More Secrets to Advance Your Software Development Career
Tags: career, codenewbie, beginners, codequality
Published: 2020-10-11 21:21:54

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# Introduction

If you want to become a successful developer, you have to learn more than writing code to become successful.

In this article, we’ll look at how we can all become successful developers


# Integrated Development Environments

Integrated development environments (IDEs) lets us create and modify code projects and files. We can also run and debug code with it.

They provide all the tools to write, debug, and compile code all in one program. They are especially useful for projects that are done with compiled languages like Java and C#.

Popular IDEs include Visual Studio, Netbeans, and IntelliJ.

# Databases

Most programs have to save data. And a lot of data are saved in databases. We have to learn databases to save data and then update them.

SQL is the most popular query language for creating, updating, reading, and deleting data.

Therefore, we should learn them fast. To make our job easier, we should learn about SQL queries, including nested queries, grouping, etc.

Popular database management systems include MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.

NoSQL database is also used in some situations like caching. They may save data as JSON or key-value pairs. Popular ones in this category include MongoDB and Redis.

# Operating System

Whether we’re working with operating systems in a job or not, we’ve to know some basic things about operating systems like CPU usage, memory allocation, threading, etc.

We also have to learn how to write programs that are efficient on resources so that users won’t be frustrated with our programs.

Also, we’ve to learn about operating system shortcuts for our favorite operating system like Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc. so that we can work faster.


# Master Our Google Search Skills

We have to master our Google search skills. Every problem that we run into can found Google to get a solution.

Then we’ll have to sort through all the websites that are in the results to find the right solution that’s for us.

We can use the `allintitle` option to search for results that have all the search keywords you entered in the results.

Also, we can use the `allintext` option to search for all the results that have all the keywords you entered in the text of a document.

We should also include the version number of the library or framework that we’re using so that we get the relevant results for them.

This is will reduce a lot of irrelevant results for different versions of whatever we’re looking for.

# Under Promise and Over Deliver

Under promising is an important thing to do since we don’t want to disappoint our stakeholders, clients, or customers.

We should keep their expectation low enough so that we can finish whatever we’re tasked with within a short period of time.

This way, people will be very happy if we went beyond what we originally promised our stakeholders and customers.

When people are happy with our work, then trust is developed, and everyone is happy.

# Designers are Our Friends

Designers are our friends because we need to work with them to make their designs into reality.

If we don’t have a good relationship with them, then we’ll suffer in the end.

They know about aesthetics and user experience more than most developers, so we definitely need their help.

# Be Helpful

We should be helpful to other people. Most people will reciprocate if we help them.

It’s very hard to do everything alone. And it’s also not as fun even if we can. Therefore, we should help them whenever we can.

# Write Useful Comments

Comments should explain why we’re doing something. The code will tell us what it’s doing, so we don’t have to comment about what it’s doing.

If our code doesn’t tell what it’s doing, then our naming or code structure probably isn’t very good.

# Name Variables and Functions Appropriately

This goes with the previous point. We should name things in a descriptive manner so that other people can know what we’re doing when they read our code.

Therefore, functions, variables, classes, and anything else that has to be named has to be clear.

This way everyone understands what something is from the names.

For instance, instead of naming variables with letters like `x`, we should name them with a descriptive name like `numApples`.

Likewise, we do the same with functions, classes, or any other entities that have to be named.

# Take a Break

We all need to take a break so that we can rest. Without adequate rest, we’ll make more mistakes, and they’ll definitely slow us down.

Everyone will be happier if we deliver things without flaws.

# Conclusion

There are many ways that we can improve how we work as developers.

Adopting these tips and watching out for mistakes will definitely pay off in the future.