Tips to Become a Better Software Developer in 2022
Tags: software, developer, mobile, programming
Published: 2022-10-26 09:54:25

By now, you should be 100% sure that better software developers are paid more. Life has told you this lesson. But how to become a better software developer? You might have asked this question to yourself secretly. So, today you are at the right place. I will help you with some tips on becoming a better software developer in the year 2022. Here we go!

## Planning your career path
First, you should make it clear to yourself that you, indeed, want to do a software engineer’s job. If you are 100 percent sure that you want to keep your job as a software developer, here is a list of specialists you can choose from. It’s not only about the right programming language for the [right programming language for Android](https://addevice.medium.com/top-programming-languages-for-android-app-development-d53ede99f208) or [iOS](https://addevice.medium.com/top-7-programming-languages-for-ios-app-development-ae18a36c4ffd). It’s about the direction you will go. Here is the list:

- Front-End Engineers
- Back-End Engineers
- Full-Stack Engineer
- Mobile App Developer
- Graphics Engineer
- Game Engineer
- Data Engineer
- DevOps Engineer
- SDET (Software Development Engineer in Test)
- Embedded Systems Engineer
- Security Engineer.

So, what now? Confused? You shouldn’t be. Believe me, the most important thing in your career path is having a drive for the job. So, if you want to be a game engineer, most probably you liked playing jobs when you were a child. So, why not build them now? Ask questions. “What drives me most?. You will know the answer for yourself.

## Obtaining an education
While having at least a bachelor’s degree is a must for a career as a software engineer, education in this field is lifelong. You need both theoretical and practical knowledge. You will spend most of your time coding, but theoretical knowledge about data structures and algorithms is also needed.
You need to constantly keep up with updates and innovations in the field. [StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/) is a good website where developers can get answers to their questions. You can also consult sites like [CodinGame](https://www.codingame.com/start) and [CodeWars](https://www.codewars.com/).

## Learn to communicate well
In the course of your career, you need to communicate with different people like clients, employers, colleagues, and so on. Good communication skills are very helpful for your career. Here are some tips to help you with communicating well.

1. Be brief, yet specific. ...
2. Write down what you want to say
3. Keep up with the topic. Speak to the point.
4. Keep up with the team. Be a team player.

## Learn how to use Google effectively
In this age of the internet, you need to know how to use Google effectively. Some helpful hints may make your work easy.

1. Be specific with keywords
2. Use + or -
3. Write in quotation marks
4. Use tabs like Web, Image, News, and More
5. Use colons like Sidney Crosby site:nhl.com
6. Search links like: link:nytimes.com
7. Use asterisks like “Come * right now * me” Here asterisks are left out words
8. ‘Find related sites like related: [amazon.com](https://www.amazon.com/)
9. Find a specific file like *Search term here* filetype: pdf

## Read Code Written by Experienced Developers
Reading code especially written by experienced developers is as important as writing it. Needless to say that you learn and learn by reading code. However, sometimes the staff is so complex that you may get lost. Here is some advice on how to read code:

1. Do not read code that has too many unfamiliar things to you. Instead, pick up the ones that have one or two things that you would like to learn.
2. Run the code. If you don’t want to make your life difficult, just run the code and see what it does. What does it take as input? What are the outputs?
3. Start with the “main” function and walk your way through the other functions.
4. Build a mind map of the connections between different parts of the code

## Start writing code every day
Programming like any other profession is a challenging job. It takes hard work to be proficient. You need to practice every day. Writing code is essential. You can also review tutorials or documentation. Just keep on practicing.

## Work on projects outside of work
This is one of the tips that tech experts get. But please do not go too far. You should also have your interests and personal life and leaving work should be just that – leaving work for the day. You don’t want to spoil your personal life just because you are a software developer. This is my advice and I have seen a lot of computer specialists who think about nothing but software development. That is soo wrong!

## Get involved in open source projects
Another great way to learn is to engage in open-source projects. Since your source code is available for use or modification, users and other developers can contribute to your work. This is an excellent way to learn for newbies.
For example, you can walk through the contributions workflow on GitHub at [first contributions](https://github.com/firstcontributions/first-contributions). Another excellent site is [Up to Grabs](https://up-for-grabs.net/#/) which lists projects that actively want help.
Here are some statistics.
![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/6o7gzu143ozm3pc4nlqw.png)

## Follow industry leaders
You can spot industry leaders in reports. [The software report](https://www.thesoftwarereport.com/top-leaders/) is a good site where industry leaders can be found. You can subscribe to their social media networks and always keep updated.

## Doing Code reviews
Writing code reviews is another way of learning from your peers. Having said that we should mention that doing code reviews is not a very simple task especially if you take into consideration the sentiments of team leads. Therefore it is important you learn about [best practices for writing code reviews](https://www.perforce.com/blog/qac/9-best-practices-for-code-review).
When you take up a task as a code reviewer you should be fully prepared. So, try to learn and only then test. That’s my advice.

## Final Thoughts
Becoming a better software developer is a challenge. It is a challenge you can meet. And you know why? Because you have done most of the job already. Today, you need to improve your skills and that’s possible.
We have come up with some tips to help you in this journey. If you like this article, send us your smiling face! We would love to see that!