Five mistakes that every programmer makes.
How to learn from your mistakes and avoid repeating them in the future.
Introduction
If you are a programmer, you understand how challenging it is to produce quality code. You must be able to think rationally and break down a problem into its basic components. You must also be analytical and able to see things from several perspectives (for example, “How will this affect other systems?”). Finally, adequate writing abilities are required so that people may understand what your code does—or, more importantly, what it does not do!
However, not every developer is an expert in every field! Most programmers are not even skilled in one of them, and they are often ignorant of it since they do not understand how much effort it takes to excel at something as complex as programming.
Here are five common mistakes a programmer (including me) often makes
1. Thinking they are perfect
You are most likely not a developer who believes they are fantastic and can fix any problem on their own, but you may have extremely high expectations and refuse to seek assistance. The worst thing you can do is believe that you have such vast knowledge that no one else knows anything. There will always be individuals who know more than you about some topics
To be a good developer, you must be open to learning from anyone and everyone. Rather than being hesitant to ask questions or make errors, when necessary, practice learning from the experiences of others (and mistakes).
2. Not understanding the problem
Misunderstanding the circumstance is one of the most typical faults I see. This is a serious problem, since how can you accomplish anything if you do not know what you are working on?
Unfortunately, it is all too common for people to misjudge the scale of the work that must be done. This frequently leads to overcommitment and, sometimes, undercoating. This usually results in hastily written, incomplete code being pushed due to tight deadlines, which cannot now be modified and results in a large number of errors in testing or, worse, in production. This not only does not look good for a coder, but it also harms the team’s reputation.
To prevent this, it is essential to ask the questions, even if they appear trivial, before committing to anything and to never begin coding directly.
3. Not commenting on their code
Placing comments in your code is an effective way to let people understand what you are doing and why. But do not go too far; I have seen comments that read like essays, with all the weird opinions (which often do not even relate to the issue) the programmer has.
There are a few easy things we can do as developers to ensure that our code is understandable without clogging up the page:
- Create meaningful variable and method names (this makes them easier for other people to read through).
- If the code is too complex, add stages and create a one-liner describing what each step is supposed to do. (If the code can be broken into small functions that is even better)
- Most programming languages, such as Python’s docstring, allow you to add a summary to a function declaration so that it may be quickly retrieved to understand the method’s purpose. Make the most of it.
It is not rare for a programmer to change jobs, in which case someone else will be responsible for maintaining your work, and vice versa. So, if you want to feel at ease in your new job, have a seamless transition, and anticipate the code you will be working on being simple to comprehend, start doing it yourself first.
4. Being afraid to ask for help
As you can see, programmers make a lot of mistakes. But, in my opinion, the most common is a fear of asking for help. They have no idea how to accomplish something, and it is tricky for them to figure it out on their own, yet they do not want anybody to help them because that would make them appear inept.
This is a huge blunder! You should never be reluctant to seek assistance when you need it because everyone who appears to be an expert currently went through the same learning process. And they would not have reached this point if they had been too frightened to seek help.
Instead, I would suggest that you not only seek their guidance but also study each step they take to tackle your problem. That is how you will improve and grow in your field.
5. Becoming too attached to his/her code
You should be proud of your code if it is well-written, readable, and efficient. However, do not allow your ego to prevent you from adding improvements or changes to an established project.
Do not be afraid to remove code that no longer works; a concept typically requires more time than we assume before it becomes excellent software. If another developer can come up with a more effective technique to accomplish what you want, do not be afraid to ask for his or her assistance in refactoring your code.
Conclusion
We are humans, and we excel at making and learning from our mistakes. So, do not be afraid to make mistakes, but it’s also vital to recognize when, how, and why we make them and strive to prevent doing them repeatedly. I hope this post has made you aware of one or more of the previously listed mistakes you are making and has inspired you to begin working to correct them to advance your career.
