Master the Art of Programming with These 4 Transformative Steps
As professionals in software development, we must keep in mind that we want to do our best work and that the work we do has valuable meaning both in our lives and in the lives we affect with it.
Spanish version
Introduction
Surely you take the above into account, it is the passion for code and programming that moves you in that direction, but unfortunately, almost unconsciously, we forget about it, either because of the passage of time or simply by putting the autopilot in our life and start acting without the necessary awareness.
Whether you have been programming for half your life or are just studying something related to the world of software development, you must have a clear mind and always remember that…
We want to do our best work, have it mean something, and preferably enjoy doing what we have chosen as a way to make a living.
The Ikigai tells us that your reason for being, what makes life worth living, is based on four concepts.
1. Do What Generates Passion
This is about the state of flow from Tao. If you know Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book Flow, then you know what I’m talking about.
DHH also talks about this in the Ruby on Rails Doctrine when he says:
The discovery of Ruby marked my own personal transition from ‘doing programming because I needed programs’ to ‘doing programming because I fell in love with it as a mode of exercise and intellectual expression.’ It was finding a source of flow and being able to turn it on at will. For anyone familiar with Csikszentmihalyi’s work, the impact of this is difficult to overstate.
Author: DHH
2. Help Others
This refers to an article I wrote some time ago about being content with your life and how you can achieve this through the fusion of your goals and contributing something positive to others — whether it be your family, neighborhood, colleagues or company. By orienting your work towards cooperating with society, if you are a software developer then your work is important and with your talent and creativity you have the opportunity to help a lot of people.
3. Be Good at Something
Clarifying this point, you don’t need to have been born with a special ability. Being good at something is more about having the self-discipline to learn and improve constantly, as Kaizen advises, rather than just relying on the talents you were born with.
Perseverance is worth more than innate talent.
That’s why I just wrote the series on “The Pragmatic Programmer” which you can start reading from here. It gives you the philosophy of a professional programmer and takes it as a guide and path to follow in order to always be evolving for the better.
4. Make a Living
Last but not least, making money doing what you love, what you’re good at and what helps others. As they say, “If you enjoy your work, you won’t work a single day in your life.”
Think about it — if you’re in the world of software development, then surely you’ll make good money, but that’s not the end goal of your work; don’t make it your main objective. It’s a by-product of having in mind what I’m talking about here — being a professional who’s always concerned with continuous improvement, doing what they love, and helping to improve people’s quality of life around them.
Conclusion:
Always keep these four concepts of Ikigai in mind — do what generates passion, help others, improve constantly at what you’re good at and make money doing it. Always remember that your work as a software developer is important and that you have the power to impact many people’s lives with your creativity and talent. Don’t turn money into your main goal, but rather into an effect of doing what you love and helping others. By following these steps, you will become the best programmer that you can be.
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