how to survive probation

“Yes, we didn’t expect everything to go quickly and without problems” or how to understand what is really expected of you

The situation described would probably have driven me to drastic action if I had been a particularly self-important and ambitious person, but no, I’m not like that and so I just pupated and decided to wait until they fired me. But seriously, the decisive factor that in the end I managed to go through this notorious “working in” process was that an integral part of it were regular meetings and conversations with the team lead, who monitored how my affairs were progressing. This, in my deep conviction, is a really very useful and cool format: once every two weeks you meet with your immediate supervisor and tell him the status – what is working, what is not working, where you need help and advice, where you absolutely lack skill and knowledge; in the end, this format helps you, first of all, ask questions to yourself, understand how much control you have over the situation and see your weak points. And then in one of these meetings and discussions, I suddenly realized that no one from me does not require meet those formal the deadlines that were listed in the “working in” plan given to me on my first working day!

Moreover, the team lead shared with me a simple and trivial thought, which for some reason did not reach me on my own, namely that they were not looking for a person who could and knew how to do everything (they would have simply, most likely, in their own region would not have been found anyway and therefore acted realistically and pragmatically), but they were looking for a person who was ready to learn and who was comfortable teaching.

Further – more: to study some of the basics of technologies that were new to me, I was basically given a whole month, free from other routine tasks, during which I took courses on Kubernetes and in case of stupor and misunderstanding, he turned to his skilled colleagues for help.

I don’t know about you, but during my work in Russia I did not encounter anything like this (but here, of course, I have very little experience, there was only one job pythonist), if something didn’t work out for me, then at best they told me what, in theory, should be done, but as a rule, they simply killed me… To be honest, even hypothetically imagining that they would give me at least a week is not Speaking of a month, I simply cannot have free time to study some technology that is new to me. Maybe you have such experience? If yes, then write in the comments. At the same time, I would like to separately note that such an approach is not something extraordinary in Germany and, on the contrary, exists on every corner. So, for example, quite a few German vacancies require knowledge of one of the OOP languages, but which one is not specified. If you get to an interview and find out that we are talking about Java, and you don’t understand absolutely anything about Java, then this is basically not a problem, since – as indicated in the vacancy – a person who speaks OOP language is being sought for the position. All. The rest, namely Java and the technologies accompanying this language, will be taught to you directly at the workplace. Not bad, isn't it? Compare this with the “toothy” domestic market, where you can often find vacancies in which people, in the simplicity of their hearts, directly write, “junks should not apply.” It’s even hard for me to imagine how surprised these guys and girls from Russian companies would be if they learned about the German approach, which implies that the employer will also train a person at the workplace and pay a full salary. In one word (or rather, three) not our way…

In conclusion, as befits any self-respecting storyteller who must strive for a happy ending, I will only add that by now, a little more than a year after the start of work, – that along with immersion in existing work projects and mastering Kubernetes, Helm Chart, Rancher, it also cost me to study at least two S3 storage and a whole range of tricks in working with Linux and remote servers – I can say with confidence that it was worth it. Well, if you are interested in trying to become an IT specialist in Germany, with all the ensuing consequences, then you can separately read my two texts about how to get a developer position in this country here and here.

Originally published in my Zen channel. There you can also find other publications on the topic of German it.