DonTheDeveloper Podcast
DonTheDeveloper Podcast
My 2025 Goals | A VERY Honest Message To Junior Developers
Here's what I have planned for 2025, but also, we need to talk about the state of many aspiring developers out there right now...
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Hello, happy 2025. I hope it's going well for you. In this video I want to go ahead and just share how it's going for me and what we're going to be doing with the channel, probably talking like near future. But I created a couple videos where I kind of just shared things that I was kind of failing at and what I was trying to improve, and I stopped doing that. It was monthly videos and I realized, honestly, I just didn't want to do monthly videos, that's it. But I think one video per quarter makes sense and I want to just try to be transparent and share things I'm trying to improve with right, because if you watch my content long enough, I'm all about just keeping that forward momentum going and finding yourself being a better version of yourself and always striving to do something more. All right, so I'm going to share my path with that streams.
Don Hansen:You've probably been seeing that I've been really enjoying going through bootdev For years with this channel and helping other developers. You know land that first position. I didn't care that much about becoming a better software engineer, and even my last dev position I wasn't focused on being a good software engineer. I was focused on being a good enough software engineer to build any application that I wanted. I didn't really envision me going deep into this profession. I didn't envision me being this incredible senior software engineer that just is incredibly hungry to learn everything about the programming industry. And at some point in 2024, that switch flipped. I don't know why I honestly do not know why, but it flipped and I was thinking about it. A lot Coding is going to be in my life for a very long time and I'm realizing that now, and anything that I am going to maintain in my life it's just my personality to be really good at it and just continue making that forward momentum. So 2025 is about me deciding that I actually want to be a good software engineer and see how deep we can go with this right, because I don't think I'm that good of a software engineer. I could build a lot of applications that I want to build, but I kind of sat on the front end side, kind of like at a low mid-level, maybe starting to get into a little bit more of a solid mid-level, but I didn't really challenge myself and I just have a new hunger for it and so I'm trying to live stream that more and share that with you guys so you could see my personality, my learning style and I'm trying to be as honest and transparent about that as possible. But it's fun. I want to code, I want to be a better software engineer. It's fun again.
Don Hansen:But I think part of that is because the last six years and I talked about this a little bit you know I was drinking too much, um, and then when I drink I would eat, I would crappy food and then I'd build more bad habits with that and, to be frank, I was getting into some really unhealthy relationships and I wasn't. I didn't see it like that, I was kind of just like getting by and I don't think I was that happy. To be honest. I don't think I was that happy, to be honest. I think I kind of just got into a bit of a rut. I've always been like an incredibly optimistic, high motivation person who was very grounded and happy and just like charismatic, and I kind of feel like the alcohol suppressed that a bit. I don't want to make it seem like I was drinking every day, but with drinking once every week or once every two weeks or something like that and I drink quite a bit with friends it just built other bad habits. I just compound so much with it that felt like it changed me entirely as a person, entirely as a person.
Don Hansen:And this month of like, because I made a commitment I'm not going to be drinking all of 2025 just to see what happens this month, I feel like I can see again and I I've ended some toxic relationships. I feel like I can kind of just like feel like myself again, and I think it's going to take a lot of months of like really destroying a lot of these bad habits, but I really like the direction things are going and I'm excited for it. Um, and I don't have any urges. Like I said, I talk about alcohol. I don't want to make it seem like I'm like I'm on the same level as, like people who are, like, truly struggling with this, because it it does come easier to me to kind of like just put it aside or give it up for lint or stuff like that. Um, so I do know, like some people that really struggle with it. You know it can take a lot more effort, you need a lot more help, and that is completely fine. But just, I try to talk about the relationship I've had with alcohol and it's only had a negative effect and it's built up really toxic relationships that I'm starting to toss out of my life and I think it's only going to get better way better going into 2025, because that was probably a habit I had for about six years. It's crazy to think how long that lasted.
Don Hansen:But I'm feeling pretty good and I'm working out like every day and I have to force myself not to work out. I have to force myself to like take days off and I think I have been pushing it a little bit too hard and you know we'll back off a little bit but I'm happy about that. Like I I feel kind of like a tiny bit anxious when I don't get to go to the gym because it's like my reward for the day right. And then when I know my body's taxed and I'm like I shouldn't go, it kind of sucks and I'll get over it. I'll take a rest day and I need those. But I'm addicted to the gym again. I'm addicted to paying attention to what goes into my body again and I feel like slowly I'm just building up good habits again because I know how I used to be and I am far from that. It might take a whole year to get back to like where I was, especially in Chicago. I was in a very good place, very grounded in Chicago. So I'm just looking forward to 2025. I'm healthier and I think it's affecting everything else in my life, but I'll update you in a few months and tell you how it's going.
Don Hansen:But also a couple things that are kind of coming up I want to talk about. I Kind of tossed the job hunting course to the side because I had about like an hour and 15 minutes worth of content and I just I felt imposter syndrome with it. I'm like man, if I release this, I don't feel like it's going to reflect very well for me, like what happens if it doesn't help people get jobs. And one thing I realized is I can't guarantee jobs and fuck the coding bootcamp industry forever guaranteeing that. It was such a twisted marketing thing. But I can be confident in the advice that I give and I can also, again, as the vision's clearing, I can see this stuff. But I can confidently say that hour and 15 minutes worth of the course that I built it didn't go deep enough. It didn't go deep enough like there is so much more that I need to flush out in this course to make me feel really good about it. Um and again, I've talked about this in my live streams. But you know having that conversation with lane and he's like the world doesn't need more courses. If you're going to build another course, make it incredibly unique and impactful. And what did he? I always butcher this. It's like the purple. It's not the purple elephant, I always say the purple elephant. But he talked about a book called purple, purple cow, purple cow, I think that's what it is. But he talked about a book and correct me if I'm wrong purple cow of like, and I want to read it. But the idea was like, if I'm really going to build this out and I do think I can build a better job hunting course than anyone else's built I have been literally focused on this for seven years, working directly one on one with junior developers.
Don Hansen:I have coding boot camps, trying to outsource my services to help their students. I'm really good at that when I can sit down for a long period of time and work one-on-one with someone and really dig into their situation. But there's so much to it and there's so many different avenues you can go down that really line you up with your previous industry and the types of problems you want to solve, and there's just a lot of detail that even coding boot camps that will develop career service courses or job hunting courses barely touch and barely dive into. I have so much to say about that and I'm going to put it all into a course and I'm finally flushing that out. I feel good about that and I'm going to put it all into a course and I'm finally fleshing that out. I feel good about it. It's going to take a bit. I don't have a launch date with it, but I'm feeling much better about building the course content out. I'm feeling good about charging money for this Because I am trying to build something unique that is going to again.
Don Hansen:The goal is to build the best job hunting course there ever was. That that is my goal and I think I can do that. Given the seven years that I've highly focused on this, I think I can do it and I'll iterate. The first version won't be the best and I'll iterate, but I'm excited for that and so I'm building that out. I've kind of touched on that a little bit, so I'll keep you guys up to date as it does get closer. But also I'm going to be pushing out more content and as my mind starts to clear up this no bullshit persona that I've had it's never been a persona it's going to get. The intensity of it is going to get much higher.
Don Hansen:I promise you that that because that is my typical self. I'm a very no bullshit guy. I hate victimhood. I don't surround myself with people that always blame external circumstances. I never have, and that was part of the problem. Over the past five years of building this business, I just surrounded myself with people that always were just like why me? They were those, why me? People and I just never get a break. And but then when you look at their actions, you talk. They don't want to talk about their actions. No, no, no. It's like what happened to them. Listen to me. Let me tell you what happened to me. I've never surrounded myself with these people and for some reason probably because of the alcohol, probably because of the bad habits I just did it's probably what sucked the energy out of me. It's probably what sucked the life out of me.
Don Hansen:But I have a lot to say for self-taught developers and I've created some videos in the past that have been very candid and I think if I've triggered you with some of those previous videos. I think there are some people that are really not going to like what I have to say, but I think the people that actually want to become a good software engineer and that are humble enough to be able to check themselves on a lot of the shit they're letting themselves get away with, I think they're going to find it really valuable. I think we're going to trigger some more people going into 2025. But I'm starting to see a lot of self-taught developers that are giving up. A lot of self-taught developers that never really put their full effort into it too. A lot of self-taught developers that convinced themselves that the market just didn't want them. The market just doesn't want you and your developers and for you guys, you couldn't be more wrong about that as other aspiring developers continue to get jobs.
Don Hansen:What are you fucking up to prevent you from even getting legitimate interviews? It's a hard question to ask and a lot of people don't want to challenge themselves with it, but a lot of my content not all of it, but a lot of my content is going to be focused on like really calling out a lot of the lies that you've been telling yourself, a lot of the bad habits that you've built, that you aren't willing to acknowledge, aren't willing to acknowledge a lot of the lack of consistency, a lot of the excuses of you being an introvert, which has limited your social skills and your networking ability. A lot of your laziness with research. A lot of your laziness with becoming a better software engineer and constantly, constantly learning and being critical of what you know, to challenge yourself, to keep diving deeper.
Don Hansen:A lot of you are giving up. Good, let people who actually are serious about this stand a fighting chance, because all you are doing to people you know if you're half-assing it. You know you're just spamming applications to random companies. You know you're not really prepared for it. All you are doing when you aren't taking your journey seriously, is just flooding the market, making it harder for good software engineers that actually care about becoming a better software engineer who want this. You're just making it harder for employers to find them.
Don Hansen:So, a lot of the people that are giving up. I know this isn't going to sit well with a lot of the people that are giving up. I know this isn't going to sit well with a lot of people, but good, get out of the way and let the people that actually want it aim for that job, but for the people that are giving up, I do want to say something and I think you need to be real with yourselves. Okay, a lot of you are probably not going to like the industry. You probably don't enjoy coding enough. There are so many things that you need to break down in yourself to be a good software engineer and I don't think you're ready for it. It takes a lot of humility. You're going to feel stupid very often. Your ego is going to be challenged all the time, and software engineering is a very stressful job for most people.
Don Hansen:Software engineers make a high impact on most companies, especially tech companies, and there is a lot of pressure, usually coming from deadlines, usually coming from other departments not owning their own shit and blaming software engineers. But also, you know, sometimes software engineers just fuck up and it's costly for the company and to own that with the risk of your job is a really difficult thing to do. It is not an easy industry. A lot of you want it to be. You were told it was. It's a very stressful position and people that have been in the industry for a long time there are a lot of them that are tired of it and they'll eventually quit. A lot of people rotate out, but it's a high stress position it is.
Don Hansen:You really have to love coding. You really have to love the problems that you're solving. You really have to be a passionate learner for the rest of your life. You are a student for the rest of your life. That schooling that you got so excited to get out of high school, college, all of those years that is for the rest of your life as a software engineer. So you need to take that idea of just learning just enough to get that job and then boom, okay, now I can take it easy. I kind of learn how to job a little bit. No, no, no, no, no.
Don Hansen:Good software engineers realize and sometimes that hits them hard if they want to stay up to date in the market, especially as AI will get better that that learning will never end. You are going to school for the rest of your life. And if you can't accept that, or as long as you're in the industry, but if you can't accept that, you're going into the wrong field and for people giving up and they just want to blame the market. Or sometimes you know life circumstances happen or you realize it's not for you. Those are legitimate reasons for you guys.
Don Hansen:There are other areas in tech. Look into them. Look in the day to life videos and try to find people that you trust YouTubers that you can trust a little bit to give you a transparent story. Look into other areas of tech YouTubers that you can trust a little bit to give you a transparent story. Look into other areas of tech. Not everyone needs to be a software engineer and way too many people put it on a pedestal and I promise you that is. A lot of people and I did, and a lot of other people had a dreamy vision of what it was like to be a software engineer before you're in the industry.
Don Hansen:It's not all it's cracked up to be, and you might find other opportunities in tech that you actually get excited about. You wake up and you want to learn, you want to get better at your craft and when you start loving growing at that craft and getting better and better and better, you become a very different person from that. But you also know like I might have found something that really sits well with me, that is perfect for my personality or that excites me, that fulfills me For a lot of you. I know you've been forcing your way through coding and it doesn't really fulfill you. It's okay to give up and that's my message to you. That might be controversial, I don't care. I have a lot of controversial messages for you going into 2025. And we're going to have a very, very honest conversation. That's all I have for now. Thanks for listening.