Reflections

A month into a new job, and a return to a company I was at 20 years ago, there’s a lot to be thankful for.

Pull requests are a chance to ask, learn, and make sure that the code being merged is something EVERYONE is comfortable owning.

Funny how a little due diligence mixes so well with a healthy interest in avoiding unnecessary future work.

When what we’re trying to accomplish fails, the extra knowledge and clarity we get just by making the attempt is a win all by itself.

Points aren’t hours, but they sorta represent hours. Or do they? 🤔 If you’re as perplexed as I used to be, here’s a few thoughts about points.

When our code isn’t clicking, negativity can quickly overshadow all the positive. That’s when we need to remember our victories!

Refactoring code is part of the dev life, and can even help keep the code healthy, but going too far can do more harm than good. Ever after a decade of writing code, I still have to remind myself from time to time!

One of the biggest struggles I have with programming is knowing when to ask for help. A little struggle is necessary for growth, but when am I just wasting time when I could be learning from others?

Seeing my full-time job as a long-term contract has helped me improve and contribute, without taking things personally or falling into complacency.

When I was less skilled as a developer, it was enough to just stay afloat, learning what I needed for the current day or project. As my skill and confidence grows, I’ve come to appreciate the extra things in life - like a decent set of docs.

Does the mere thought of explaining your code cause anxiety? Be confident! We should all understand what we’re writing and why. It’s an opportunity (for everyone) to learn!

I just deleted my coworkers code. 😱 It was good code that wasn’t needed anymore, and he understood why. The nature of coding is that it’s a progression, and any individual code is transient by nature. Today’s code is subject to tomorrow’s refactoring.

How do you know when you’ve finally arrived, and are officially a programmer? Is it a set of skills, a certain amount of time? Can you ever really arrive, when it’s a race of one with no finish line?

I made my first OSS contributions during HacktoberFest, gaining experience (and swag!) with the help of DigitalOcean and GitHub. :)