥹💕 I wish you the best of luck!

[@Redemptiontimes]

Are they teaching you how to code CSS and HTML or is it just an introduction to the languages at WGU?

[@TheCareering]

Hi Jelanah - This is great, & we love how transparent & informative your content has been. We're a career exploration startup & would love to collaborate with you. If you're accepting partnership opportunities we'd love to discuss who we are, what we do, & how we can team up to deliver value to your audience!

[@jelanah_]

hi, please email [e-mail] 💞

[@windnsea26]

have you ever thought of going into sales engineering?

[@jelanah_]

No lol. Sales engineering is basically just sales but with more technical knowledge, and I’m not interested in sales at all. Too much human interaction for me personally! Lol

[@windnsea26]

@@jelanah_ I hear you. I went from dev to Sales Engineering. I was one of the few that liked to talk to people.

[@jelanah_]

Hahaha yeah I can only take so much. How do you like it?

[@windnsea26]

@@jelanah_ loving it so far. Made the switch about 5 years ago.

[@susanford9741]

😱 *Promo SM*

[@chenglee7277]

Feels weird being called girl 😂

[@jelanah_]

LOL 😂😂😂 this is still a safe space for you!!