Everyone wants to be good at what they do, especially in what you do for a living. It’s not an easy task, and you won’t be able to achieve it overnight. To become good at anything, It requires dedication and lots of patience. Becoming a better programmer is no difference.
I have been working as a software engineer for nearly ten years now. I’m no expert in this field, but the things which I will be discussing in this article has helped me to become better in what I am doing.
Follow the correct channels and correct people.
In general, IT is a very fast-paced industry. Almost every day, dozens of things come to the market and it’s essential that you keep yourself up to date with the latest stuff. It’s difficult to track everything that is going around. At Least trying to keep track of what’s happening with the technologies that you are currently using would be helpful for you to be better at your work.
There are lots of newsletters, forums, websites available to help you with this. You can pick one or a maximum of two of these and dedicate a couple of hours daily to go through them and see whether there are things that interest you. You mustn’t subscribe to lots of these new sources because, at the end, it will end up spamming your mailbox.
Personally, I find medium.com is a good source of information. You can select the topics you are interested in and subscribe to them to get daily updates. For example, I have subscribed to programming, which gives excellent information.
Following the correct people/organizations on twitter is another right way to get the latest news. For sure, you will be able to learn new tips and improve your self. Below are a few people that I follow on twitter.
Get your code reviewed
Before pushing your code to master, it’s always good to ask a few of your colleagues to review your code to see whether it’s doing what it’s supposed to do. They might find some bugs, better ways to write the same thing in a few lines of code, or even may come up with some suggestions to improve performance. It’s learning for both parties. Also, you must be open-minded for changes/ suggestions from them.
Review others code
This is equally important as getting your code reviewed by others. You should allocate some time to read others’ code genuinely. I have seen people accept pull-requests just for the sake of doing it. But I think you should go through each change and try to understand what it does. You would be surprised to see how much you can learn by doing this. Also, another important fact is, you should not spend more than 10-15 minutes at a stretch to read code. You will get bored and lose focus.
Contribute to open-source projects
I’ve started contributing open source projects while I was in University because it helped me to gain some early experience. It also helps you to improve your coding skills because you will be working with some smart and experienced people from all around the world. This will also help you to build your profile and gain recognition for your work. Contributing to open-source plays a major role in your journey to become a better programmer.
Do side projects
These are the projects that you do outside of work. It can be something you build to get some extra income or something you do to learn a new language. Either way, there is a high chance that you will learn something which you can add to your profile, or you can show in your next interview. If it’s something that you want to show to others, don’t forget to add it to your GitHub profile too.
Listen to music while you work
I have worked in few organizations throughout my career. All of them are open space office environments, which has lots of benefits. But sometimes it can get a little noisy, and it will be challenging to focus on your work. I highly suggest you invest in an excellent noise-canceling headphone (i can recommend Bose quite comfort) and put on some music while you are working. The type of music that you want to listen to can depend on the person. I prefer listening to music without lyrics while working
Take care of yourself.
While you do all the above stuff, it’s equally important that you save some time to take care of yourself, software development is hard. There is no argument about it. You won’t notice how fast time goes by while you are busy with work.
Do not sit continuously for more than 1 hour at your seat. If you are stuck on something for a few hours, then take a break, stand up and get something to drink. There is a high possibility that you might find a solution after you come back.
Also, try to work out at least twice per week. After a hard day of work, it feels terrific to go to the gym and get rid of the lousy sweat :).
If possible, take a long vacation once per year. Our brains need a break, and it deserves it.
Hope these things will help you to become a better programmer