One technique to level up as a programmer
And become more productive
In this article, I want to outline a simple strategy that I have been using recently to increase the amount of code that I can write in a day. Let’s call it the efficiency and productivity hack, even if it is not a real hack, but just another procedure.
Now, this strategy relies on the premise I am going to outline for you here, which is that becomes difficult when you get into larger projects or just become more experiences as a programmer, is not writing the code itself, it’s knowing what code to write.
As soon as you have gained some experience in programming, and you get some certain programming tasks, you can write the code pretty fast. However, when the requirements are not specified clearly yet, it gets just harder knowing what to code. This exact scenario decreases productivity enormously.
I know this seems obvious, but especially for people who are getting into programming, often forget the fact, that thinking about the code and designing code is a separate thing from writing the code. If you are always switching between the tasks, of designing the code and writing the code, you will have a hard time getting into the flow state. Therefore, your productivity will decrease.
“Thinking about and designing code is a separate task from writing the code itself”
The same holds for full-stack developers which are working on the front-end and back-end simultaneously. Writing the view for a website, and right after writing the front-end for that specific website. Switching between different frameworks, or programming languages will decrease the efficiency of your workflow.
You are asking what is a better way to tackle a coding task.
Let’s assume you need to work on a new feature. First, you figure out what exactly is the new feature used for. How many different functions does your new feature need? You effectively start to break the feature down into smaller subtasks. To be even faster, use pen and paper to make a short block diagram of everything you need. The goal is to know exactly what and how you are going to write the code. Take your time and better make a strategy before hitting the keys.
Eventually, you have a clear idea about the code you are going to write. Now it’s time to start coding. In this way, you don’t need to stop regularly to think about what you are doing, but are more likely to come into a productive workflow.
I know this seems obvious for many of you, but for many beginners, this is not obvious at all.
Thanks for reading!
If this article was helpful to you, consider following me for zero cost. It would mean a lot to me.
