How to Survive Your First 90 Days as a Junior Developer

The First 90 Days Define Your Career Trajectory Your first job as a developer is overwhelming. Imposter syndrome hits hard. The codebase looks alien. Your teammates speak in acronyms you don't understand. I've been through it. Here's the survival guide I wish I had. Week 1-2: Observe and Learn Do: Read the codebase — Don't try to understand everything. Focus on the main user flows Set up your dev environment — This always takes longer than expected Ask questions — Write them down first, then batch them Take notes — You'll forget 90% of what you hear in meetings Don't: Propose architecture changes on day 1 Compare yourself to senior devs Stay silent when you're stuck for more than 30 minutes Week 3-4: Start Contributing Your First PR Checklist [ ] Picked a small, well-defined issue [ ] Read related code thoroughly [ ] Asked clarifying questions if needed [ ] Wrote tests for my changes [ ] Self-reviewed my own PR before requesting review [ ] PR description explains WHY, not just WHAT The