Hi! Welcome to the world of coding, dear readers. Check my blog to be in touch with the universe of programming and you won’t miss any useful and helpful information.
So, I’m flattered to know that you have a desire to explore more than just a technical part of the programming routine. To be specific, today we are going to go deep a little bit in psychology and inner feelings of developers. Yes, these guys, whose best friend is a machine almost never post anything on Instagram, have feelings. Of course, I’m just kidding.
An interesting thing to realize is that nowadays all that you are used to is made by people who are called developers. By “all” I mean social media, computer software, your favorite online shops, and so on.
Who are developers and what exactly do they do? A developer is an individual who makes and works on creating software and mobile or web applications. He or she is responsible for the technical side of the product and also for designing it in order to make the use of it as comfortable as possible.
Software developer’s responsibilities include:
- Producing clean, efficient code based on specifications;
- Testing and deploying programs and systems;
- Fixing and improving existing software.
A developer, while being in this role, should know how to be a self-employed worker as well as a team player with a sharp eye for noticing details. One of the most important features of a developer is that he or she has to possess problem-solving skills.
But now, in times of severe competition, you are either a good developer or a great one. Today I will show you the difference between them as the topic of this post is about telling the difference between good and great developers. From first sight, it might seem rather difficult to differentiate good from great. For you, I have highlighted the main points below. Let’s go.
Good developer
1. Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is the mother of effort and without it, nothing was ever achieved. Being enthusiastic about a good developer is to have a desire to get up early and read an educational book in the morning, even if it is hatefully difficult. Enthusiasm for developers is the will to never give up while writing code and to keep in mind that he or she will have to spend hours cleaning and fixing it.
From my point of view, enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When a developer works on application development or a webpage, he or she is ought to do it with all their technical inspiration and to stamp each of the existing products with their own personality as far as it is possible.
2. Positivity
This point is logically following the previous one. Staying positive means for a developer to overcome him- or herself not to yield a panic or nerves when hours of the work were spoilt by a small mistake in the code. Elon Musk said that in the future he wants to link the human brain to the computer. At this moment all front-end developers dropped a tear from their eyes. Even developers themselves always joke that the front-end is the path to the dark side. Front-end leads to HTML. HTML leads to scripting. Scripting leads to suffering. Nevertheless, even without all these jokes, they stay positive in all situations and try to encourage others. They know that positivity is contagious.
3. Ability to communicate
Nobody is forced to like everyone or to be liked by everyone. But good communication skills for a developer are supposed to be very important. Being good at communication allows a developer to find the best approach to each client, even to the most impudent one; also it helps to make friends among colleagues he or she is working with.
When based on personal or professional issues, scandal or a misunderstanding occurs, instead of shouting on high tones, a developer prefers to speak calmly in order to find the best possible solution.
A developer should have his own communicational policy to treat everyone well, but should not allow anyone to cross his personal borders in communication. Remember the fact that if you are a programmer and most of your time you talk or use strong language to the computer, you also work with people. Keep that in mind, and in addition to technical education, direct your self-development on communication skills and human psychology as well.
4. Desire to learn new
Every day the development market grows in geometrical progression. Millions of new features and updates appear, which means that a developer doesn’t have to think that he or she already knows everything needed. Being a developer consists of constant learning and self-development.
Do your best and make an enormous effort in overcoming yourself without paying too much attention to social media because it slowly takes us to the bottom of degradation. Instead of it read a lot of programming literature, about new scripts and new ways of creating an application or a website. In such a way you will train your willpower and become better and better every day.
5. Interception of experience
Do not be a lone wolf. This is a bad decision. Put up with the fact that you can’t control everything, know everything, and be in the middle of the programming universe. Stay in touch with clients you work for and with people you work with. Try to be close enough to your team leaders if you are part of a company.
Do not be afraid to ask even stupid questions even if they make you look like a complete idiot. Rather be an idiot once than during your entire career. Asking for help or for a piece of advice is not shameful. Intercept the experience from other developers, draw your own conclusions, and base your choices on it.
6. Expertise making and code checking
Technical skills are needed to be in priority for every developer. Don’t think about remarks you’ll get concerning your work. Concentrate better on the product you are currently creating and always check the final result in order to make your code clean and understandable.
Great developer
Now let’s gain an understanding of what a great developer is. What differs a great one from a good one? The first thing to say is that a great developer has all the traits that a good one once had or possesses right now and several more that are described below.
1. Obsession and passion for development
A great developer is constantly working on positive changes. Passion for development includes not only the improvement of technical skills but self-development too. If you want to be a great one, you should always look for various IT events like conferences, brainstorms, debates, or seminars and definitely take part in them. Getting acquainted and talking with intelligent programmers, intercepting their experience whether it is good or bad, and learning a few portions of fresh information will never be redundant for developers.
Furthermore, your obsession won’t be unnoticed because of the fire in your eyes. Therefore, great developers are great as they can be a motivation and inspiration for their co-workers to become better and better every day.
2. Intuition
When a great developer constantly works on his or her self-improvement, their brain works not only with the help of logic and cold thinking. Years of practice and wider experience give them a well-developed feeling of intuition, which can give a possibility to have a high level of understanding of algorithms and software architecture. They can find bugs, feel where the problem is located, and find solutions intuitively.
3. No supervision
I find that the leading trait of the great developers is that they don’t need to have any supervision or control over everything. They just feel their responsibility, know what to do; all things that they take responsibility for, work well, and in fair conditions. And the most amazing thing is they don’t have to try that much, everything they do is very natural and at ease.
4. Leader and mentor
A great developer is a leader and a mentor. When they work in a company, they feel how to assign responsibilities for co-workers in the best way. They also know how to cheer those people up and inspire them.
Each great developer should understand that being close and open-minded to the subordinates improves the inner microclimate in the office and gives them a feeling of being important and needed. A great developer is never afraid to ask his employees for a piece of advice or generating some ideas because he knows that fresh opinions may become a driving force for a company.
5. Thinking about the final product and end-user
In this case, a great developer does not think about someone who will check his or her application’s code and what he or she will think about it. As a rule, a great one turns on the thinking like-a-user instead. While creating a mobile application or a webpage a great developer always tries to imagine himself in the user’s shoes, which usually pushes him to make more effective and creative decisions and to be more attentive to mistakes.
It doesn’t matter how hard and how long it takes to work on the project, how much time is needed to be spent in order to find a little bug in the simplest line. The matter is that the end-user must be satisfied and feel free to use the final product, which is really what a great developer cares about.
What are you thinking about after reading all of the points written above? Without a doubt, I will say that both good and great developers are good at what they do. But do you feel that line between them? What makes a good developer good and what makes a great developer really great?
From my point of view, even the words “good” and “great” have their own hidden meaning. The word “great” itself gives a feeling of something inspirational, amazing, motivational, and truly ambitious.
Let’s make a little comparison of both good and great developers based on my personal experience in order to make the difference more obvious.
Good developer wakes up early not to be late for work; a great developer wakes up early to make progress in more things.
A good developer eats to fill his stomach; a great developer eats to give energy to the brain.
A good developer knows his work well, but a great developer cares not only about work but about his interests outside the office.
Good developers have excellent communication skills; great developers can motivate and inspire to do more.
A good developer is able to learn new information and has a desire to become better; a great developer is really obsessed and passionate about developing.
A good developer has good technical skills and measures his success with the number of remarks that he receives; a great developer has good technical skills but doesn’t think about someone who will check his code, he thinks about the final product and the feelings of the end-user.
Good developer returns home after work and feels exhausted; a great developer returns home and analyses what has happened during the day and how to make the next day brighter.
Do you feel the difference now? It seems to me that now it is very clear.
Conclusion
So guys, let’s summarize everything about our today’s topic. How To Tell The Difference Between Good And Great Developers”.
Good developer’s main features are:
- enthusiasm
- positivity
- good communication skills
- ability and desire to learn new
- interception of experience
- expertise making and code checking
Great developer possesses all that a good developer has, plus the following traits:
- real obsession and passion for development
- well developed intuition
- wide experience
- no supervision
- ability to be a leader and a mentor
- being able to think about the end-user and final product
Thank you for your interest in this topic! I appreciate your attention. I wish you to develop yourself constantly and try to reach the level of a great developer. I hope this post will help you to come closer to your goal. Be as interested and passionate as you are. Stay safe and have a nice day or evening!
