Spyros Bourtzalas moved into Full-stack Developer

I started the traineeship because I was looking for a surefire way to land a job in web development. I felt I had no more time to waste going around and trying different routes or taking risks, so I wanted to feel confident that my next move would be the one that would get my foot in the door.

I would say the part I enjoyed the most was getting through the final projects. They were definitely what made the whole experience feel authentic and valuable. I enjoyed the way they challenged me to solve problems and accurately simulated the client experience, which I now experience regularly on the job. I would say the most underrated part of the course – or what may go unnoticed if someone is not paying attention – is the nuance in the interactions I had with Paddy while trying to move through these projects. It would have been fairly easy for everything to be handed to me clear as day every step of the way, but that would come with the inevitable losses in 1. Accuracy in reflecting a real work environment and 2. A lesson in resourcefulness and managing expectations. For this reason I believe it required meticulous thought into both the timing and the selection of information revealed – as well as the way they should be presented. I never felt as if what is required of me is fully explicit and easy to understand, and at the time I wondered if that was intentional or not, but now having to face the same issue at 10 times the magnitude when dealing with clients, it becomes a lot easier to appreciate that part of the learning process.

My current role primarily involves website maintenance, handling support tickets, and developing new features or updates across both existing and upcoming websites. We’re working with WordPress, which is a platform I hadn’t initially considered exploring, but it’s turned out to be a valuable opportunity to broaden my skill set while learning to navigate and leverage the depth of its ecosystem.