7 Habits of Highly Effective Programmers

Everyone wants to become successful. We all want to make mark in our career. You know, success is an art. To perfect that art you need to follow certain impactful habits to boost you growth. Just making minor habit adjustments can improve your productivity and your overall performance.



Today, I'm gonna talk about how to become an effective Programmers. We know, programmers are in great demand. and That's the reason why many of you want to become a programmer. But remember, along with technical knowledge, you must also have few worthy habits to be an effective programmer.

So, Let's talk about 7 great professional habits of Highly Effective Programmers that separate great programmers from ordinary ones.

1. Write Clean code

Programming is not all about learning different languages and writing code. It's about writing clean, readable and easy to modify code. Whatever programming language you use, clean and highly modular code is easier to read and test. It also helps you save tons of time in the long run. Look, if you can treat your code like your car, garden or living space, you can become a good programmer. Many a time, out of pressure or lack of time, you tend to ignore clean coding practice, but that makes your code more confusing and also consumes more time when you want to fix some bugs. So, never underestimate the importance of clean code. It's important to make a habit to use meaningful names for  variables, functions, classes, modules, directories, packages etc. You should always organize you code using Classes, Functions or methods. You should leave meaningful comments wherever required. It will help you debug faster. You should also follow the coding standard that helps to structure your code in a consistent manner. All these practices improve your code quality and maintainability.

2. Use Version Control system

To be an effective programmer, you should use a Version Control system. It helps track and manage the changes done in your programs. If you make any mistake in your project, you can easily roll back to a previous version of the code using Version Control. Without version control, you would go back to the original version of the code to fix bugs and that would be time consuming and frustrating too. Working on a project without using version control is too risky. It's like not having backups.

3. Time Management at work

If you can manage your time well, you can be highly productive. Time Management allows you to set priorities and help manages your available resources correctly. In order to manage time well, you can make a list of your task for the day. You can also set priorities for different tasks. You can figure out things that needs to be done in the morning and what can wait until the evening.  

Now, you may face limitless distractions at work that you can't control like mobile phone, social media, web browsing, office politics etc. To stay focused, you need to get rid of them. It's difficult to conquer them but not impossible. Just identify what is killing your productivity and work on them for few days, you will overcome all those interruptions.

Your ability to Plan well also plays a pivotal role in effective time management. Before you dive into writing program, spend some time on planning. It will help you to avoid many mistakes.

4. Be Proactive

Being proactive is all about taking responsibility, taking initiative to learn new skills, improve productivity and enhance ability. Proactive people invest their energy in the things they can control instead of worrying about conditions over which they have little or no control. They make the most out of their free time by learning new technologies and concepts. They actively participate in the process of software development, not just passively observe. They take timely and decisive action and always willing to take challenging tasks.

Being proactive is a choice. It's a habit that you can develop. If you can demonstrate a proactive mentality at work, your manager will count on you for your reliability. You can create good reputation at work.

5. Document the Program

Documenting the Program is a necessary process. It is the backbone of every application. It improves on the quality of an application. Documentation is critical for other programmers who can work on your program after you and can make necessary modifications in the program. It is not just for other programmers, but you can also require it when you return to a project after a long time.

6. Continuous Learning

To survive in this competitive world, you need to continuously improve yourself. Look, the world of work is ever-changing, so, you are required to keep your skills updated and learn new ones.
It's a proven fact that Learning new skills makes you more employable. It not only allows you stay relevant for the job you do but also makes you more appealing to future employers. Knowledge acquisition also increases your earning potential within your profession. There are many ways to upgrade your skills. You might consider to get some certifications for your current field of work. You can also join some skill enhancement programs, online trainings, read tutorials, watch videos etc.

7. Know your strengths and weaknesses

You can be a better programmer by knowing yourself. You should know your strengths and weaknesses and work around that to succeed. Look, you are not made for doing everything. You may be good at front end development but may not be an expert at back end programming. When you know your forte, you can set priorities accordingly and choose your direction and move forward. So, knowing yourself, your strengths and weaknesses are crucial for your growth.