Becoming an App Developer: A Journey of Tears, Hard Work, and Thrills of Achievement

It was back in 2016 when I was a Senior Quality Analyst (QA). Within SEEK, there was a shift where developers would take ownership of quality and test their own code. As a result, many QAs at SEEK got the opportunity to change their career. Some transitioned into Business Analyst roles, others sought new opportunities elsewhere to continue their QA career. Only a handful chose to become a developer. It was during that period, I made the decision that I wanted to pursue engineering — a path where I could embody the qualities of a skilled developer, crafting beautiful code and building a culture of quality within the team. With years of bug-spotting experience as a QA behind me, I embarked on my journey to transition my career.

Starting isn’t always the hardest thing

In my spare time, I started to dive into learning iOS app development, tinkering around, making my own app. Never did end up submitting it to the Apple App Store, but it was a blast! Then I volunteered to hop onto our iOS app team. I was very grateful that the iOS app team welcomed me with open arms. And I even got two mentors! Feeling all confident as a self-driven high performer and a quick learner, I thought I’d smash this new role in no time. But I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I never realised how much I cared about what people thought of me until then. Back when I was a senior QA, the team respected me, valued my opinions, and I was dropping knowledge and insights. But after I switched gears to being a developer, suddenly I felt like a fish out of water. I couldn’t offer much insight at all. To be honest, I was overwhelmed by all the new terminologies, techniques, and tools I had to learn. It got to the point where I was frustrated about how little value I was bringing to the table compared to my past role.

The learning curve was steep

It took me five years growing from a naive developer to a sufficient, autonomous, competent developer in the iOS app team. It wasn’t just about picking up another coding language, or mastering another IDE. It was also the understanding of architecture and its evolution, the skill of solving problems with the best possible solution. I also had to learn how to navigate through grey areas in the code base, the discipline of doing the right thing, staying focused on what really mattered and ignoring all the noise.

When it comes to app development, quality is critical to the success of releases. For every release, if anything goes wrong, it’s already out there in the users’ hands. And there is no turning back. Fixing it means pushing out another release. And for some users, it might mean never.

My daily committments

Here are the three things that I committed to doing every day:

• Coding, keep coding, humbly keep coding… Whether it’s for work or outside of it, along with being a mum of two. There is no room for any ego
• Reading, lots of reading and learning, finding the right resources, and learning and practicing
• Making notes to PR comments that I received, learning from them. Not just passively waiting for feedback to come, but also humbly asking senior engineers for feedbacks, and taking action to address them.

Thanks to my team

Big shoutout to the team for being there every step of the way, and especially my mentors who shared their own journeys with me. They want me to succeed but with the attitude that I never compromise the quality of my code. They never shy away from offering me candid feedback when it comes to critiquing my code. And they continue to do so, to this very day.

I strongly believe, making the switch to being an app developer was the best career move I ever made. It certainly ignited the passion I had in me. Yes, it’s tough sometimes, but it’s also rewarding when I’m immersed in the problem-solving flow and coming up with a well-shaped solution. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing and I have no regrets. Even those seemingly brutal PR comments and endless rounds of solution iterations, they are all part of the journey. The last thing that would help me grow is getting instant PR approvals with LGTM (Looks Good To Me).

Being comfortable in the uncomfortableness

Are you up for the next change in your career? What excites you? What do you want to get out of the change? There’s only one certainty in this journey — being comfortable in the uncomfortableness. It’s through those challenging moments that you get to know yourself better. And it’s through overcoming those challenges you’ll gradually become more comfortable with those uncomfortable environments, live your passion and your dreams.