How to Improve the Quality of Life in This Pandemic as A Web Developer
It is on the 12th of May. I have watched all of my videos on the watch list, fished some of the games on my steam’s library, and I still have so much free time besides work. So, as a developer, I have some tips for you to stay productive and improve yourself in this pandemic. I know that some of us are happy with the current situation, but some of us may not. But we can all have a bit of improvement.
It is time to improve the quality of code for your quality of life.
Quality of life, or in short QoL, is a term referring to the quality of the various domains in human life. It is an expected standard level that consists of the expectations of an individual or society for a good life. These expectations are guided by the values, goals, and socio-cultural context in which an individual lives. In code, QoL is usually aligned with the quality of code or program you create. The more robust, modular, readable, and easy to maintain the code or program you create, the easier your work will be. As a result, you can focus more of your time to improve your life.
Think of this as a future investment, because not every developer can maintain their code quality. Unhealthy programmers write lousy code, and lousy code will result in overworked and stress during development time. It usually happens during the early stage of your career as a programmer, and the more senior you become, the company will require you to react and deliver projects faster. This scenario will become a disaster if you do not start improving your code quality.
Since we have so much extra time during this pandemic, we can start to improve our code quality.
First,
start by opening all your previous projects and document all your code. Documenting the code can be done simply by commenting on your code. Give a simple explanation of your code, so when you look at it later, you understand what this particular line of code functionally is.
Second,
while documenting all your code, you will understand or remember the structure of your code. When you know the structure of your code, you can start to simplify the code and make it more modular by removing any code that has the same functionality or creating some variable that holds the equal value to be more accessible. This will make your code less messy. After that, you can start to do some experimentation to simplify some functions on your program.
A function in your program may achieve what you require it to do. But the question is, is it effective, or is it overkill?. For example, I have a code to change the color of a button using jQuery, and other scripts are using javascript. If jQuery only uses for that purpose, then you can start to look at the pure javascript implementation for changing the color of a button since you are not fully utilizing jQuery for other purposes, and that only will result in bloated performance. If your code somehow bloated the performance of the program, then it is time to analyze your code and start to simplify it.
Third,
make your code more readable. When giving a name on a function or a variable, make it so other people can understand what it means. It will help both of you, and your teammate understands the functionality of the code and also lower the hassle to explain the code if you need to hand over the project to other teammates.
It is time to update your knowledge.
When you have plenty of time during this pandemic, it is better to improve your knowledge. For instance, if you master the CSS, then you can start learning SASS framework. Learning a framework will help you to ease your future development because frameworks offer more useful functionality and a standardized set of concepts, practices, and criteria for dealing with a common type of problem. Learning some framework will fasten your development time, much cleaner code, have common solutions to some issues, compatibility with many platforms, and catching up with current technology.
Well, that’s it some tips from me as a web developer to maximize your free time during the pandemic.
In conclusion, it is time to improve your code quality and your knowledge. So when the pandemic ends, we can come out more prepared to deal with more challenging tasks that await us in the future and also fasten our work life and lessen the stress level so we can have a better quality of life.
Indra is a senior developer in Catalyst Strategy, a strategic narrative consulting firm based in Jakarta. Catalyst Strategy helps leaders create a better world through better narratives.
