Why I Got Dropped From My First Dev Job (And Why It Was the Best Thing That Happened to Me)

Three months into my first real developer job, I got let go.

Not laid off due to budget cuts. Not because the company was downsizing. I was dropped because I couldn't keep up — and deep down, I knew exactly why.

I had built my entire career on a foundation of sand, and it finally collapsed under the weight of real-world expectations.

I knew React. I knew Next.js. I could spin up a TypeScript project with Tailwind, connect it to PostgreSQL or MongoDB, and ship something that looked professional. I had built a full school management system during university. On paper, I was ready.

But when bugs appeared in production, I couldn't debug them. When performance issues cropped up, I didn't know where to start. When someone asked me to explain why something worked, I'd freeze.

I was a framework developer, not a real one.

Getting dropped was humbling. But it was also the wake-up call I needed. So I did something that felt crazy at the time: I enrolled in a coding bootcamp to relearn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript from scratch.

Here's the story of how I got here — and why slowing down might be exactly what you need too.

How I Ended Up in Over My Head

If you're learning web development in 2025, you're probably being told to skip the "boring stuff" and jump straight to React or Next.js or whatever's trendy this month. The tutorials say you can build a full-stack app in a weekend. The job postings list ten frameworks but barely mention JavaScript.

It's tempting to believe you can speedrun your way to becoming a developer.

I fell for it.

During my third year of Computer Engineering, I discovered web development in a Software Design course and fell in love. I could build anything — that's what hooked me. But university only taught theory, so I taught myself the practical side. And by "taught myself," I mean I followed YouTube tutorials, copied code from documentation, and prayed it worked.

It did work. For a while.

I landed a 240-hour internship at Cauld and Clark IT Solutions during college, then got hired full-time after graduation in 2025. I was maintaining an inventory system, helping build an IT ticketing platform similar to Jira. Real work. Real projects. I thought I'd made it.

But I was always one question away from being exposed.

"Why did you use useEffect here instead of useLayoutEffect?"

"Can you explain how JavaScript's event loop works?"

"What's actually happening when you call setState?"

I didn't know. I'd memorized patterns, but I didn't understand them.

The Moment Everything Fell Apart

The breaking point came during a debugging session. A feature I'd built was causing random UI glitches — buttons that wouldn't respond, data that wouldn't update. I stared at my code for hours, Googling error messages, trying random fixes from Stack Overflow.

Nothing worked.

A senior developer looked at my code for five minutes and found the issue: I was mutating state directly instead of creating a new object. A basic JavaScript concept I should have understood cold.

"You need to understand how JavaScript handles references," he said, not unkindly. "Frameworks are just abstractions over the language. If you don't know the language, you're guessing."

He was right. I was guessing.

That incident wasn't isolated. I kept hitting walls — problems I couldn't solve, questions I couldn't answer, concepts I should have known but didn't. My pull requests took forever to get approved because I needed so much guidance. Tasks that should have taken hours stretched into days.

Three months in, my manager pulled me aside. The conversation was professional but clear: I wasn't meeting expectations. They needed someone who could work more independently, someone with a stronger foundation. They were letting me go.

I was devastated. But I also couldn't argue with them.

Why Going Back to Basics Isn't "Wasting Time"

After getting dropped, I had a choice: double down on learning more frameworks to pad my resume, or admit I'd been building on a shaky foundation and fix it properly.

I chose the harder path.

I enrolled in a full-stack web development bootcamp (running until April 2026) that starts from absolute basics — HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript. No frameworks. No shortcuts.

I know what you're thinking: "But the job market wants React developers, not HTML experts. Why would you spend months learning 'old' technology when you could be building your portfolio?"

Here's why:

1. Frameworks change. Fundamentals don't.

React won't be the hot framework forever. Five years ago it was Angular. Five years before that, jQuery. But HTML, CSS, and JavaScript? They're not going anywhere. When you understand the core language, picking up new frameworks becomes trivial.

2. You'll actually understand what you're building.

When you know how the DOM works, React's virtual DOM makes sense. When you understand closures and scope, hooks click immediately. When you know CSS layout models, Tailwind becomes a tool instead of magic incantations you copy-paste.

3. You'll debug faster and build better.

Most bugs aren't framework bugs — they're JavaScript bugs. Most performance issues aren't React issues — they're DOM manipulation or network issues. When you know the fundamentals, you can trace problems to their source instead of frantically trying random solutions.

4. You'll actually be employable long-term.

Every junior developer can say they know React. But can they explain event delegation? Can they build a responsive layout without a framework? Can they write clean, vanilla JavaScript that actually works?

Understanding fundamentals makes you reliable. And reliable developers don't get dropped.

What I'm Doing Differently This Time

Right now, I'm deep in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript fundamentals in my bootcamp. And it's humbling.

I'm learning things I thought I already knew:

• How CSS specificity actually works (not just throwing !important at everything)
• What JavaScript's this keyword really refers to in different contexts
• How to build layouts without reaching for Flexbox or Grid as a crutch
• Why understanding asynchronous JavaScript matters before you touch async/await

I'm also applying what I learned from mentoring other students during university. When I taught programming to juniors and seniors through our Computer Engineering program, I always started with the hard parts first, then simplified. I used visuals, analogies, and live coding to break down complex concepts.

Now I'm doing that for myself.

The difference is night and day. Concepts that used to confuse me now make sense. Problems that would have taken hours now take minutes. I'm not just memorizing patterns — I'm understanding why they work.

A Challenge for You

If you're a junior developer right now — or trying to become one — ask yourself this:

Could you build your current project without any frameworks or libraries?

Not "would you want to" (no one wants to rebuild React). But could you?

If the answer is no, you might be heading down the same path I was.

You don't need to wait until you get dropped like I did. But you might need to slow down. Pick one fundamental concept you're shaky on — closures, promises, the event loop, CSS positioning — and spend a week really understanding it. Build something small with just vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

It'll feel slow. It'll feel inefficient. You'll be tempted to reach for a framework to "save time."

Don't.

Because here's the truth: you're not saving time by skipping the basics. You're borrowing it. And eventually, that debt comes due — sometimes in the form of a conversation with your manager that ends with "we're letting you go."

Where I'm Headed

After my bootcamp ends in April 2026, I'll be ready for a junior-to-mid level full-stack role — or maybe I'll launch my own venture. Either way, I'll be building on a foundation I actually understand.

I'll still use React, Next.js, and all the modern tools. But this time, I won't be guessing. I'll know why things work, not just that they work.

And when the next challenge comes — because it will — I won't crumble. Because frameworks are just tools. And if you understand the fundamentals, you can handle anything.

Getting dropped from my first dev job was painful. But it forced me to confront a truth I'd been avoiding: you can't fake understanding forever.

Sometimes the best thing that can happen to you is getting knocked down early — before you build an entire career on a foundation that was never solid to begin with.

If this resonated with you, I'd love to connect. I'm always happy to talk about code, teaching, or why learning the hard way is sometimes the only way that sticks.

And if you're feeling overwhelmed right now, faking it till you make it — you're not alone. Slow down. Go back to basics.

Your future self will thank you.