What Does it take to be a good programmer/developer?

Being a good programmer/developer may be the edge to land you to your dream job in a competitive world of the IT industry, some say it takes talent but a lot of successful IT professionals say it can be achieved by a few other things as well. Here are the some of the tips that I learned from being inspired by my successful IT companions.







Know your PseudoCode


A good programmer should know the importance of creating a pseudocode. It can be in a form of anything from paper sketches to actual flowcharts or for some of the talented guys creating it from just inside their heads. But regardless of how you do it. It may be the factor that can make or break your program. As it may save you a lot of time by getting the real code the first time.



Focus on one programming language at a time


Although it might be tempting to become skilled at all of the programming languages at the same time. It would be a lot easier if you focus on learning one language at a time. As some of the other language may be different from the others in terms of syntax or other properties. Master one language first before you try another.



Close Enough is not Enough


A lot of us when it comes to coding become used to being contended with, "Well as long as this thing works." There are plenty of programmers who are guilty of these even the professionals. It is very tempting once you have your solution working to forget about it and move on to the next challenge, but what will be left out is the opportunity to challenge yourself into learning something new and excelling at it.



Gather your sources


While it may be good to create codes of your own. There are still times when we need to look for different ways to complete a code. Most of these sources come from the internet but the web may be a host of unreliable sources. So it is highly advisable to bookmark the sites where you can get the most reliable information when it comes to coding. One example of this is a tutorial site called W3schools.



Know your Limitations


It’s often said that there’s a very fine line between self confidence and arrogance. Even the best programmer in the world cannot possibly know everything so, a good developer is confident about their knowledge but is also very quick to admit to a lack of knowledge where it exists. In my opinion, there is no shame to admit that you don't know something, the problem arises when given adequate resources, you don’t do anything about it.




Learn, Learn and Learn


There is always space for improvement and that goes and that goes specially for the IT industry. The world of IT is a very dynamic environment with the ever changing development of technology, software, techniques and methodologies. So it never hurts to polish your skill by learning something new  instead of letting it become rusty.



There is no substitute for Experience


At the end of the day, a certain level of technical skill and knowledge is mandatory and whilst theory is all well and good there is absolutely no substitute for experience so a good developer/programmer has to have their hands dirty. There is a big difference to knowing what to do with applying what needs to be done. And learning from experience gives you first hand knowledge on a subject matter.


In conclusion, Being a good programmer takes a lot of effort, and hard work. You should have a passion for this line of work in order to be successful.