8 Things Most Programmers Take For Granted

As programmers, we focus too much on the technical details, that's why we become really proficient and highly skilled in the field of our choice, but we often miss on a few things that may be vital on becoming well-rounded and fit for the tasks expected of us. Here are some of those that some of us may have missed:

1 - Effective Communication Skills 

Effective communication is one of those skills that may build or break you in any field, and it is particularly necessary in the success of any project. It is involved in working well with a team, presenting yourself and marketing your work. Be daring, and be clear.

2 - Being Able to Market Yourself
You need to stand out from the competition, be understood and make them realize what you are made of. Make good use of networking. Promoting yourself using word of mouth and social media can be your first steps.

3 - Visualize 

You need to see the big picture of what you want to achieve. Most programmers are really good at nitpicking the tiniest of details regarding anything that they are working on but fail to look into what exactly they are trying to create. This often becomes the source of stress, lack of motivation and unmet goals.

4 - Knowledge on the Market

Know who your clients are, clarify what the project is all about, as well as the expectations in the output, time and costs, and evaluate competitors and business trends.

 

5 - Being Organized 

Your work will get extremely untidy occasionally, and this might lead you to several issues. Maintaining a things-to-do list will help keep you organized, make use of your time well and complete your tasks earlier than expected.

6 - Being a Team Player

Working in a team is inevitable, even for a programmer. Being a valuable team player suggests that understanding your role within the larger group makes you more useful, as well as more productive with your designated tasks.

7 - Keeping Yourself Updated 

You need to keep up with the fast pace of technology, especially as a programmer. Devices get upgrades, tools get new features and trends change. Be in tune with the changes, schedule a part of your work-day or week and dedicate it to learning new things. Learn new discoveries, and be sure to identify which standards, tools and technologies you are using are already phased out.

8 - Evaluate Your Own Work, Get Feedback 

It is imperative that at the end of every project, you ask how good or bad you may have performed. Having the ability accept and work on client feedback effectively is a crucial attribute of the artistic professionals. Having an keen eye in looking into mistakes in your own work could be a quality that success-oriented programmers ought to possess.

Be a Stress Free Programmer

Haggard faces in programming not allowed! Be stress-free! Be a happy programmer, enjoy your job, be paid higher, take a vacation, live a luxurious life! Enjoy the life of being a software developer. Here's how:

Do the simple bits first

As a programmer you know well that your task is vital. So to lessen your stress you should be specific or straight-forward when you write functions and make each code as simple as possible. Know your priorities, what should be done first and what should be done last. Start your programming with a simplest code needed to avoid stress. And always remember no matter how difficult each task may be stay optimistic!

Divide your work

Try to divide your work into chunks you can complete in a day. Try to build and test some sort of subsystem by the end of a week, and so on because this could provide you benefits in reducing stress. Since this can let you free your mind from clutching onto part-finished work and get a physical sense of release when you’ve finished and tidied a piece of work.
 

Communicate and share the workload

In the real world, the vast majority of programming is done in teams. This approach naturally implies good communication between team members. Working close together, frequent social and business meetings, a common "house style" for code, comments and documentation all help. Another good thing is to develop a "review culture". If everyone in the team helps to review everyone else's work (and takes it seriously...) it not only helps to catch potential problems and deviations from the house style, but also helps everyone get up to speed on all parts of the project. (Carver, F.)