November 20, 2009

Advice for a Younger Me

Today is my work anniversary; I've now been programming professionally for three years. I've learned quite a bit and desire to learn even more. Without a doubt, I absolutely love being a programmer and want to continue doing it for a very long time.

Looking back, I'd tell a younger Tom (or anyone else new to the field) the following:

  • Learn the Single Responsibility Principle and DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself) and let them guide how you write code.
  • Unit test, unit test, unit test, and unit test some more.
  • If you're writing .Net code with Visual Studio, you must use ReSharper.
  • Don't be afraid to ask questions. Be comfortable with what you know; be even more comfortable with what you don't know. Realize your shortcomings and always desire to get better.
  • The software industry demands constant learning, and if you're not trying to continually improve and learn new things, your skills will stagnate and become outdated in three years. You're in control of your career, so don't expect management or anyone else to push you along.
  • Don't be afraid to change code. Make small, incremental changes and don't fret or over think it, as you'll most likely be changing it again shortly. You only have to worry about changing code when you know it will be the final time you touch it - which doesn't happen when you accept the mindset of incremental development and refactoring.
  • Speak up and voice your opinions (respectfully, of course).

Got any more advice for a younger Tom - or current Tom?

0 comments:

Post a Comment