Every person entering the tech world has a different story behind it. Some start developing virtual games and creating servers just because it needs to be revised. Others spend years and years in a career path that doesn’t spark joy.
Nortal company strongly believes in a triangle of skill, learning mindset, and openness to adaptability and change. Therefore, our junior program, Nortal Leap (ex- Nortal university), is a successful way to start a career in JAVA, .NET, Test Automation, and other frameworks in need in the current market. One of the people is Gediminas Redeckas, our Nortal Leap alumni, who is now an irreplaceable person in our Java Developers team. 
How did you start your journey toward tech? What was your career path?
I had Java introduction courses during my university studies, but it did not click with me right away. It took me a few years to come back. My career back then consisted of quite a number of manual tasks, which were not that interesting to me. Eventually, I started working on automation with scripts just because the way I was spending my days before was honestly demotivating me.
I quickly became much better at those scripts, and I decided to fully emerge into this field. Soon after, I had to remember my old Java courses at university to improve.
How did you start mastering the tech?
There are many options and ways where to start. At first, I was learning on my own with Udemy courses. Learning on my own was working well but going deeper into hands-on tasks was still challenging. I decided to speed up my learning process by joining the coding academy.
What were the main criteria for your first tech company? What were you looking for in the employer?
When I finished my coding courses, I quickly realized that many companies want quantity rather than quality. Also, the junior programs and internships demanded 1 year of experience with projects or unpaid work in general.
I was looking for a company willing to invest in junior programmers with little to no experience and tons of motivation. Then I found Nortal, which offered real work and salary, projects, a team, a personal mentor, and the ability to learn from hands-on tasks. It seemed challenging because of all the trust I was able to get. Still, this trust in me was one of the main drivers to concentrate on the test assignment and do my best to get the invitation to join the company.
What are your first ‘wow’ moments in the first days of being a junior developer at Nortal?
I was amazed at how much everybody cared about my well-being, especially during the first days. Don’t know something? Just ask. Anybody. If nobody knows – they will guide you to someone who knows. That is important because the first days can be very intimidating – new faces, fields, and corridors, right?
After my training week, I quickly started working on an actual project with millions of users. I did get stuck, but I wasn’t worried. My mentor at that time was the first one who helped me find solutions.
What’s the next goal?
The sky is the limit. My next goal is to become a Senior developer. I just need to read, listen, try, fail, sometimes cry, ask, learn, and try again. I see myself reaching this goal with Nortal.
What is your cheat sheet for another junior developer considering joining the IT world?
Let’s start from the basics. Everyone must read the book “Clean Code”. Some parts of this book can be a bit too much, but skipping them is okay, and coming back after you get more experience.
Additionally, I recommend trying to complete this course: https://java-programming.mooc.fi/. This is the University of Helsinki’s free Object-Oriented Programming course with Java.
And, of course, invest in your research before joining the first tech company. It can be one of the most critical career decisions because it will shape how you see challenges, development, and teamwork.