9 Tips to Improve Your Skills as a Junior Developer
In this article, we will through some tips may help you to become a better Software Developer. These are collected mostly from my experiences. If you have any more advice please comment out.
1- Do not afraid to ask
I think asking questions is the most important behavior to become a software developer. You may ask your colleagues, teachers, friends, or Google! The key point is your passion to learn something. If you are curious enough to learn something, do not afraid to ask.
2- Do not focus on just programming, learn best practices
Learning best practices is important to become a software engineer, not just a ‘programmer’. Everyone writes code that compiles by compiler. So, learn important topics like Clean Code, SOLID principles, Design Patterns, TDD, Pair Programming, etc.
3- Find mentors/role models and get feedbacks
Some people have already passed on your path for years. It may be life-changing to get knowledge from their experiences. So, find mentors or role models. It can be a colleague in your company or teacher in your school or someone from the Internet that you do not know directly. The key is that there will be some situations you can not figure out what you will do. In that time, a mentor can change your career path. If you do not know someone nearby, Linkedin can be a good place to achieve this.
4- Read technical blogs
Reading blog is a daily routine for me. I follow some people inspire me and read the newest posts of them. You may bookmark these blogs in your browser or use an RSS reader or just use a blog website like Medium :)
5- Read major/must books to become a better software engineer
Learning materials depend on people. Some people prefer video tutorials(Udemy, Pluralsight, Youtube, Linkedin Learning, etc) or documentation, some people learn by reading technical books. I prefer both of them. I highly recommend some major books like Clean Code, Clean Coder, Clean Architecture, Effective Java, Agile Software Development, Head First Design Patterns… etc. Of course, there are lots of books to read. It is a long time process, making a routine change your velocity.
6- Do not be too greedy
You should understand that you can not learn everything. Finding a goal will help you to become a better developer. If you always jump between different technologies, frameworks, and tools, this may decrease your concentration. I do not mean to learn just one thing. I prefer to focus more on some topics vertically and learn the basics of some topics horizontally.
7- Learn your business domain
Learning the business domain as important as engineering. Business domain is required over the lifecycle of projects. If you do not know enough what you are coding, it affects your motivation. I do not mean you must know everything about the business. :)
8- Share what you learn
Sharing what you learn is another learning method. I do not say to share the things you know the just basics. When you reach a level, writing a blog about it may help you to learn the detailed part of the topic. I like writing a tech blog and it helps to grow. Medium is a good place to start blogging.
9- Follow the communities & events
We are not just coding something on the computer, we are social people. Following communities, upcoming events may help to improve your hard and also soft skills. You find new friends, improve your network, communication skills, and technical skills together. Meetup.com and Kommunity.com are good places to follow upcoming events.
