Kakao Junior Server Developer's 1-Year Growth Journey: From Onboarding to First Deployment

Bob, a junior server developer in Kakao's Melon Product Development Cell, shared his growth process on his first work anniversary. He had no prior server development experience before joining, and was overwhelmed during a hackathon, but developed practical skills through Kakao's systematic onboarding program and team mentoring.

Systematic Onboarding and Initial Adaptation

Kakao operates a 2-month onboarding program for new developers. The first two weeks focus on learning company culture and work methods, followed by a one-month period of gaining actual development experience through group projects. During this time, Bob intensively studied Spring and Java, and solidified his fundamentals by participating in an Android app backend development project using internal infrastructure.

Deployment to Practical Work and Tech Stack Expansion

After department placement, Bob learned Docker, Jenkins, Kotlin, and Kubernetes alongside his work, in addition to the team's tech stack of Spring and Java. For two months starting in May, he gained practical skills by performing toy projects needed by the team, such as developing an admin login page and configuring batch scheduling.

First Commercial Service Deployment and Growth

From July, Bob worked with senior developer Jasper on the KakaoTalk emoticon and Melon subscription payment integration project. He was responsible for API module development and service application, correcting mistakes and acquiring practical knowledge through the senior's code reviews. The project successfully concluded on December 31, allowing him to experience his first commercial service deployment and grow to a stage where he could handle operations independently.