How to Always Be at the Top of Your Game as a Developer

They call it revolutionary, not because it’s something huge, but because it’s something different

“The act of discovering who we are will force us to accept that we can go further than we think.” — Paulo Coelho

Let’s teach ourselves how to be great. It will always start with the realization that we’re capable of doing more, that we deserve to be better than we thought we can, that we can make a better life, and when that time comes, we become superhumans.

Working non-stop, the earliest to rise and last one to sleep, day after day, for the next five years, is the cost of ambition.

A little competition will force us to move, it will inspire us to give more than we thought we can give. So, don’t be afraid of having a competition, they will force you to do better.

Be so good they can’t ignore you. Have you heard about Leo Messi? His plan to leave the Barcelona football team, without even saying a word in public, has him trending all over the world.

He doesn’t talk much, he doesn’t have to, he became so good in his craft that even without saying anything he shakes the world.

He also started with nothing but big dreams.

Dedicate Two to Three Hours to Learning Something Every Day

If you keep doing this for months, it becomes part of your day— not spending some time learning starts to feel weird.

If you want to survive as a developer, you need skill up to keep up.

There is always something to learn. It’s not necessarily a skill — it doesn’t have to be something grand. You don’t have to build an application a day — we all have our obligations and errands and keeping balance is the priority. We need to stay sane while working towards our dreams.

Consistency is your ticket to achieving anything you want. It’s the little things we do every single day that builds the future ahead of us. To survive a marathon you have to keep moving. Even if it’s just one step at a time, you have to move.

You don’t need to spend five to ten hours every day — you just need to spend enough time to gain something and to improve your skills. Even if it is just two to three hours you’ll be surprised how it can build up not just your technical skills, but also your inner discipline in trying to build that habit.

The important thing is to make it a habit. It’s like a muscle — to build it you have to practice it day after day, until it becomes impossible not to do it.

If you dream to build a skyscraper then give everything you’ve got for that dream, because it’s worth it.

Listen to your Senior Developers

They know a lot of things that you don’t know. Even when it feels like they don’t, you need to be respectful and stay humble.

Being a good developer is not just about technical skills. It’s also about being a good teammate and human being. Be respectful, no matter how good you are. Trust me you don’t want to be your senior developer’s worse enemy!

You need to learn how to deal with your colleagues, whether they’re also developers or not. Try listening more than you talk — people love being heard. I’m not saying you need to deal with their life, just be respectful — especially to those who have worked longer than you.

We learn a lot by doing, we can also learn from other people’s experience. Your best teachers are your senior developers.

I’ve dealt with the worst — someone who didn’t care and didn’t teach. But they also taught me something — he became the exact opposite of who I want to be in the future.

If you’re a Junior developer your main focus should be to learn as much as you can from your senior developer. There are a thousand things they can teach you that you can’t find anywhere online or at a university. Stop thinking about books and bootcamps and start thinking of the real world. The real lessons are to be learned from your senior developer's techniques, words, and wisdom.

Stay Updated With Trends

This doesn’t mean you can just jump around, nor does it mean you have to follow them wherever they go, you just need to be aware.

You wouldn’t want to walk in a road blindfolded, so stay updated with what is happening in the world of technology — it can change in the blink of an eye and you don’t want to be left out.

Staying updated with trends is also part of the job for developers. If you want to grow and be better, put this one on your list.

A good way is to follow other developers — those who you look up to, follow, and trust. It could be a person or an organization that you trust to give the right resources and information.

Another good idea is to join a community. Surround yourself with like-minded people. They will not only support you all the way in your journey, but they will help you grow, and evolve. At the end of the day you need a friend or a stranger to talk to, those who understand our job, so try and make friends.

You can also start your day with reading tech blog posts, especially here in Medium. I’m a big fan of reading in Medium — start your day right.

And if you find something interesting, it could be new technology or programming language, then take a course. Udemy is the cheapest and well worth the money.

Finally, don’t forget to keep your portfolio and Linkedin updated, you never know when opportunity knocks.

Always be Reinventing

Reinventing the wheel, reinventing yourself, especially on the things that matter to you most.

I’ve said it many times: Don’t reinvent the wheel — use it.

But there are exceptions, there always are. If we don’t make exceptions, how can we create things? How can we push humanity forward? How can we make the impossible, possible?

Thinking beyond can be intimidating, but it’s something to look forward to. It keeps me up in the morning, thinking that I can become something more, day-by-day, by rewriting my future, and if it is not something that you want to pursue, then you’re not thinking big enough.

If there are no exceptions, then there would be no Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Albert Einstein, or Elon Musk. It doesn’t have to be grand, you just have to rewrite your future and start there. Think bigger than yourself. You are a developer, technology has the power to create a new world, and as a developer, you can do anything.

It’s in your hands. Just like doctors, who can save thousands of lives — as a developer, we can change the world, one technology at a time.

Every breakthrough happens when someone introduces something new, something that didn’t exist before — something different. They call it revolutionary, not because it’s something huge, but because it is something different.

Stay foolish.

“Because those who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world are the ones who do.” — Steve Jobs