It's been about a year since the last time I worked in the field as a developer. I spent that time skill building and relearning foundational concepts. But how has it been being back in the office full time? Read on and find out...

    It's been about two weeks since my first day on the job with my new company. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about this. There were many different factors that subverted my expectations. However, this may actually be a good thing. 

    So when I interviewed I was expecting what I had been taught over at Coder Foundry. Questions being asked about concepts in .NET Development, a coding challenge that needed to be completed before the closing of the interview. That sort of thing. Well, that was the first of my expectations being subverted. My first conversation was with a recruiter was the one who really grilled me about my skills and knowledge (despite him saying he didn't have a dev background, he was extremely thorough). I met with my now supervisor for the actual interview. I have to say, I was extremely nervous. I hadn't interviewed with anyone in a long while and the only thing I had to go for expectation was what I had been taught at Coder Foundry. But it actually was a really great conversation. I learned quite a bit about the company and about the software I'd be working with (that was expectation #2 that subverted, and I'll explain that one in a little bit). After the interview was completed I had a lot to think about on the drive home. I was given quite the surprise when after an hour after I had gotten home, I got a call from the recruiter saying that I had all but gotten the job. I was so excited but I was unaware of the challenges that would await me on Day 1.

    I had been working with .NET since about .NET 6 and C# 7.0. I felt that I had a pretty strong grasp of all of the concepts. Coder Foundry helped me to lock my skills with ASP.NET MVC and I had been working with Blazor and .NET MAUI for over a year now. I felt that I was ready to get back into the field as a .NET Developer. What awaited me Day 1 was finding out that the .NET version I'd be working with was .NET 4.8. I started thinking that, “Well, I know .NET so the concepts can't be much different?” You realize after working even just one day with an older software that .NET has come an extremely long way, and that the things that I had learned todo do not apply in this situation. For example, I had always built out my apps using ASP.NET MVC and even worked with APIs building them out with ASP.NET WebAPI and using Entity Framework Core. This was not the case. In .NET 4.8, MVC was a shell of its present self and most applications at that time were built out using WebForms. This became a scramble to learn all I can about the older technology. At the same time, .NET today has made it possible to build applications with little to no JavaScript involved. Lets just say now, JavaScript and I are becoming forced friends. This has been a huge challenge but I have embraced it because the more that I had been learning about ASP.NET WebForms, the easier it is becoming to work with ASP.NET MVC  and even Blazor. This has been a huge learning opportunity. But what has made this even better is the team that I am working with now.

    One of the things that I have been apprehensive about has been working with a new supervisor and established devs in the field again. My last company managed to shatter any bit of confidence that I had in myself in app development and made me leery of any supervisor. But my supervisor now has been amazing. He takes quite a bit of time out to explain to me the concepts that I may be missing. He has taken the time to help encourage me to take chances and make mistakes because that is the only way that I'm truly going to get where I want to be ultimately. He has become more of mentor than a supervisor and I'm truly appreciative of it. I'm even getting ready to add a new language to my skills. As far as my team goes, they are all very cool. They're very laid back and willing to help me learn about the software. I'm looking forward to working with them all for the time to come. 

    So that has been my last two weeks. A lot of my expectations about what it was going to be like coming back into the field had been completely subverted. But it hasn't been in a bad way. It actually opened up a lot more doors and even more learning opportunities. Introduced me to a team that is quickly becoming good friends and to a supervisor who has taken over the role of a mentor from one who has built my confidence up from the low point I was at. I'm looking forward to my future at Safe Home Security and I can't wait to see what that future truly has in store for me.