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Before gaining access to the code repository, ask colleagues for the pom.xml file and try to download Nexus dependencies.
Without actual code but with the Nexus libraries, we can actually decompile the JAR or experiment with the libraries. We can do quite a few things. Think outside the box.
It is preferable to configure User Tokens in the Sonatype Nexus Repository in settings.yaml.
Don’t wait for access request ticket approvals. Before you have access rights, think about what you can do.
Much of the job can be done before you start working. One can familiarize themselves with almost everything in advance. Everything has open-source substitute code or materials.
A job often involves specific settings, slightly different code logic, and access rights or passwords to get things done.
Foresee the next phase of the project. Consider how the current project will progress and what users will need or expect.
Think of all possible ways to do the job, make progress, and prepare as much as possible before you get access rights or the materials others will provide.
Don’t settle; get things done and automate as much as possible.
Use the Python requests library to replace Postman.
Windows and PowerShell are also viable options. The commonly used commands are limited to a few dozen. Learn them well.
Consider how an engineer might work on this project for 5 or 10 years, and think about how to achieve similar efficiency quickly.
Use notes and logs directories. Carefully copy logs from the console or frontend pages for detailed analysis.
Think about how to convey this knowledge to newly joined team members.
Think about what we can achieve if everyone does their best and we have 50 such engineers.
Libraries that can be easily downloaded from internal Nexus repositories can be manually downloaded and placed in the .m2 repository.
Read the pom.xml file to determine the Maven compile target and the required JDK version for the project.
Instead of searching Jira or Confluence, directly construct a URL to go to the profile and locate pages.
If we encounter a bug, for example if npm run build has problems in a large build pipeline, we can run it separately to ensure it works before running the entire pipeline. This makes the debug cycle faster and smaller.
The problems or similar bugs will recur repeatedly throughout your career, so make sure you keep notes about them. This practice remains useful even in the AI era. Sometimes, large language models provide answers that aren’t entirely accurate and require you to verify them.
In some large companies, the progress of AI chatbots or internal AI tools may be slow. We can use our personal computers to learn related public technologies with AI tools after work. This makes it less cumbersome to work on corporate computers since we are already familiar with a lot.
If working in programming, set up a program profiler, IDE, code checkstyle, coding assistants, database tools, and Git tools in the first weeks. Use them regularly to boost productivity.
Working at banks or big tech can feel quite restrained due to its strict security policies. However, it depends. You can still download or install many java libraries or packages as you like. With AI, you basically can do tons of things.
Treat corporate work as if you are working on your own projects. Although you need to follow the direction of the team, even when following that direction, there are opportunities to choose different tasks or suggest tasks that you like, as long as they bring value to the project.
Explore all choices when dealing with IDEs, software, tools, VS Code extensions, different functionalities, and ways of doing things. In the limiting working laptop of big tech or big banks, you can still tweak it for a more enjoyable workstation.

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