How to be a great software developer
I receive an email from a friend asking about how to evaluate a software developer to determine a good one from a bad one. Following is my answer:
To begin, you should know about the quality of code that the person wrote. Assume you have a software developer who can code thousand lines of code in a day. Is he a good software developer? Not necessary if he has a lot of defects. Of course he has to fix them but for every ten defects that he fixed, he caused five more defects so in the end, he still has a lot of defective code. In my opinion, software developer should be evaluated based on the quality NOT quantity of code. A good software developer should know what quality code is and carefully work to produce good code, he should know how long it would take to do the work and plan the works accordingly, including writing test cases before he even starts to code.
A good software developer should clearly understand the problem before solves it. He should write the requirements down in a document and request meeting with customer to discuss how he would implement them based on what he understands the problem. A good software developer knows that meeting customers’ requirements is the key for project success and he wants to avoid the issue of solving the wrong problem. He wants to make sure that what he writes in the document is exactly the problem that customers want him to work on. If there is any doubt, he will ask questions to ensure that he completely understands what he should do. Even when he understands the requirements, he will NOT jump into coding right away but thinks about various ways to solve the problem and determines the best solution and the time it takes to do it.
A good software developer will carefully analyze the solution to determine how it will impact other team member’s works and how other people will impact his works. He will spend time to understand the interrelationship between components in the project since he does not work alone. A good software developer should be a good team member because he understands the direction of the project, not only on his parts but other team members too. He knows how the problem should be solved together as a team. A good software developer finishes their projects on time but also care about the team and ready to help others when needed.
A software developer who can not work in team, can not share information with the team, and can not contribute to the success of a team will NOT be a good developer. A person who likes to work alone or want to be “A hero” has NO place in software project because SOFTWARE WORK IS TEAM WORK. A good software developer always learn new things, find out about new technologies, constantly updating his skills proactively. He does not wait for their managers to ask him to take a training course, or read books to improve the skills. A good software developer also has the ability to learn from others. By making him a lifelong learner, he can absorbs new knowledge as he learns from his team members and from others. To him, everybody could be his teacher.
By reading through here, some of you may say: “That is a lot of works for a person. Is it too idealistic?” Of course, that is a lot of works but that is where you want to be – a good developer. I believe that the better you can improve your skill, the better chance you will become greater than you have ever imagined. If you choose to think of yourself as “good enough” and have nothing more to learn, you will always be just a programmer. If you are not growing, you are not even stay in the same place but you are behind as others are making progress.
If you are working for a company, your manager will evaluate you to determine whether to promote you or not. A good developer must be a responsible person to his work and to his company. When needed, he will work hard or even come in on the weekend to get the work done. He will stay as late as possible and take responsibility for his works. Of course, this may not be a necessity since he may not get paid for the extra works but it is the sign of a good developer. Some people just want to work according to the paid hours then they could be developers, but they will never be great. Great developers are team players to the end, and view their team, their company like their family.
There are many developers in the industry, but there are few great developers. Why? Because some only want to work but other love to work and they work with passions. I believe without passion in what you do, you will not be a great developer. Lack of passion is the number one reason so many developers never become great. It is also the number one reason people do not succeed in their career. A passionate developer will outperform anyone without a passion about their job, their role, and their project.
A great software developer would say: “I do it because I love it”. That is what great software developer is all about, caring, professionalism and with lot of passions.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
