Habits are what make us who we are.
Good habits help you to become who you want to be. Bad habits will slowly turn you into someone you don't want to be. What makes a successful Developer different from others is their habits. Think of all the successful persons that you have ever admired, it's because of the habits that they are successful.
"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." - Jim Rohn
Have a look at the habits described below and have thought if they would help you become who you want to be. Be conscious of your habits and actively nurture them to become a Highly Effective Developer.
Don't be afraid to ask questions.
When you have shifted to a new project or switched jobs. You might not be aware of the project structure and working. It's good to ask questions for something you don't know or if you are confused about something.
There is nothing wrong with not knowing something, it will happen often in life, so get used to it and embrace it. If you don't something grab the opportunity to learn something from someone who knows about it. They won't look down on you and 99 percent of people will be happy to help and explain it to you.
Volunteer for Things You Don't Know
As discussed in the above point, you don't know a lot about the project At the start of your career or the start of any new project, or When you join a new project. You might not understand many of the acronyms, technologies, and frameworks they're throwing around in each meeting.
In any of the cases, It's important to learn new stuff. If you just keep doing the things you know, you'll never be confident about starting a new project. There will always be the fear of the unknown. If you volunteer for tasks you don't know anything about, you will constantly learn new things.
Doing stuff you're not confident about doing is a great way to grow. It also helps you to be confident of yourself that even if you don't know anything about the task. You might be able to achieve success in it. Be sure to tell your team that even though you haven't done it before but you would like to learn. It will build up their confidence in you.
Write clean code
A good habit that has the potential to make you a successful developer is to write a clean code. It means that your code should be readable, simple, easy to understand, easy to change, and easy to take care of. If you are joining any new team, you can check with your team members and peers for any existing code practice they are following. Most likely, they might be following one as most teams do. Get familiar with them. And, most importantly, write comments.
Also, here are 2 great articles to learn more.
Learn new technologies
Highly successful software engineers are constantly learning about new trends in the industry and applying them directly to their work. To stay relevant as a software developer, you need to continually build on your skills and stay up-to-date with new technologies, frameworks, and platforms.
The easiest way to keep up to date is probably to read. There are a lot of resources available for free to help you skill. Read blogs, articles, about developer surveys, etc. to stay updated. Instead of listening to a radio or songs on your way to work, check out news from the developer's world on a podcast.
Write a Blog
I'm probably not the first person you've heard saying this, but nevertheless: write a blog! A blog is useful for many reasons :
- It will reinforce your knowledge of topics.
- The best way to learn something in depth is to teach it to somebody else!
- Demonstrate your knowledge. Tell the world that you know the topic well.
- Many people will find your blog useful.
- You can connect with a lot of like-minded people who are interested in the same topic.
To reduce lengthy reading, the article has been distributed in parts. Click to read part 2