Growing my career through the Junior Developer Program: Julia

A couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to shift career paths from the Cosmetic Industry into tech. My previous career experience had me focusing on Content and Design, structuring internal and external comms for a B2B Cosmetic company. I started to learn to code on the job and knew this was what I wanted to do full-time. I ended up taking a coding bootcamp at Juno College, which was the best career decision I’ve ever made. Luckily for me, I landed a role at TELUS Digital in their Junior Developer Program (JDP), which has given me the tools to grow my technical skillset, and the opportunity to join a fantastic team working on real-life projects.

Accelerating my development skills in the Junior Developer Program

My JDP Cohort and myself spent the first 6 months at TELUS Digital enrolled in a Front-End Development course. This meant we spent 4 hours a week in sessions led by other members of the TELUS Digital team, along with 4 hours of self-directed learning time. Not only were we taught foundational coding skills with lessons in Accessibility, JavaScript, and React, but also the ins and outs of how TELUS’ applications and architecture work. This was imperative to building my confidence as a developer here, as I had a set outlet and time frame to learn the basics. We really started from ground zero and built our knowledge and our confidence up from there.

We are now about a month into the Back-End course, which has been most exciting to me. Previous to joining TELUS, I focused more-so on Front-End Development. It’s been a great opportunity to expand my skills in theory-based and practical settings. We are learning concepts related to Test Driven Development, Security, and Databases, along with specific coding skills in Node. Each lesson is unique, in the sense that we get to experience code along, tutorials, and are given ample resources to expand our knowledge.

Embracing Spirited Teamwork

I would say that one of the best parts of the JDP program has been the aspect of teamwork. Each member in the JDP cohort was hired to a different team, which allowed us to apply all of the knowledge we are learning towards real-life projects. We get to chat amongst each other asking for advice on coding tasks, and really get an insight into the other facets of TELUS Digital. 

Along with having a great cohort of Junior Developers to rely on, I also have immense support from the team that I have been hired onto, which is called Standards and Resources. We build products and applications that support TELUS as a whole, educating internal and external members on the standards, guides, and tools that TELUS lives by. 

Every ticket I’ve been assigned to has been met with amazing support from my mentor, who is the other developer on the team. I wouldn’t be the developer I am today without having this guidance, the opportunity to ask questions, and to pair programs within my team. It has also been amazing to work alongside other talented team members in design, content, information architecture. It has been so exciting to see the process of real-life projects come together, with the support of a great manager and product owner. I still cannot believe I get to do this every day, it really is a dream come true! Not a day goes by that I’m not learning something new, and without the JDP program, I wouldn’t have been able to have this experience.

Interested in learning more about our Junior Developer Program? You can learn more here.

Our team is always growing! You can find open roles across Design, Content, Development, and more on our Careers page.