Declaimer: I am still at university so by working I mean part time.

1. It is not only alright to ask for help, but essential!

One of employers biggest fears when employing a junior dev or graduate is idea that they won’t ask for help and will instead continue to struggle alone and make no progress.
I used to be of the frame of mind that I must do my work on my own and asking for help is evidence that I am not a good programmer. However that is far from the case.
Asking for help is great and probably one of the best ways to gain experience in software development. The amount of times I’ve asked my co-workers for help or advice would of shocked me from a year ago but with hindsight it isn’t surprising.
Plus, even experienced software developers ask for help.

2. Tests Tests and Tests.

Writing tests is one of the biggest pains of being a software developer but they are too necessary to ignore.
Because with out them maintaining and improving a codebase as it grows becomes an impossible task. As software developer I’ve learnt you spend near all of your time maintaining an existing codebase. So having tests is the only way to know your modifications hasn’t broken something else before your changes is pushed to product and it then its too late and the damage is done 😭.
These are just two key things I've learnt that stood out to me. I look forward to learning more on my software development journey.