Exploring the role of a web developer should be one of the most coveted careers in 2020, businesses in South Africa are working remotely and are looking to shift their operations online – the big question is always, how? If you are looking for a new challenge in your career, explore the opportunity of becoming a web developer there are endless job openings for you. The world wide web is growing and technological advances are unending. This lucrative career allows freedom to work from home too while sustaining a good stream of income each month.
We spent a day with one of our effervescent developers at 1-grid, Grant Marang, and asked him some questions about his career path as a web developer and what his ‘Business as Usual’.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I’m a Junior PHP Developer and I’ve been at 1-grid for just over two years. I studied through MSITA (Microsoft IT Academy) for two years, my course covered the basics of development. After two years of studying, I wanted to learn more and started studying IT through UNISA but dropped out after three years because I completed all my programming modules, and the rest was not fun.
Honestly, I’m a creative at heart. Outside of programming, I like writing and recording music – I have a tremendous interest in ‘consciousness’ and incorporate whatever I learn into my music.
Why did you choose to become a Web Developer?
I’ve always liked IT in general and wanted to learn more about decision-making in AI which led me to do basic programming. Basic programming was super fun because I could control the backend of a primary interface. Besides that, I think it is just because I love problem-solving and the whole build your own logic thing.
What does an average day in your life look like as a 1-grid Web Developer?
First, coffee! Then everything else. When I am busy with a project like currently, I will unlock my pc and directly jump to where I was stuck the previous day. I would then think of all possible solutions (it’s never all) then go to the more senior guys and ask which way would be the best. Once getting their feedback I am on it again and I make it work, I have to make it work.
While trying to fix the issue, like clockwork, someone will come over to my desk and ask a question and just like that, I lose all my concentration. Shortly after this happens I put my headphones on and investigate the issue again, find the solution, and we’re back on track. The next step is to start testing as a customer if something breaks again, I take a breather and get back to writing down the current problem and how it’s causing another issue and then find a new solution, then I implement a new fix (Woo-hoo).
When everything is working, I begin to start testing again and if no issues are found I’ll take it to my manager to review. He does some testing, and I usually get a list of items back to implement.
Every day, all-day fixing issues. Writing code, test, code, test, code.
What has your most challenging experience been as a Dev?
I would say OOP (Object-Orientated Programming), I was taught procedural code in University and Microsoft Academy. When I got my first proper code review, I found out that the way I am coding was wrong, and I should be coding in OOP. OOP was something new and very challenging because I did not understand how to start with OOP, so I would write all my code Procedurally and then rewrite it in OOP. Super weird, because I found out at a later stage you have to think differently, and it is a slow but very progressive change I took on.
What is your favourite part of your job?
Deploying code to live with no error, correctly working.
What do you think has the most significant impact on your industry?
I would say the difference in languages and frameworks across different types of jobs and programs. There’s always something new to learn, no one knows everything about every language, and there are still new things like a change in PHP version can cause deprecated functions to break your website. If it was using features from an older PHP Version, standards change, and you must just stay up to date.
If you weren’t a developer, what career path would you explore?
I was always interested in becoming a forensic pathologist, perhaps even a spiritual teacher, teaching the way of ‘Tao.’
As our dynamic Dev Grant has just illustrated, becoming a Web Developer – at the core is about problem-solving and finding solutions. It’s a career path that requires curiosity and the ability to adapt to change. Like most careers in tech, you have to be a student of your craft and stay up-to-date with current developments and always stay curious.
