Three Ways to Become a Better Programmer

Programming is a great mix of both the creative and technical skills. Problem solving on a daily basis makes it one of the best jobs imaginable. Staying ahead of the technology curve and continuing to get better at your core skill is what differentiates an average programmer from the superb.

The three most effective ways I have found to get better at programming is

Read Books

The quality of a curated, professionally edited book written by a talented author is hands down the quickest way to learn something new. If you want to pick up a new language, framework or learn new concepts reading at least one book is a good start. I am always reading at least one technical book.

Practice Programming

I write code at a full-time job for 40 hours / week. That isn’t practice and professional experience doesn’t provide many opportunities to actually get better. Deliberate practice for software coding can come in many forms. Learning a new language? Try solving the Rosetta Code problems. I believe some of the Basic Computer Science algorithms should be committed to memory – for example – being able to code merge sort quickly because you ‘know’ it rather than having to figure it out.  Practice writing Software Design Patterns and code idioms until they become second nature and intuitive.

Peer Review

Often you don’t know what you don’t know.  In these cases having someone else review your code can really open your eyes. However, in a work environment peer review often turns into a cursory sanity check, or after a while you have managed to learn all you can from the colleagues who typically review your work.  Venture into the world of open-source by making pull-requests.  This will introduce you to a wider community of developers where you have the chance to learn some new perspectives.