Software Engineering Stack Exchange
Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [self-improvement]

Questions on self-guided improvement. Because no one cares as much about you as you do.

This tag is for questions on self-guided improvement and how you can make yourself be a better programmer.

Questions should focus on things you can change about yourself and not your situation.

237 questions
57
votes
34 answers

When would someone be considered a bad programmer?

How would you consider that a programmer is bad at what he or she is doing? If possible... How should he/she improve?
Tamara Wijsman
  • 8,239
48
votes
7 answers

What is the most productive way to handle development-related failures?

We've all been there: Your project failed or got cancelled. The code you spent days working on got rejected by your team. The design pattern you introduced to the team created chaos. Everyone ignores your ideas. My question is, what is the…
user2567
41
votes
5 answers

Is there such a thing as Programmer's block?

Is it possible for a programmer to suffer the equivalent of writer's block? What strategies are there to overcome it?
codecowboy
  • 609
  • 1
  • 5
  • 8
32
votes
9 answers

How to ask a programmer a question without getting "Why" as the answer

We've all had this experience. You go to someone who you know has the answer to a question, ask that person the question and they answer with the typical response: "why?" You explain why you need to know, and they attempt to solve your problem. It…
Reactgular
  • 13,080
28
votes
11 answers

How to write efficient code despite heavy deadlines

I am working in an environment wherein we have many projects with strict deadlines on deliverables. We even talk directly to the clients so getting the jobs done and fast is a must. My issue is that i'd always write code for the first solution that…
gladysbixly
  • 431
24
votes
12 answers

How do you deal with the anxiety of not knowing enough?

I just finished college a couple of months ago and I'm taking time out to improve my knowledge. I love programming but I feel like I don't know enough to be confident if I went for an interview. Last night I was browsing through questions and came…
Jonathan
  • 1,135
18
votes
8 answers

Programmers forgetting syntax

Do good programmers need to have syntax at the tip of their tongue when writing code? What do you make of them if they google for simple stuff online? Are they good or bad(maybe they know where to look for)? Should programmers have a good memory?…
maz3tt
  • 1,583
15
votes
10 answers

Can one forget programming if it is not practiced for some time?

Someone told me that easiest way to 'destroy' a programmer is to prevent them from programming for a month or so. Is that correct? What should I do to make sure I stay in practice if I'm not in a position to program as part of my job?
LifeH2O
  • 541
15
votes
11 answers

What are you telling yourself if you can't understand new concept, paradigm, feature ...?

Programming always required to learn new concepts, paradigms, features and technologies and I always have been failed at first attempt to understand new concept what i encounter. I start to blame and humiliate myself without remember before how i…
Freshblood
  • 1,515
13
votes
7 answers

Do you also forget the code after getting the task done?

I'm a new programmer and want to ask senior programmers (programmers who have some experience in the real world). I do my work and after coding, my project gets completed but honestly speaking I don't remember the code, classes and frameworks name…
necixy
  • 337
12
votes
8 answers

How to write less code

A quality what I would like to develop is to write more concise code. With writing more concise, at least in my opinion, the opportunity to add bugs to the code is smaller. It is easier to read the code for other. My question is if it is something…
user1041
11
votes
7 answers

How can you measure your own daily contributions?

I've recently finished the The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni and one of his core ideas is that you need to have some form of measurement. I have a pretty standard internal developer job where I work on new tools and do some…
Alan Jackson
  • 401
10
votes
5 answers

Must strong developers carry the weight of the world on their shoulders?

As developers we constantly strive to solve problems of the masses. We also constantly look for new methodologies, languages and possibly organizations to help us further our ability to solve problems. I feel as if I've always been one of the top…
P.Brian.Mackey
  • 11,103
9
votes
11 answers

Do you own your tools?

A colleague of mine wrote a post a while ago asking Do you own your tools. It raises an important question. Do you? I answered way down in the comments. As an independent, I do own my tools. Even when I wasn't independent, I had my own (fully…
Michael Brown
  • 21,752
  • 3
  • 47
  • 83
9
votes
2 answers

Mastering a programming language by not programming?

The computer scientist Peter Norvig argued in his essay Teach Yourself To Program in 10 Years that you need about 10,000 hours of practice. But Jeff Atwood argued in his post How To Become a Better Programmer by Not Programming that he believes the…
PlainOldProgrammer
  • 353
1
2 3