Software Developers == Creatures of Habit
Since the beginning of time, coding has been about repetition. Loops, recursion, generics are the basic language constructs that are all about doing the same thing over and over again.
In the age of AI it is the human developers who are being treated like robots contained in a world of repetition. Except we get distracted by Reddit and snack breaks.
But here is the thing. Your habits are powerful. Let’s take a deep dive into them and how they can be leveraged to make you a better and more powerful software developer.
The Coffee Ritual
The software engineer’s near-universal coding habit is coffee.
Some grind, some simply go to the machine in the office. It’s often used as a literal drug to kick-start you brain into coding mode.
The problem is that caffeine causes insomnia, nervousness, reslessness, nausea, increased heart rate and more. None of those side effects will help you with your production defect, so it is better to put time and effort into your morning ritual to get your code brain in gear.
Herbal tea? Check
Quiet room? Check
Dvorak keyboard plugged in? Check
Now you’re ready to go.
The LeetCode Round
If you want to make progress on those FAANG applications why not make it a habit.
At lunchtime fire up your browser and answer some question about inverting a binary tree (but written in such a way as not to make sense, and have unclear requirements).
Practice is the only way to git gud at these challenges. At least you’ve got ChatGPT to take a look at the question and translate what they actually want you to do these days.
Switch it Up
If you’re getting locked into your favorite tools and are over-reliant on your favorite IDE in order to solve problems, you might benefit from a change-a-roo.
Instead of VSC fire up VIM and join the cool kids. You know it makes sense, except if you’re already using VIM you should probably stick with that.
Customize Ceremonies
The daily standup grind can really get to you. It might feel pointless and lack meaning.
So, work on being concise, yes. Encourage others to do the same and get the amount of time spent in the meetings down.
Alternatively wear an attractive hat to break the routine. You’d be surprised how many of your colleagues will notice (in my place, nobody will notice).
Conclusion
Software developers are undeniably creatures of habit. From our morning routines to our debugging strategies, habits define how we code. While habits can be incredibly useful for productivity, they can also trap us into unproductive loops. By becoming more aware of our routines and refining them intentionally, we can not only become better developers but also make our work more enjoyable.