7 ways to becoming Productive as a Developer
Hello awesome developer, have you ever thought about improving the rate at which you get to fix projects, tasks or learn something new in tech. Well, it happens but there are ways to achieve such. In this article you would get to know how to become more productive as a developer.
What does it mean to be productive as a developer?
It simply means yielding more useful results and achieving higher goals or tasks effectively and efficiently as you analyze, evaluate, solve problems using programming languages to build and innovate. There are more than a hundred ways to become more productive but here are 7 ways amongst others. Okay here we go:
1. Have a to-do-list: planning and having a list of tasks is good but sorting them according to priority would be great. The way here is to have some good analysis of what needs to be done, how to achieve them, the approach and steps to keep things easy along the line. For instance the phases of a product could involve (authentication, subscription, payment integration, mailing invoice, notifications etc..) to achieve good results in such a project it’s important to have a to-do-list sorted according to priority which could vary across developers. Working on generating invoice and notification code snippets before working around authentication would not only make things clumsy but will also slow productivity. There are always basic features that could set the pace for development while minimal or major adjustment can be done when need arises as the product grows.
2. Managing multitasking: in this digital age there are tons of learning resources and technological tools that are very useful in solving problems. It’s important to learn multiple technologies hence the need for multitasking. Managing these multiple tasks increases productivity. There are a number of processes a computer can handle at a time when it gets overwhelming it will freeze or malfunction. For example a web developer using nodejs to build web apps, learning Django alongside could be managed easily compared to learning digital marketing, machine learning, android app development, IOS, DevOps all at once. Things would become complicated which might lead to quick burnout. “Well, just to create a balance learning curve are different (a developer can switch across mobile apps, AI and web apps) but try to have schedules for engaging in different tasks or goals. It’s quite interesting that two spoons don’t go into the mouth at same time”.
3. Take breaks: this covers both projects, learning a new technology or handling errors (the same code that was working around 20 mins ago isn’t working again). Having recreational activities or other events quite different from technological tasks or goals would increase productivity too. There are uncountable numbers of things to do in order to take a break , for example going to the gym, watching movies, playing video games, watching or playing football, road walk, jogging, music, dancing etc…
Engaging a friend in a conversation as to what the challenge could be if being trapped by an error, crack jokes, laugh, laugh and laugh… No wonder most times the smart kids in school are sometimes the most playful ones. After sitting for a long time on the system you could just take a walk outside for a few minutes, engage in social media chats and get back with a refreshed mind.
4 Have a good sleep (please sleep well it’s an investment that will pay in the future): your mind and your body need good sleep and rest to function at its best. Yes it’s been underestimated lately. “Lazy people sleep throughout the night” well it might be true for some people but good sleep increases productivity and performance. Meanwhile there is a need for balancing here, some developers who assimilate and perform better at night or early hours of the morning should consider having a rest during the day. Good sleep speeds up performance and productivity. Avoid checking mails a few minutes to bed or using coffee to put off sleep at night. There are quite a number of good resources about sleep on the internet.
5. Staying under a good and conducive atmosphere or workspace: listed here are few things that can make a good and conducive atmosphere or workspace: music from the background, a bottle of water or soft drink alongside snacks, lighted environment, dark side, quiet atmosphere, under the tree, a café or hub, working with or without supervision, team or personal project pressured by deadline or without pressure. Identifying which atmosphere is best conducive would increase productivity greatly.
6. Be willing to learn always: it would make you want to find out how things work or how to get things better. According to Harvard Medical School, learning slows down the cognitive aging of your brain. Goal oriented learning makes one look younger. Sometimes it’s quite not easy to maintain the posture of a learner but it could be a way to grow from spending 8hours to 2 hours on a project. There are quite a number of things to do in order to learn: Try something apart from technical skills. Maybe read a book, learn to play an instrument, go bike riding, engaging in some activities with different exposures. Not the reading type? Maybe try out starting with some audiobooks, podcasts or even watch interviews of great personalities. Ask questions (on tech community chat rooms or individuals). There might be someone with solution(s) to solve that challenge. It really helps to increase performance effectively and efficiently.
Wow! awesome you got to this point. Last but not the least
7. Being patient and consistent: please move at your pace. Google wasn’t built in one day likewise the current version of WhatsApp. There are processes. A mentor could be a mentee under another developer. Its nice to have a role model but please avoid competition. Consistency is the key to mastery. Keep building and practicing. Try using a personal or external code base to measure progress with the past.
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