What did I learn as a Software Developer?

By bagarbillu

Today I am going to address one of the most important questions in the life of a software developer which gets missed quite often by many of us. Or even if it comes under notice we manage to overlook this thing by keeping ourselves occupied in the race of writing better code, maybe watching some cool stuff on Youtube, or maybe doing both at the same time. Well that increases our productivity, right?

At the beginning of a career, every one of us is so excited about writing code and delivering as fast as possible but as time goes on we notice that once we attain a certain benchmark we find our work mundane and it becomes a kind of boring to do the same thing repeatedly and we carve for more interesting projects and look out for better opportunities. Is being a delivery oriented guy and having the ability to code fast in different languages are the only primary skillsets for a Software Developer?

It is not enough to do your best: you must KNOW what to do, and THEN do your best.

- W.Edwards Deming

Well.. well.. well.. in my opinion, there are many other things that in real-time doesn’t seem too apt to follow but in a long run are definitely a game-changer for anyone who has mastered it. What are the skillsets that help a person to grow as a Software Developer?

• Writing code is just not enough:- Many people write good code but still don’t go a long way because whenever we work on some products we as a developer have to develop the habit of taking ownership of our work. Taking ownership not only helps other members of the team but also shapes you as a software developer.
• Documentation:- It is one of the most important skills that every developer must have, at first it looks so exciting to deliver products and move on to new features but the problem begins when we don’t have proper documentation in place for existing features. Documentation helps a lot in knowledge transfer.
• Team Player:- It doesn’t matter if you are an ACM ICPC champion or having a good rank on a coding platform having a generous nature helps you go a long way rather than showing off your medals. Being a team player builds trust and respect among the team.
• Mentorship:- Always be willing to help new members of the team and make them feel comfortable by mentoring them.
• Expressive:- By far this is the most important skill that all of us must have and if we feel that we are not expressive enough then my dear friends we need to start working on this as soon as possible. Being expressive not only helps you to put your thoughts to others but also helps you to build confidence.
• Bugs and Fixes:- let’s be honest on this bugs can come anytime, anywhere whether we are very confident about our code or not it doesn’t matter. It’s a very good habit to develop and grow ourselves as a debugger it goes a very long way better start developing before than later. A good debugging skill not only helps to troubleshoot a critical bug but also saves the time and effort required to find it.

It’s hard enough to find an error in your code when you’re looking for it; its even harder when you’ve ASSUMED your code is ERROR-FREE.

- Steve McConnell

• Customer and product:- While building any new feature always think from the customer’s point of view or the end-user who is going to use the product will give you clarity and a better understanding of the product. Understanding customers’ language and problems will bring maturity to your personality.
• Code efficiency:- Always try to improve your coding efficiency- learning better ways of implementing things in a time-boxed manner. Always do some POC on your computer. Solve programming questions online. It may show your real talent in programming. You will garner immense respect from your colleagues, boss, and clients with this quality!
• Failures:- Its a part of the process I believe we should never be afraid of failures rather we should always strive to learn from our mistakes and take the responsibility to do better, having consistency and patience helps us go a long way.
• Good Manager:- Manager is the first point of contact with your organization where you are working. No matter how well the organization is whether it is a start-up, or big MNC’s if you have a good manager, working in the organization is not only fun but it adds up to your productivity and growth. Always make sure you have a good manager.
• Be Thankful:- Always be thankful to people who helped you learn a lot in this journey and try to make time out of your busy schedule to spend some quality time with them whether be it in the office or pub it helps a lot.

Those were my learning so far keeping the knowledge of Java, Javascript, Goland aside😅. I believe we always have to keep learning and thrive to do better with each day because that’s all we have in our hands, accepting suggestions and constructive criticism to improve further on my writing skills is my job. What’s yours?