I’ve learned a few lessons since graduating with a computer science degree, and beginning my first job in the tech industry with Platinum Solutions. Here are the five best tips I can offer:

1. Don’t work in a cave

With the exception of two classes, while I was in school it was demanded of me that I complete my own work. Should any of us be caught collaborating with one another to complete an assignment, we’d be given an “XF” on our transcripts, much worse than an “F” because it indicated that we had cheated. This mindset is very difficult to break when you join the workforce and the opposite is true. “You want me to use the custom JSF component you created? I think I could be fired for that…!” You are now part of a team which must work together or fail.

Don’t be afraid of asking questions if you get into a rut. In fact, if you find yourself thinking about something too long, mark the problem and move on. Ask questions later, or post them to your project’s wiki.

Actively share knowledge that you have with your team. Platinum is great about promoting brown bag lunches, and other informal get-togethers where the team gathers to hear one of its members teach the group about a technology or process they are familiar with. It’s a great idea to record any material you talk to the group about (whether podcast, video, slideshow, etc) and make this available to the agency.

Get to know the people you work with. Take advantage of joining them for lunch, at after work get-togethers, and talking with them to get to know them on a personal level. This helps build trust, allowing for greater synergy on a project.

Learn source control, it’s a must…and don’t break the build! Early on I checked in some code that did break the build. I was embarrassed about it, and fixed the problem when it came to my attention. I was so used to not working with others, that I had to reprogram myself to think to synchronize, run the Ant build script, then commit and/or update my code if all went smoothly.

2. Take initiative!

As a new person on the team, it’s important to know that you should be thinking about how you can contribute to the project other than by successfully completing the assignments given to you. People with more experience than you have will listen to you if you speak intelligently, and make a strong argument for why a grand idea you have will improve the project.

Your initiatives don’t always need to be technical, either. One thing I’ve volunteered to help with recently is tracking the software that we’ve requested from our government IT department, but haven’t had installed yet. Everyday, I email an updated software install tracking spreadsheet to a person in the IT office, who follows up with his colleagues on making thing happen. This is an extremely easy thing to do, but an important task for someone to take on. In fact, there are 101^2 important things to do on a project that have nothing to do with coding…so volunteer for some of them!

3. Keep learning

Though you’re now out of school, you must continue learning. My mentor at Platinum gave me a web application assignment at my request, to allow me to become familiar with the technologies to be used on the project. I had read about J2EE technologies that I didn’t know, but until I started working with the project, it was all rather abstract. Reading about a technology is like creating an interface, but using it is like implementing that interface.

Learning should be done on many levels, though, not just technical. Get to know how and why your project schedule works. Figure out how to develop improved personal discipline. (I have been listening to the “7 Habits of Highly Productive People” by Dr Stephen Covey, and found that to be very useful.) Talk with others on the project (supervisors or your mentor especially) to get feedback about your performance, and ask their advice on how you can improve your work.

4. Make work enjoyable

There’s nothing to kill your spirit (and productivity) like thinking of work as a chore. We have people on our project who have come up with ideas to make our time in the office fun, such as a contest to name the iterations of the development phase. The winner of this contest suggested the iterations be called “Road to the Final Release”, and name the iterations cities along the I-95 corridor leading into DC from Boston. (Someone joked that the project is going south!) The UI team has decided to play out the city theme. The person who takes the most initiative on each iteration and really leads development will be named Mayor of the city. Each week the “Key to the City” will be given to the person who made the most “key” contributions to the project.

5. Have a life outside work!

As I have mentioned, it’s important to continue learning, and of course much of this will take place outside work. However, you must be able to get away from work entirely and spend time with family & friends, exercise, etc, whatever it is that you enjoy doing. This time is essential to allowing you to stay motivated and focused at work. It’s an important lesson to learn early on!