What it means to be a developer

... and tips to be a better one

I remember when I was a kid I pictured developers as one beardy big guy with glasses, barely sleeping, hacking the FBI with his laptop and being only interested in computer science.

While it might be true that many developers wear glasses, after spending so much time in front of a screen I would say it is normal, nowadays this picture could not be further from the truth.

Being a developer is less about how you look and more about how you think.

What is a developer then ?

What follows is only my point of view of what being a developer means, it defines in no way what you should be in order to qualify yourself as a developer.

A superhero of solving problems

I like to think of developers as problem-solvers. What is programming if not solving a problem ?

Be it fixing a bug, implementing a new feature or even automating a task, they are all an issue to someone that you are trying to solve.

Most people will be amazed by something as simple as analyzing the issue, finding the cause and then fixing it when for developers it is often just a puzzle game, or like a riddle waiting to be solved.

Considering solving an issue (i.e. coding) as a game is what, I think, prevents developers from going crazy by the end of the day.

A SpongeBob without the SquarePants

The IT industry is always evolving, so being a developer means being able to absorb a huge amount of information.

But just like a SpongeBob the amount of information you can deal with is not limitless, you have to be able to tell wether or not a piece of knowledge will be useful to you. To a junior developer how to deploy your microservice on Docker will not be as beneficial as it can be to a software architect for example.

I don't care about wearing a cape or being friend with a starfish, just tell me how to improve !

If you did not get the reference I feel sorry for you but here are my tips if you want to be a better developer.

On the way to becoming a rockstar

These are the things I do to get better at developing, there are obviously a lot of other things to do and even these tips will not work for everyone, just pick what works for you.

Be curious

I already said it but the IT industry is evolving every minutes, that is what I think is fascinating, you will never be bored ! But it also means that you can be outdated rather quickly, the solution to this is easy :

Be a 5 year-old child

It is not obvious to you ? Let me explain : when you are child you have this ability to question everything, you want to know the whys and the hows of everything around you. You want to have the same kind of mindset when doing a technological watch.

Learn the basics

One of the best things I learn while working is software craftmanship.

It is hardly ever teach at school and yet I consider it a basic for any developer. Check concepts like Clean Code, Extreme Programming, some guys (Robert Martin or Kent Beck, not some random guys, trust me) already faced the issues you are facing or will face in a near future, learn from them, it will be the foundation on which you will build your technological knowledge.

Find your jedi master

An easy way to improve is to find a mentor, just like copying art is a way to master it, copying a mentor, his or her coding style, way of thinking, is a faster way to master coding than reading some random guy's blog.

But this is a tricky advice because it can be a double-edged sword, it all depends on how good your mentor is.

He or she can be master Yoda and teach you how to raise spaceships from some swamps or he or she can be Darth Vader and teach you nothing except that he is your father.

Ok but then how do I find my master Yoda ?

Usually what I do is Google him or her, it is silly but if he or she is a ghost on the Internet you might wonder if he or she is qualified to be your mentor, it does not mean much but if instead you find that he or she speaks to meetups, has a blog or is active on Github you will be able to tell whether he or she is good or not by looking at what Google gave you.

Most of the time the team I work with is the most crucial factor when choosing a project or a new job.

There is a lot you can do to keep improving and it does not concern junior developers only.

Cheers.

PS : If you are looking for some materials Martin Fowler's blog or Robert C. Martin's blog are a good starting point !