When You Feel Like Garbage…Just Code!
Photo by Roberto Sorin on Unsplash
Even though I love coding, some days just suck.
I’m sure that you’ve had days where simply getting out of bed feels like a chore, and your scrum master is just pushing you for a solution (and ignoring that you’re a human, not a coding machine).
You need some survival tips for those days when nothing is going right. If that’s today, you’re already in the right place.
Keep Coding!
As much as I hate to say it, you need to acknowledge that you’re only human. You cannot bring your A-game to each and every working day. At some point, your energy is going to drop.
So, the key is to focus on coding. Celebrate small wins (that first 200 statuses from an API call should feel good). Roll on and keep going.
That’s not all. Over the long term, you can switch to an IDE with AI-driven suggestions (Visual Studio Code would be an option). Automate routine tasks to boost your coding time. Get your continuous integration pipelines to handle your builds and deployments.
Put coding first and define success in how well you code.
Love Chaos
Sure, some days are chaotic. Meetings, production incidents and nonsensical planning. Some of the most innovative solutions grow from chaos as they give opportunities to think differently.
I think the saying is true. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Even if you don’t have much time in your sucky day, spend some time “chaos coding”. Find different ways of doing things, maybe use that framework. Find comfort in the chaos and code your chaotic heart out!
Ignore Systemic Issues Until You Decide What To Do
This is the biggest one for me. I’m not able to make progress at work because I don’t have the system to do so.
Let me spell it out. I don’t have refined tickets to work on. I’m not able to refactor code without a ticket which I cannot get as we don’t have testing capacity. I have a long-term task to do, that has a dependency on another developer who is too busy to work. I just presented new ideas to the team out of boredom, but they weren’t taken up.
Some of these are my fault, but overall, this is a system issue.
The best thing I can do in this case is to leave.
An alternative solution is to talk to my boss and decide what we would like me to spend my time on. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for my Q1 targets (we are in the middle of Q2) meaning I’ve decided it’s a no-go for me.
When you’re not backed by a system, then things will not change quickly. I’m not in charge of this company so need to fit into it, at least until I can find another position.
Discard Distractions
Distractions are your enemy as a software developer. Ideally, you should turn off those notifications, turn off those tabs and create a focused workspace.
They are the basics, but it’s more than that.
Park It
You might suffer from anxiety at work, at home or in your relationships. You might be worrying about that meeting you have later. You can ignore these distractions (and if that works for you, well done you), attack these head-ons(speak to your manager about that issue) or park it. I think you know how to ignore these worries and are unable to attack this head on, so I’ll cover parking it.
Make a list of those worries and set that list aside. Put the paper at the side of your office desk. You have the list, and you know you’ll address them later, but you don’t need to worry about this right now.
You can use your time now to focus on that bug that needs to be squashed. Let’s do it!
Conclusion
If you want to achieve anything you need to keep going. Slump days can even be a good opportunity to think about what you want to do in the future — so see them as a good opportunity to muse as well as to code.
Days are all we have, so please try to enjoy each and every one of them!