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5 Tips to build a successful programming career

Programmers are digital architects who dedicate of their careers to designing the tech features or functionalities all take for granted. It’s a fantastic profession, and found yourself thinking about the cogs behind the internet’s not-so-metaphorical machine, you have probably wondered how to become a programmer.

In recently, take account for everything you have done online. If you are like most tech-savvy people, you have probably checked your email, scrolled through your social media feed and browsed for the few of your favorite websites - perhaps even before breakfast. But have you ever given a thought to the work that went into the virtual platforms that you visit every day. Believe it or not, apps, each of the websites or games that you flip through in seconds is the result of hours of programming work. 

Programming is a fantastic career path with great potential for the growth, especially since so much of our lives are now lived online. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the profession will grow by a full 13 per cent between 2018 and 2028, over twice the average rate of growth expected for all other occupations. 

1. Excellent communication skills

For each and every second person holds a professional degree, it has been noted that employers, while looking for new additions of their team, filter their choices based on some soft skills. Organizations are looking for teammates. They want to hire someone who is a cultural fit of their team. The ability to have positive and productive personal interactions can benefit you as you use your coding skills in the workplace. If developers and coders want successful careers, it’s essential that they learn the art of communicating within teams. Furthermore many roles require for the coders to communicate, in a clear and concise way, with clients or teammates that are external to their own teams.

2. Work on a side project

A side project may sound daunting, but consider starting for just only fun, said Mazzina. Programming something you are passionate about is crucial to development and by taking on a side project with no expectations other than to have fun or learn, you will be surprised at how much you can grow, said Mazzina. Try learning for the new programming language and build an app to sharpen your skills and broaden your ability.  

GitHub is also full of projects either large or small that welcome contributions, Cynan de Leon said. This is the nice place to see if someone has already started creating your idea and see what ways it can be improved, de Leon said. You also get the benefit for having other people look at what you have contributed, continuing that cycle. It could be something as small as a Sudoku solver and something as huge as a top-level Apache project. It does not matter; if you are passionate about it, go for it.

3. In-depth understanding of data structures and algorithms

With advancement and innovation in technology, programming is becoming a highly in-demand skill for software developers. Data structures or algorithms are the identity for the better software developer. The main reason behind this is data structures or algorithms improve the problem-solving ability for the candidate to a great extent. The technical roles in some of the tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Flipkart is more focused on measuring the knowledge for data structures or algorithms of the candidates as they want people who can think out of the box to design algorithms that can save the company thousands of dollars.

4. Write it three times

Better programmers write software that works. Great ones write software that works exceedingly well. That rarely happens on the first try. The best software usually is written in three times:

1. First, you write the software to prove for yourself and that the solution is possible. Others may not recognize that this is just for proof-of-concept, but you do.
2. The second time, you make it work.
3. The third time, you make it work right.

Write in three times teaches you how many ways there are to approach a problem. And it prevents you from getting stuck in a rut. Throwing away code and starting over can be a powerful way to include ‘make it better’ into your personal workflow. This level of work may not be obvious when you look at the work of the best developers. Everything they do seems so brilliant, but what you do not see is that even rock-star developers probably threw out the first and second versions before showing of their software to anyone else.  

5. Learn when to let go

You will never catch all possible corner cases. After some point, it isn’t worth it to put more thoughts into them and it’s time to send your code from your desk. Sometimes, your peers find issues in reviews; use this to your advantage. But when letting go, make sure you are always prepared to handle errors occurring even in production. Sometimes it is easier to let it crash, analyze the issue, fix it and then continue with your usual business.