10 Habits of Highly Effective Programmers

Programming is one of the most difficult and challenging skills that can be acquired, but there are small things you can do to make it a lot easier. These 10 habits will help you become more productive and keep up with other programmers in the workplace.

1) Start your day with a good breakfast

One of the best habits you can practice is to start your day off right by eating a good breakfast. You’re probably thinking “I already do this!”, but have you checked your breakfast? There are many easy, healthy foods that you can make - oatmeal, eggs and cereal are all favourites. And if you don’t eat breakfast, why not? I always find that when people skip breakfast they find it harder to concentrate; taking the time to get a good breakfast down your throat definitely helps.

2) Work late into the night.

If you’re a programmer, chances are you’re not going to have your best time at work until later in the evening. This is because of distractions; there will always be things you need to do around the house and/or things on Twitter you want to look at. There are times when it’s better to stay late than leave early, but this is one habit that can be hard to practice if you value your personal life.

3) Learn new skills.

Learn to code in a new language, try out a new IDE or read a programming book. There’s always something new to learn, and something specific you can take away from the experience that will help you in your day-to-day. It doesn’t have to be large; every little helps, and knowing more than your co-workers will definitely keep you ahead of the game.

4) Get up early.

There are some programmers out there who practice getting up early to code before work a couple of hours. I’ll admit that this is one habit that I wish I had! It takes discipline, but you’re likely to get more done in the morning than any other time of day. And the sooner your code is ready, the more time you can give yourself to test and make sure it works!

5) Write tests before you write production code.

If you want to do something, chances are you probably need to write a program to make it happen. This means writing code. If you practice these 5 habits above, then you can write your tests first and keep your code clean. There’s an old saying that the first cut of software is the worst; testing will help make sure that your code isn’t the same as before.

6) Talk to other programmers.

The best way to improve your programming habits is to talk to other programmers. You’ll learn new things everyday, and if you practice these habits, you can learn even more! I suggest joining a coding club or online forum like Reddit; there are many other programmers who frequent such websites and could help you with your daily challenges.

7) Leave the code base in a better state than when you started.

There’s always some sort of change that comes up with a project, and you probably won’t like it at first. But when you practice these habits, you can make sure that your code is left in the best state possible before you leave. This doesn’t just mean writing clean code; it means keeping practices in line with other programmers, leaving tests as they were found and even leaving demo applications that show off new additions to the application.

8) Put your programs onto a version control system.

If you consider yourself a programmer, then you know about the command line prompt; this is a command line where we can type commands or commands and answer questions to perform specific functions. If you have the habit of using the command line when you write code, then why not put your code into a version control system? A version control system is a special computer program that will keep track of your source code, and if you ever need to come back to an old project it’ll be there.

9) Be ready (for anything)!

There’s never a dull moment for programmers! If you want to be ready for any scenario, then you need to do something that’ll help you become more prepared. Make sure you have a good reference guide, or create one from scratch. One of the best ways to learn is by teaching; if your team asks you a question and you know the answer make sure they know it too. Chances are they’ll ask in other ways, but as long as they know how to find the answers themselves then that’s perfect.

10) Learn how to accept criticism.

Programming is an art form; it’s very subjective and there are many ways to write code to solve a problem. There are many programmers out there who practice this habit, and you should too! If your boss gives you feedback on your work, make sure you listen carefully; if someone else does as well - don’t be afraid to ask for clarification. The best programmers are the ones who listen to other programmers because that way, everyone gets better!

I hope you enjoyed this post on programming habits and I hope it helps you improve your skills over time! It’s important to remember that there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to programming habits; everyone has different opinions on what works best for them. If you want to be a great programmer, then make sure you practice all of the habits above - there’s nearly no limit to what can be achieved.