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Billy Okeyo
Billy Okeyo

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Bad Habits To Avoid As Developer

There are some bad habits we do as developers which really drags us behind instead of making us progress and become better programmers.

In this article I'll talk about 9 bad habits which developers can try to avoid.

1. Never Asking For Help

Most of guys have this pride and ego within them and this makes them never ask for help.

Not asking for help is a bad habit because it will simply waste your time trying to figure that thing out instead of asking for help from other developers. Some guys think asking for help will make them look like stupid or maybe they don't know what they are doing which is not the case, always ask for help when stuck.

2. Stop Learning

As a developer you should never stop learning and always make yourself learnable it doesn't matter if you are senior developer with 20 plus years of experience.

Technologies change and you need to keep yourself updated with the new updates. No developer knows everything and also keep learning other stacks beyond the job you are currently doing. So never stop learning, never stop being a student.

3. Not Taking Breaks

We have all gone through this, I am a culprit of this, where I wake up and code like 8 hours straight.

Taking breaks is very helpful, allow your brain to take some break, through this you can solve problems much faster.

When working on a project take breaks often to grab a cup of coffee, take a shower or go for a walk, then you can go back to your project after your brain has relaxed a bit.

4. Bad Work/Life Balance

This is also a bad habit you should avoid. Life doesn't evolve around coding only, you need to have a life beyond your coding life. Make time for your loved ones, if you have a family always make time for your family. Make time for hobbies and outdoor activities you like.

5. Not learning from Mistakes

We all make mistakes and what matters is whether you choose to learn from your mistakes and make yourself better or choose not to learn from your mistakes. But I'd highly suggest learning from your mistakes for it will make you better developer and never get frustrated if you make a mistake, we are all human beings.

6. Not Testing Your Codes

Many developers never test their codes me included, I always feel like testing my codes is not that relevant considering that the codes works fine which turns out to be a bad habit.

Testing your codes will improve your system's performance, speed and reduce chances of the program ever breaking in future.

7. Giving Up Too Soon

Giving up is always there with us but we can never allow it to take the better part of us. I have encountered people who have worked on a project for like 3 months and then they encounter a bug and they just decide to give up on the entire project. This is a bad habit to give up too soon, if something like this happens, try to ask for ideas from your fellows and most probably you'll find a solution to that problem so never give up because you never know, maybe your light along the tunnel was just a step away

8. Not Taking Good Criticism

Most of us hate critics but in real sense there are some critics that can help you grow to be a better developer. Of course there are those who will try to bring you down but don't concentrate on the bad critics instead focus on those critics from people who you believe what the best for you and take the criticism positively and use it to help you be better

9. Playing The 'Guru'

Trying to show that you know it all is a bad habit especially if you are working with a team. In a team you are supposed to share ideas and learn from each other but playing you know it all will hinder you from learning and will make your teammates uncomfortable working around you.

As a developer you need to be open minded, respectful and always accept teammates' ideas.

That's all I had for you, there are a lot of habits we should avoid as developers but these are just a few.

Hope this article helped. See you later...

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