The post first Software development Engineer job checklist

 

        Once we get that dream job as an SDE, we mostly spend the next few weeks to the next few months partying and cherishing the moment. I personally believe that with great power, comes great responsibility. I recently had a chat with one of my colleagues who had joined my team as a fresher around 6 months back. I realized that we need to talk more about the post-first job checklist. It might not be the most technical thing that I am going to write about but is a really important thing to keep track of. So this is a checklist that I created for people who nailed their first job!

1. Get yourself and your dependents covered
   
   I believe we must make sure that we buy a nice health and life insurance policy as early as we can once our career starts. There are a few reasons for that. One, it's cheaper to start early and premiums increase with age. Two, the "notice period" for the pre-existing disease is covered more quicker. Three, you are absolutely stress-free in terms of what will happen if something unforeseen happens.
   
   
2. Have a cushion
   
   The recent pandemic and layoffs taught us how important it is to have a cushion of cash in case something goes wrong. As general guidance, people recommend that one must have at least 6 months of monthly income as spare cash or in some liquid form so that even if times become challenging, at least for 6 months, we would remain unaffected. By then one could find a new job or so. This cushion is very important I believe.
   
   
3. Start investing
   
   The biggest investment tip you would ever get is to start early for the power of compounding to work at its best. Besides, early investors are far more likely to build wealth and retire early than late investors. Financial discipline, education and practicals are very good to have as early as possible. Maybe we can begin with simple mutual funds and then move to stocks or crypto or gold and other places.
   
   
4. Invest regularly in yourself
   
   This is the most underrated investment I have seen. People do everything mentioned above but tend to forget this aspect. One should fix some time each day to read great text around improving the tech as well as soft skills. One must keep learning every day. The water from a river is fit for consumption only if the river is running. Standing river water stagnates. One must keep moving and stay up to date. Apart from investing in mental instruments. I also recommend investing in physical instruments like a nice chair and desk with some nice room lighting. Remember, it is a marathon and not a sprint. Bad posture or poor lighting will strain your body badly and will also reduce productivity. You may as well invest in a nice gym!

I can recollect these and a few other minor points for our checklist. But stopping my pen for now! This is a good place, to begin with for now! Happy new year!