Professional Development Strategy

(Target audience: OutSystems Development Community in general)

Often in conversations with colleagues, who are starting their careers, I receive questions from those struggling to find an entry point and being able to participate in a real world OutSystems project.

I wanted with this article, to share a few strategies, with all colleagues who are feeling the same. Maybe this will help you get to where you want to be!

“Starting to work in a real project team as a junior OutSystems developer, turned out to be more challenging than what I anticipated.” (By a community member)

Here are 10 development strategies you can consider:

1. Learn the basics of OutSystems: Start by learning the fundamentals of programming concepts and logic. Learning the basics is about knowing how to develop in this low code platform and it also include to learn data base modelling or logic scripts. This to pass you from a beginner to a a productive developer in a short period of time. You can see the training schools here: https://www.outsystems.com/developer_school/
2. Take the online guided paths or courses: There are a lot of online learning paths and materials available containing essential to advanced contents. You also have structured courses, with hands-on exercises, but most of the times these are paid. In OutSystems website all resources are free: https://www.outsystems.com/training/paths/
3. Choose your projects to start: Explore different development projects to try out, choose one that aligns with your interests. Each app developed has its own challenges and you can learn a lot from trying out. Consider factors like user interface experience, storing of data records with images, submitting items for approval by different roles. You’ll see a lot of practical applications that are already built, and you can base on these to get some inspiration: https://www.outsystems.com/use-cases/
4. Practice the development activity: Actively practice what you are learning in the courses, by building those small apps or pieces of code that challenge your abilities. This will help you understand concepts of programming and will improve your skills to solve problems. There is a free version of the OutSystems Platform: https://www.outsystems.com/
5. Build your own portfolio of projects: While you gain experience to do development, start collecting your portfolio of developed applications. Think on personal apps or contributions that you can bring to our Forge components here: https://www.outsystems.com/forge
6. Join the events and community of practice: Collaborate with others in coding projects and the OutSystems forums. That will provide learning opportunities with some experienced developers. If you seek their help, you’ll gain more experience. There are several user groups worldwide, all are listed here: https://usergroups.outsystems.com/
7. Apply for junior-level positions: Most jobs are not for junior developers, but require on job experience. Best is to focus on internships or entry-level positions, for those companies that can give you the practice you need for growing your skills. You can apply for worldwide OutSystems jobs here: https://www.outsystems.com/community/jobs/
8. Consider taking certifications: During the trainings, you’ll learn several skills. Use this opportunity to take the certifications and enhance your credentials to open the door of additional opportunities. Consider the associate (beginner level) and go from there to specializations. You can find the certifications here: https://www.outsystems.com/certifications/
9. Learn continuously to stay up to date: Our technology world evolves rapidly and is crucial to know developments trends and latest updates of technology (think on this as continuous learning practice). Besides the online courses and events, you can increase your knowledge also by reading blogs: https://www.outsystems.com/blog/category/dev-zone/
10. Success comes with time and practice: Finally, it’s important to remember that it takes time to become a proficient developer. Only by practicing and experimenting you can get there. An essential point here is to be persistent, patient. It’s important to acknowledge that you’ll do a lot of mistakes, but be open to learn from them and also from others!

Good luck for your OutSystems journey!