3 January 2025 was the final day of my first job after switching my career path from graphic design to web developer, after working on the job for 4 months without passing my probation.
This was not how I envisioned my first web developer job to go when I took the job. Since 2022, I spent about two years in teaching myself to code, especially web development. I was inspired to transition my career from graphic design to web development after hearing stories about other software developers who got into the tech field without a computer science degree. My goal of getting my first developer job was eventually achieved when I received an invitation from my now-former boss for an interview due to him looking for someone with web development skills to work on the company's WordPress website. I ended up successfully got hired, with my job started on 16 August 2024, beginning my probation period.
My greatest accomplishment achieved during my first web developer job was successfully developing my first WordPress website plugin. My previous company's website was built with WordPress, along with WooCommerce to power the website's e-commerce features. I was tasked by my boss to find a way to add QR Planet's one-time redeemable QR code coupons as a possible reward for customers to unlock in their points and rewards system. After doing research, I suggested creating our own WordPress plugin as the solution, since QR Planet does not have any official WordPress plugin. I had never made a WordPress plugin before, so creating one for my company's website during my first web developer job was a learning experience. I still remember my boss’ “wow” exclamation when I showcased my finished plugin.
My success in developing a WordPress plugin to solve a problem my company had given me tremendous confidence, hoping I had proven myself to the company about my web development and problem-solving skills. After finishing the development of my WordPress plugin, I proceeded to do the best of my ability to complete other tasks my company assigned me before deadlines.
I had high hopes that I proved my capabilities enough to pass my probation. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
On 3 December 2024, I went to my company's headquarters to meet my manager and boss, after being summoned by my boss on the previous day to discuss my probation. Then, when my boss passed the job performance evaluation form and I read it, I started to have a bad feeling when I realised I was only given an average score in my job performance. Soon, my boss confirmed my suspicion that I did not pass my probation, and said the company did not consider my performance satisfactory.
Then, my manager and boss gave me an offer: if I were to keep my job and continue my extended probation, I will need to change my job scope and responsibilities to focus more on digital marketing, especially social media copywriting since they lack the manpower for it. They further revealed that the company's website was only one part of their marketing efforts. Therefore, I was given a choice of accepting their offer in job scope changes or not, and given time to consider my choice.
I was devastated by the news that my job performance allegedly did not satisfy my employer enough to pass my probation. There was a saying in Chinese, "the higher your hopes, the bigger your disappointment", and that could not be more accurate to describe my situation there. I was much, much more upset by not being able to pass my probation than being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic, currently incurable eye disease that can lead to loss of vision a few days prior. At least with the latter, I already prepared for the possibility of having an inherited eye condition that was difficult if not possible to cure given my family's history with eye conditions.
After spending time in weighing my choices, I choose to not accept my manager and boss' offer. I want to be a web developer, not a marketer. I got the job because I wanted to get my first job as a web developer since I was switching my career path from graphic designer to web development. As a result, I was given a termination letter on the next day, stating that my employment would only continue for another month until 3 January 2025.
In hindsight, I should have seen it coming that my employer do not intend web development to be the main part of my job responsibilities in the company. My official position in the company is actually marketing assistant, not web developer, not web designer nor WordPress developer, meaning I was actually assigned to the marketing department to support the marketing manager. The company does not have a tech or IT department, so everything technical was handled by an outsourced web developer, so I thought I was hired because my company was looking for an in-house web developer.
Occasionally, I was assigned to do graphic design work. I did not mind it despite having burned out from graphic design as a profession, because most graphic design works for my company were still handled by outsourced graphic designers, and I could still help with tasks working on my company's WordPress website.
I tried to look at the positive that at least I actually got some professional web development experience, even if it lasted only a few months, but it still hurt to realise that web development, the field I am currently focusing on and the skill I was supposedly hired for, did not get valued by my employer as I thought. I learned the hard way that sometimes, an employee's goal and what the employee can offer to the company do not match what the employer actually wanted.
At last, when my first web developer job ended on 3 January 2025, I felt free that I am no longer burdened by any obligations to a company that failed to fully recognise the web development work I had done for them.
Now, I am free to choose the next step of my life. I will keep learning web development and improve myself, and not let my previous company's official evaluation undermine the worth of my web development capabilities.
I am grateful of the support I have received from various people when I shared about my employment situation in my now former company, and my decision to leave the company to continue to pursue web development.
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