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UID:pretalx-europython-2026-NWLBJC@programme.europython.eu
DTSTART;TZID=CET:20260715T135000
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DESCRIPTION:This talk shares my experience in my first ever role as a junio
 r engineer after switching careers. I picked up a ticket involving tools a
 nd concepts I’d never used before (OpenTelemetry and Honeycomb)\, hoping
  to spend a day learning a bit about how we implement observability and mo
 nitoring of our Django app. Spoiler alert: it took three weeks of learning
 \, debugging and asking for help to complete this work.\n\nI learned some 
 valuable lessons along the way\, not just technical stuff\, but about how 
 to problem-solve\, collaborate effectively\, and keep going in the face of
  *seemingly unending* challenges.\n\nThrough this talk\, I want junior eng
 ineers in the audience to know:\n\n- You can do difficult things\, even if
  you think you lack the experience or knowledge required. If you’re will
 ing to learn\, and have a supportive team around you\, you have everything
  you need.\n- Doing difficult things is daunting\, but also incredibly rew
 arding. You often learn 10x more than you expected\, and when you finally 
 merge your work into main\, it feels like winning the lottery.\n- Taking o
 n hard things benefits the whole team—others might learn something new\,
  or strengthen their own understanding by helping you out.\n- There’s a 
 lot you can do to support yourself: reach out early\, reach out often\, an
 d learn how to communicate problems clearly.\n- The value of your work can
 not be measured by lines of code\, it’s so much greater than that.\n\nTh
 is talk also offers a reminder to seniors\, and leaders or managers\, abou
 t how tough it can be to be new. Juniors don’t just lack experience\, we
  don't know what we don't know and it's *really* easy (for others and ours
 elves!) to underestimate this. When things break or go wrong\, we might no
 t understand where or why\, and even if we find a bug or an error\, knowin
 g how to fix it is another challenge altogether. I’ll share how my team
 ’s support made all the difference\, and offer some practical ideas for 
 how others can support their junior colleagues\, too.\n\nThis isn’t a su
 per technical talk. It’s more about the human experience of being a begi
 nner\, the value of persistence\, why asking for help is a great thing to 
 do\, and the power of supportive teams\; there's hopefully something usefu
 l and/or interesting in this for everyone.
DTSTAMP:20260524T121632Z
LOCATION:Theatre Hall (S2)
SUMMARY:Why doing difficult things is good for you and good for your team -
  Katie Bickford
URL:https://programme.europython.eu/europython-2026/talk/NWLBJC/
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