8 tips for new programmers
A successor in spirt to my 7 tips for every person wishing to be a programmer, here are 8 tips for when you finally land your first development job. These tips will hopefully help prepare you for your new job, or help get you up to speed with the rest of your team.
1.You don't know anything – So you finally have your degree and after four years of intensive studying you think you know everything there is to know about programming. Like every other developer you will soon learn (or already have) that you know nothing. Be humble, put in your hard work, and know that over time you will learn.
2.Ask questions – As you come across bugs, or areas of code that you don't understand, ask a developer on your team for help or an explanation. Make these questions opportunities to learn, don't just ask what a section of code is doing, but why it was written the way it was.
3.Study up – If you have free time at work or home, use it to learn about a concept you are having trouble with. Talk to other developers, look at code examples, or Google it/read a book. (Author note: maybe start a blog and let everybody know what you have learned)
4.Don't break the build – Everybody is guilty of it, but whenever you check your code into the repository make sure it is in a compilable state, there is nothing more frustrating to a developer then to get the latest code from the repository only to find out it doesn't work. A reputation of breaking the build is not one you want to gain.
5.Learn shop standards – Every shop has a different way writing code and/or fixing problems. Take time to learn how your shop behaves. While it may had been ok to constantly restart the server when working on a project in school, it probably won't fly with your coworkers.
6.Comment when you check in code – When you check code into the repository make sure you say why you are checking it in. This can greatly help when attempting a fix a bug that has recently been introduced into the code base. The more descriptive the better, but even a simple “Fixing issue #123” or “Fixed login bug” is far better than nothing.
7.It has probably already been done – Every business has industry specific issues to deal with. For example data may need to be in a certain format before it can be inserted into the database. So check with other developers or look through the code base to see if a solution already exists to a seemingly common business requirement.
8.Learn about the industry you are in – Understanding the needs of the users that will be using the application(s) you are working on will help save time by catching poorly written or counter-intuitive business requirements. Just like developers have QA to catch the mistakes we make, developers must occasionally catch the mistakes of business rule writers. If you think there are any other tips I missed please feel free to add them in the comments section.
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October 7th, 2009 - 00:05
I really enjoy reading your article. Keep it up the good work.
Absolute Acai Berry
October 7th, 2009 - 10:12
Good article. Must read for any new programmer.
October 8th, 2009 - 10:28
I think another critical idea that would made me a better programmer right away is the key to understanding the domain or business you create software for is to first understand and to be able to categorize the data. If you understand the domain data then you understand the domain well enough to write competent software whether you’re writing code for NASA or tracking defects in soda cans for Coca-Cola.
October 24th, 2009 - 23:35
How about a tip on writing tests? It’s really hard to have too many tests. I am a firm believer in Test-Driven Development. I started with XP and although Agile is different it too needs more tests than most programmers are used to writing.
October 24th, 2009 - 23:49
I plan on covering Test Driven development really soon.