Guide to Become a Great Developer
3 min readAug 13, 2021
Starting a career in software engineering can be both exciting and frightening at the same time. It takes a lot of time to master it and once you think you have done it all, new technologies and programming languages keep coming. Like any other crafts, it takes a year of practice t master it.
Here are some insights that would help you become a better developer.
- Find a great mentor: Finding a great mentor is the key. A good mentor will provide sound advice on everything from architecture to design, and even how to improve your career path. The mentor might not necessarily be someone you know. Try connecting to people from LinkedIn. Try Reaching out to industry experts who have had remarkable achievements in their careers.
- Keep reminding yourself that you are there to learn: A major mistake most developers make is that they tend to skip some concepts they feel they already have an idea on. Doing so makes you miss some essential concepts which might cause a problem for you in the future. Learn everything with the mindset that this is the first time you are learning it. Never be overconfident.
- Start writing code every day: It may sound obvious, but you’ve got to start writing code every day. You might be busy, but trust me there’s a reason we all keep telling you to write code every day. It’s because it works. Writing code every day keeps your skills sharp. Each day you will be learning something new by applying the things you learned into a code.
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes: Mistakes happen. Especially when you are coding, encountering an error is very common. You can see the number of developers asking for someone to solve their error in stack overflow every day. Try to have a positive mind and approach the problem with confidence regardless of how many errors you counter while solving the problem.
- Try to build your own projects: This one can be easier said than done because finding time to do this can be tricky unless you are super disciplined or have lots of spare time in your week (which I doubt). Only when you apply the things you learned in your own project, you will understand things deeply. You will have the experience to start a program from start to catch. It gives you some specific goals and targets which are easy to measure. This helps you see your progress, and it quickly lets you know what kind of skills/tools/technologies are missing from your toolbox. Then when the time comes later on, when they become relevant in a real-world project, they won’t be as unfamiliar as everything else around them
- Learn the logic, not the syntax: Programming languages, tools, and methodologies come and go. That’s why it pays to get as much experience as you can with as many languages and frameworks as possible. Focus on the programming fundamentals, because the basics never change; pay more attention to architecture than to programming. Try to understand how things work. When you are given a problem, do not directly try to solve it. Think which approach would be the better one and why. Try to understand the concepts of any language rather than blindly getting it inside your head.
- “The code works” isn’t where you stop; it’s where you start: Yes, your first step is always to write quality software that fulfills the spec. Average programmers quit at that point and move on to the next thing. Keep trying until you optimize the runtime and the memory occupied.
These are just some key things that would help you in your journey to becoming a successful developer. Never be afraid of failure and have an open mind to learn and keep practicing. . You only fail when you give up on learning something.
