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by Ben on May 26, 2012 edit

How To Become A Good Software Developer

Sof tware developers play a large part in the IT industry. They develop theapplications that are used by businesses to meet their requirements. Sof twaredevelopers have usually completed a degree in computer science or a relatedf ield, and develop code f or a company.

But, there is a separation between an average sof tware developer and a goodsof tware developer. There are those who can program well, and those who can’t.To become a good sof tware developer requires passion, skill and experience,among a f ew other traits, which I’ve listed below.

A Good Software Developer Enjoys Writing Code

It ’s true when they say the more passionate you are about something, the better you’ll be at it. If you enjoywrit ing code and being a sof tware developer, you’ll become better and more skilled at it. You’ll f eel moremotivated and theref ore more likely to do a good job.

You could try developing sof tware on the side – as in, start up a side project. This could be anything youlike – developing a new web application, experimenting with packages or parts of code you haven’t usedbef ore, or write a program that will make your lif e easier on the computer or at work. With the increase inmobile and smartphone usage these days, you could even write a mobile game or app – and even makesome money f rom it!

Read And Study Code To Become A Good Software Developer

A great way of becoming a good sof tware developer is to read code written by others. I’ve done this bef orewhen researching how to do a certain task in a particular language. You can stumble across other code andlearn how it works.

You can also learn by reading other people’s code at work, in dif f erent programs. Consider what it is doing,how it was written, if it is the best way to do a task, and what you would have done the same or dif f erently.It ’s a good way to learn a f ew new tricks f or f uture projects.

Continually Redevelop Code

It ’s a good idea to design code bef ore you write it. Actually, it ’s almost enf orced in many of the sof twaredevelopment methodologies that companies use these days. The idea is to plan something bef ore you doit, to ensure a better result.

However, in many cases you don’t end up with the best result if you develop f orm the design. As youdevelop the code, a good sof tware developer will make adjustments or improvements to make it run better,perf orm a certain task easier or f aster, or to improve the overall architecture of the application. A goodsof tware developer will do this over t ime, using the tricks and bits of code they have come across, andlearn f rom it.

Good Software Developers Write Code That Can Be Maintained

There’s an old saying that code doesn’t need to be commented – if it can be read, it can be maintained.However, in businesses and in team environments, much of the work in sof tware development ismaintaining existing code.

To become a good sof tware developer, you should be writ ing code that can be maintained easily. You cando two things to help this. The f irst is to comment your code – it ’s taught in universit ies f or a reason. Ithelps other developers when maintaining the code, and it helps everyone when you come back to somecode you haven’t seen in six months and wonder what something did or why you did it this way.

The second is to write code that is easily maintained. This comes down to the structure of the code, and itshould be designed and developed in a way that it can be maintained easily. If you have three loops in yourcode that do the same thing, why not combine them into one? If you’re ref erencing a text value in severalplaces in your code, why not convert it to a local variable or global variable? These could save you time inthe long term and make it easier to maintain.

Do you have any other t ips to become a good sof tware developer? Share them in the area below!

Image(s): FreeDigitalPhotos.net

For more IT career t ips and inf ormation on how to improve your IT career, visit Complete IT Prof essional.

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