Hi Acho!

So, I'm by no means a great developer, but a few things come to mind as I read this today:

Sometimes I have problems with motivation — I think that's kind of a human trait, from time to time. Even if you're working on something you really love, sometimes getting started can be a little hard. Usually I get hit by this if I know I have a lot of gnarly code ahead of me that day... those are the days where I read reddit a little bit too long before starting into work. The best advice I have for that is to always leave your code unfinished the day before. That way I always know I can come back to a small problem that may only require three minutes to fix a test, or write a new method, or whatever the case is. Once I've been doing code for five or ten minutes, I tend to quickly become sucked into the problem and it's much easier to jump into the harder code at that point. Same rationale for stretching before doing exercise, basically.
Always get involved in support threads and tweets by those affected by the code that you write. You don't have to do it every day or even every week (that is, if you have a support team devoted to it), but check in periodically to see real people using your code. Huge, huge benefit.
I'm not sure if this is great advice or harmful advice (ha), but personally I don't get too worried about how I'm building something. All I really care about is the product. So when I'm asked about TDD/BDD/pair programming/whatever the case is, usually my answer is "it depends". For example, right now I'm working on a greenfield app and haven't stopped to write any tests. Sure, it's going to suck in a few weeks when I decide to go back and write them back in, but it's a pretty good tradeoff for me right now. I'm in the exploration phase and want to fuck with a lot of different approaches really quickly. Making code safe can come later, and at that point I'll write tests in tandem (or, depending on the problem, write the tests first).
Along those lines, be comfortable with your work environment, too. And it's important to note that sometimes this can change. Seven years ago I was super productive working at home. Two or three years ago I started realizing that I became super productive in an office setting. About a year ago I realized that working in a noisy office started to really grind my gears, so now I've been pretty happy working in cafes and home again. For awhile I tried to fight it, assuming that "I work best" in a certain locale, but now I've come to realize that it changes a lot for me over time, and I'm cool with that.
Talk to people in your industry in informal settings, either in-person or over video chat or even chat. It's always great to know more people, and you'll learn super interesting stories from the problems others have faced. Also: find a few mentors, the ones that will still love to grab lunch with you seven years from now and talk shop.
Write for yourself a lot. Keep a journal, and talk through hard decisions and discussions with yourself. By arguing a position — even if it's just to yourself — you're forcing yourself to think about the other side of the argument, too, which can make you rethink your position, or make you better suited to discussing with people in real-life later.
You're already asking yourself great questions. Keep asking questions of yourself. I learned the least in my career over the last year and a half, and the recent realization of that really bums me out. If you're not learning, you're treading water. It's easy to go along with the flow after awhile, but unless you're literally taking time out ever few months to ask yourself am I making progress?, it can be easy to overlook the question completely, at least for me.

Hope this helps some!

In your opinion, what are some daily habits that made you a better developer. #690

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