For a while now, I’ve wanted to put together a collection of tips for up-and-coming software developers. I’m talking about talented guys and gals who dream of working on more exciting projects and maybe getting a little recognition. Not entirely sure how to go from code monkey to code ninja? I don’t have all the answers, of course, but each of these suggestions has personally helped me improve my career and discover other talented people that were definitely worth meeting.
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Write Code For Fun
For some software developers, coding only happens at the office. Once they step away from their desk, they won’t touch a compiler until tomorrow or after the weekend. On the other hand, many of the most successful developers I know write a little bit of code at home too. Some contribute to open source projects. Some simply build the occasional little utility for themselves. Some actually build something cool enough to become a product and make the developer a little extra money. Whatever the focus, side projects like these are a great way to explore interesting ideas and to learn new skills without all the deadlines and politics you deal with every day at work.
Obviously, you don’t need to make spend every night coding. By all means, have a social life. However, if you find yourself sitting on the couch in the middle of the week with nothing to do, brainstorm a project idea that you’ll find exciting and challenging.
Fun Side Project Ideas
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Use some libraries or APIs you’ve been itching to play with, but never had a reason to use in your everyday work.
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Create a new application or extension to an existing app that will help you get something done faster.
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Try to build something you’ve never seen anyone do with your technology-of-choice before.
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If all you know are web apps, switch it up, and learn how to write a compiler or an operating system kernel.
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Try to learn a new programming language.
Be ambitious. Stretch your limits. It’s okay if you fail. You’ll learn something no matter what the result.
For me, personally, coding in my free time has been the best way to learn anything about software development and various technologies. I jump into new frameworks, APIs, and technologies headfirst and come out with greater knowledge that helps me a thousand times over on the things I actually get paid to do. My co-workers often say “let’s ask Josh” when they run into trouble because they know I’ve spent a lot of time digging into a wide variety of features. In many cases, I’ve already discovered a bunch of quirks and bugs that they might run into, and I can often share workarounds so that they won’t get stuck for hours figuring it all out themselves like I had to do.
Though I never get paid directly for the time I spend on fun side projects at home, I’ve found that the skills and knowledge I gain on these sorts of projects earn me better rewards in the long run.
Study Software Architecture and Design Patterns
Beautiful code is useful, reusable, extensible. Strive to make the quality of your code better as your progress through your career. Figure out how to make functions and classes more generic. Find ways to make your code more extensible so that other developers can create custom functionality easily without changing the internals. Discover and experiment with new ways to get the same tasks done to figure out if you can do something better.
One good way to improve the quality of your code is to look at code written by other developers. Check out the code other members of your team have written. If you find something interesting or confusing, go over to their desk and ask about it. Your co-worker will probably enjoy knowing that you’re interested in his or her work, and you’ll learn something in the process. Alternatively (no, additionally!), look at the source code for prominent open source projects, and try to figure out how they work behind the scenes. I like to look at code from libraries and frameworks that I use in my daily work because I intimately know the input and output of many of the APIs already. If you’re feeling confident, see if you can improve any of the code, fix a bug, or add a new feature. One of the best ways to learn is to get your hands dirty and do some real work.
Likewise, you should let other developers look at your code and provide suggestions. As you probably know, in a professional environment, this is called code review. Allow them to ask questions and make critiques. Don’t be afraid of someone telling you that something in your module isn’t the best it could be. It’s easy to feel defensive about something that’s taken a lot of hard work, especially if you feel proud of how it turned out. I like to think about it this way: if my code isn’t the best it could be (most importantly, if it has bugs), I’d rather get it working properly now than to have a disgruntled user complain about its problems later. Even worse, they might give up completely and fail to tell me about what went wrong! Mistakes happen. Acknowledge that something isn’t perfect, and when you fix something after receiving a bug report, be happy that you have one less thing to worry about in the future.
Consider learning about design patterns. A design pattern is a commonly accepted way to structure your code to solve a type of software engineering problem. They don’t provide the complete solution with everything finished for you. Instead, they describe a more generic architecture that applies to multiple problems that have similar requirements. Generally, development frameworks are the best place to find extensive use of design patterns. Often, frameworks use patterns to help developers structure projects in a more standardized and efficient way. Additionally, their use of patterns help to decouple parts of a project so that future changes have a less impact across the entire codebase. Many teams like to use a single framework from one project to the next because it helps the developers become productive faster both when starting new projects and maintaining existing projects.
Start a Blog
You know all those cool little projects and experiments you’ll soon be building in your free time? Consider starting a blog where you can share that stuff with others. Blogs don’t just have to be diaries about the mundane details of your life. For many successful developers, a blog’s content can be as effective as a resume. I can’t tell you how many hiring managers have mentioned that they enjoyed reading a few of my recent blog posts. A blog with excellent descriptions of technical concepts, source code samples that follow best practices, and explain things in casual and friendly tone can be a strong supplement to help an interviewer evaluate a job candidate.
Allow people to comment on your blog posts. Be the person that starts (or continues) a great conversation. Don’t be afraid of feedback or criticism. Everyone learns by making mistakes. My Composition teacher from my freshman year in college once explained that the best essays tend to have the most red-ink feedback in the margins. Not the worst ones. He explained that if you get constructive feedback from someone, its generally because they like what you’ve created, and they see value in helping you improve it.
A Few Blog Post Ideas
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Share some clever code or a useful class you wrote, and explain how it helped you solve a difficult or normally tedious problem. If it helped you get something done easier or faster, it’s likely that other people can benefit from it too.
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Talk about the process you used to implement a project from beginning to end. Tell your audience what worked and what could be improved the next time you need to build something like that. Everyone wants to get their work done faster and more smoothly. Learning about the challenges another person has faced is a great way to be prepared for the future.
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Has a company relevant to your field announced a useful (or useless) new product or service, or has a prominent industry leader said something very controversial? Share your own opinion on the subject. Do not write a “me too” post that’s only a paragraph long just to link to another blog or website. Collect your thoughts and contribute to the conversation by writing a response to the news from your unique perspective. You may discover that all those lame “me too” posts start linking to your blog as well.
In short, focus on creating useful content that will help others or provide relevant information that they may not find anywhere else. If you put useful information out there, people will find it and then come back for more.
Join a community
Whether we’re talking mailing lists, user groups, conferences, or some other venue, developer communities spring up anywhere and everywhere. These communities can provide awesome ways to improve your skills by learning from others, to help others by sharing your own expert knowledge, and to meet like-minded developers that may become friends, colleagues, and a part of your growing professional network.
Though the least personal, mailing lists and forums are a great way to take a first step into participating in a technology community. While blogs are a bit more monolithic with a single source of discussion topics and shorter conversations (if any), forums and mailing lists produce more longer-term discussion on a wider variety of topics. In general, things are informal, and a lot of discussion (depending on the community, of course) starts from someone having a problem and looking for advice. In more active communities, discussions about frameworks, best practices, and new techniques for solving problems can grow to hundreds of messages and provide a wealth of real-world experience.
Conferences often give you access to a national or even worldwide community of people working with your technology of choice. They provide you with opportunities to travel, to meet prominent bloggers and community leaders, and to have a good time while staying relevant to work. They can be expensive, though, so you’ll often have to ask your employer to pay for your trip, and they’ll expect you get more out of the experience than personal networking. They want to know that their investment helped you learn something that will benefit their business. Your best bet for learning, especially if you’re like me and you already stay up-to-date on the latest and greatest through blogs and other online sources, is to go to sessions that cover technologies or features you don’t normally use or to focus on sneak-peek type sessions where something is being introduced for the first time.
If you’d rather stay near home, or if you don’t have the budget for a big conference, consider joining a local user group. These small city- or region-based communities generally offer free monthly meetings where developers can get together for a few hours chat about tech. There’s often a presentation by a group member or a visiting professional on topics similar to those found in conference sessions, followed by some informal discussion that may meander to a wide-variety of topics. After the meeting, everyone may go out for a couple beers and continue chatting about the tech they love. It’s a great way to find work, look for new employees, and learn what other developers are doing in your area. You may be surprised to discover which companies, big and small, have offices nearby. In my opinion, one of the best parts of a user group meeting is that the informal setting tends to make everyone more approachable and friendly. It’s not as intimidating as the crowds of several hundred to several thousand you’ll swim through at conferences.
Keep Yourself Motivated
Once you start down the road to success, things start to feel a bit different. People start showing you more respect. They ask for your opinions on how to best approach a problem. They listen more carefully when you have something to say. It feels great! However, that’s not reason to stop working hard to be a better developer.
If you stop working on fun side projects, learning new techniques, blogging, and participating in communities, you’re going to eventually fall behind. One day, you’ll discover that all the cool kids are “suddenly” doing things you don’t quite understand anymore. Sometimes, this is partially inevitable. Once you’ve become one of the best at what you do, you start to spend more time on very specialized projects. You end up in your own little bubble, and you can easily rationalize not staying on top of every new development. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but there’s a line between doing this and getting too comfortable or losing focus.
Many times, feeding the desire to become a better developer offers rewards that will continue to motivate you to do more. Praise and recognition along with chances to work on more exciting and interesting projects are often enough to keep you excited. At the same time, overstimulating yourself (by overscheduling) can be a powerful demotivator. With too much “real” work, you may find yourself too tired to do the fun stuff like blog or build side projects. When that happens, you lose a powerful influence: you won’t be stimulating your mind with new ideas from outside sources. I find myself at my most creative after I’ve worked on a project in another language or if I’ve talked shop with other developers working on widely-different projects.
Every developer is different. What works to keep me motivated may not be what works for you. If you’re feeling a little burnt out, take a moment evaluate what has changed recently. Brainstorm new ideas or find inspiration elsewhere. Many developers have non-programming hobbies like playing an instrument, working on cars, or mountain climbing (among many, many others). Often, it’s something that they consider both stimulating and relaxing at the same time. Don’t let yourself get stuck in a rut too long. Be proactive and figure out what it takes to get yourself back on track.
Final Thoughts
Certainly, I don’t consider this list of tips an exhaustive resource. Nor would I say that doing all these things will be right for every software developer. However, I’ve described many contributing success factors in my own personal career as I see them. I would have loved to read an article like this when I was just starting out. If you’re an experienced developer, what helped you get better at your job?