Book Image

Skill Up: A Software Developer's Guide to Life and Career

By : Jordan Hudgens
3 (1)
Book Image

Skill Up: A Software Developer's Guide to Life and Career

3 (1)
By: Jordan Hudgens

Overview of this book

This is an all-purpose toolkit for your programming career. It has been built by Jordan Hudgens over a lifetime of coding and teaching coding. It helps you identify the key questions and stumbling blocks that programmers encounter, and gives you the answers to them! It is a comprehensive guide containing more than 50 insights that you can use to improve your work, and to give advice in your career. The book is split up into three topic areas: Coder Skills, Freelancer Skills, and Career Skills, each containing a wealth of practical advice. Coder Skills contains advice for people starting out, or those who are already working in a programming role but want to improve their skills. It includes such subjects as: how to study and understand complex topics, and getting past skill plateaus when learning new languages. Freelancer Skills contains advice for developers working as freelancers or with freelancers. It includes such subjects as: knowing when to fire a client, and tips for taking over legacy applications. Career Skills contains advice for building a successful career as a developer. It includes such subjects as: how to improve your programming techniques, and interview guides and developer salary negotiation strategies.
Table of Contents (5 chapters)
4
Index

There you are. Sitting in front of your computer. Staring at a blank screen. You know you have to work on a code project, but it feels like you're frozen. The task before you is so intimidating that you don't even know where you begin. It feels as if you'd rather be doing anything else in the world besides that task that's staring you in the face.

This scenario is the ugly and all-too-common face of procrastination that programmers are forced to fight constantly. If this situation sounds familiar, you're in good company. But if you want to become a professional developer, you'll need to implement a system for hacking procrastination. And that's what we're going to walk through in this chapter.

As the lead instructor for DevCamp I get asked questions from students from around the world. However, one of the most prevalent inquiries I get from aspiring coders is how to overcome procrastination.

I called this chapter hacking procrastination because I think that hacking is the most appropriate term for what needs to happen to achieve success. Developers hack applications to build features or fix bugs. In the same way, we need to hack our thought patterns so that our brains function properly.

Before we go through the system I want to make one concept clear. As humans, we were made for action. Procrastination is a negative habit that we've learned through fear-driven thought patterns. To be successful at anything in life, whether it's development or business, overcoming procrastination is a requirement.

Next on the list is hacking the fear of success. If you're overcome the trap of perfectionism, congratulations. However, I've seen just as many developers get stuck due to the fear of success as the fear of failure.

This concept may seem odd since success doesn't seem like something that you should be scared of. However, I remember when I was first learning development. When I was walking through a coding book I would get so excited when I discovered a new concept. However, then I would freeze. My mind's first response was:

For example, when I first learned how to build a connection to a database, I put the book down and didn't pick it up until weeks later. By learning the database concept, it opened up a new and scary new world of all of the new topics I had to learn after that. All of a sudden, I had to understand:

To hack the fear of success, we need to quieten our minds. The fear of success is really rooted in the fear of the unknown. So, whenever you're feeling this fear, simply take a step back. Be happy that you have learned a new topic. And then move onto the next feature or topic.

Don't let your mind run wild with all of the potential, unknown concepts that you'll need to learn in the future. Like learning anything else, you need to take it one step at a time.

Hacking perfectionism

Starting off

Next on the list is hacking the fear of success. If you're overcome the trap of perfectionism, congratulations. However, I've seen just as many developers get stuck due to the fear of success as the fear of failure.

This concept may seem odd since success doesn't seem like something that you should be scared of. However, I remember when I was first learning development. When I was walking through a coding book I would get so excited when I discovered a new concept. However, then I would freeze. My mind's first response was:

For example, when I first learned how to build a connection to a database, I put the book down and didn't pick it up until weeks later. By learning the database concept, it opened up a new and scary new world of all of the new topics I had to learn after that. All of a sudden, I had to understand:

To hack the fear of success, we need to quieten our minds. The fear of success is really rooted in the fear of the unknown. So, whenever you're feeling this fear, simply take a step back. Be happy that you have learned a new topic. And then move onto the next feature or topic.

Don't let your mind run wild with all of the potential, unknown concepts that you'll need to learn in the future. Like learning anything else, you need to take it one step at a time.

Hacking the fear of success

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Hacking the plan

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