What it takes to become a kick-ass Software Developer

I started out on my “quest” to become a badass software developer a while ago, don’t ask me when — it’ll only bore you. What I’d rather share with you are the things I’ve learned — and things I am still learning about becoming a very good developer.

It was never easy having to stay up all night looking at the computer screen trying to understand what this means or what message those lines of code are trying to convey, but it really is paying off now. What do you get from this?

PERSISTENCE

This is one of the very key things you need to become a very good software developer. I have learnt that if you are going to become a very good developer, you have to be persistent, codes can be frustrating a lot of times but when you set your mind to knowing it, you surely will get it, just keep trying, keep pushing, you have resources like StackOverflow at your disposal and you learn how to make Google your friend.

When you just start learning something, you may be like…

You will be afraid to make mistakes and when you finally do make one, you will almost freak out, almost hating that you’ve spent some time learning nothing. But truth is, it gets better. Through persistence, you can go on and on and better and better.

DISCIPLESHIP

This is also very important. Get for yourself someone you can be a disciple to — a MENTOR. When you have someone you can always go to should you have a problem learning, it relieves you of the stress of having to figure out all solutions to every problem you have by yourself. And you get the goodies: extra tips to what you’re currently learning or working on.

DISCIPLINE, DEDICATION, COMMITMENT

This is what I refer to as DDC. These three things are essential if you’re gonna become a badass software engineer/developer. Imagine someone giving you three hours to work on a project every day for a whole week, Discipline dictates that you stick to that and Dedication dictates that you make sure that you are focused on only that thing for those hours, Commitment dictates that you make the Discipline and Dedication a habit. This I learned in these past weeks and it has really helped me a lot in moving forward on my own.

PRACTISE, PRACTISE, PRACTISE

Well, this is quite clear enough. Keep practicing till you get better. Step out of your comfort zone, try using a Project-based approach for your learning (that is, assume imaginary projects and work towards their completion). This approach is what I’ve been using to learn. You should try it too…

Never stop developing! It gets better!