Cover photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Well, I'm not proud to say that I got fired two weeks ago. It was the hardest thing that could happened to me because I loved that company, but at the same time, I realized that I was too comfortable and felt like my job would last forever.

After two years working for a clothes store e-commerce, my skills in React grew exponentially. I learned a lot of stuff because it was my first huge project, working along with a lot of people with higher seniority and experience, it was pleasant to experience a lot of real problems that can come in a business and get rid of them, but then in my final days I realized that I was being like a robot just writing code and not understanding it at all, I was like in a rabbit hole for several months, then suddenly the business started to having budget problems, and guess what? we got laid off :)

It's important to say that I was working for an IT consultant, so it didn't seem a big deal, because when a project comes to an end, you just need to find a new one and in the process, the company still pays your salary even though you are not being "productive" for them. The problem came when you also needed to take some interviews to see if they could ensure you're the best fit for the project, this means that is exactly like looking for a job outside, with the difference that you still get paid.

I got a reality hit when I arrived at my first interview after two years and I just got in blank with basic Javascript questions! I felt so dumb at that moment, how could be possible to forget how the event loop works? or asynchronism? some basic stuff. The thing ended awful and obviously, I didn't get the project, and I realized how important is not to take things for granted! even though you are developing the most complex stuff in the world, it is important to go back to the basics from time to time.

And if that was not enough, the industry now demands a lot of full-stack engineers! I have worked with PHP in the past, but it was in my beginnings doing "spaghetti code" all the way, then I jumped to Laravel without knowing too much about how PHP works behind the hood. Then I created a basic API with Node.js for my final project at university by just following a short course in a platform without knowing what was I doing, if it works it works, right? That was all the background I have for Backend development and for obvious reasons I didn't feel secure about my knowledge. So in my way to increase my tech stack, I spent a month and a half trying to learn Angular due to a lack of React projects, and also a bit of Node.js and looking for suitable projects, but then suddenly I got an HR call telling me that it was being hard to set me in a project, and they cannot afford to keeping me without being "productive" and... I got fired...

And now here I am, after about a week of being a bit depressed for losing my dream job, and another week to seek my next job, right now the industry is leaning toward full-stack development; React, Redux, Node.js & AWS are the most common stack I've seen through LinkedIn, at least the opportunities here in Mexico 🇲🇽

So, the whole point of this post is to take out in public what I have inside my chest because it makes me feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and gives me motivation to keep going and compromise with this community (even though nobody reads me for the moment lol xD) to grow my tech stack and be the Software Engineer I always wanted to be. I feel like this is the perfect and emotive start for my #30DaysOfCode with Node.js which I found is critical for my career, so starting tomorrow I will post every day (Maybe skipping Sundays because everybody needs to rest) my learning process of Node.js from a Frontend developer's perspective, and hopefully, to get a job soon because I can only survive 5 months until I have to sleep under a bridge or end up in the streets.

I'm excited and happy though 🤩 Let me know in the comments if you guys have been through a similar situation and how you managed to succeed and find the light after the storm!

Come and connect with me (in Spanish) on Twitter/X: @juandadotdev