11 programming skills necessary to be a professional programmer

There is a myth that an experienced programmer does almost ten times as much as other programmers. Legend is controversial and bears views. Whether you choose to believe the idea or not, there is a set of necessary software skills shared by all non-regular programmers, which sets them apart from any other programmer.

To be a professional programmer, it takes more than writing codes. From working with a problem-solving team to controlling versions to software development, you will never reach professionalism without a host of other basic tools and skills.

Learn how to communicate

Some media sources portray programming as a non-social profession, and in fact, involve a lot of communication and teamwork skills. If you work for a company, you will be part of the development team and expect to communicate and work well with others. So you have to develop communication skills to learn to do it the right way.

Raise your problem-solving skills

Many developers say that understanding programming language is only a minor part of coding. Problem-solving is another important skill that novice developers lack and is not easy.

To hone this skill you have to start with small projects like developing some simple applications. Then spend extra time knowing what to write and understand what they are all about. When you know the function of each code and solve each problem then start developing real software and also focus on developing systems to solve the problems you will encounter.

Develop your talents to learn more

Technology is always evolving and with it, you must develop your knowledge as a developer, so it’s important to keep up with new programming languages, software, and hardware. There are a lot of things you can do to learn new skills quickly. For example, focus on understanding code reading so you can understand new technologies and know the resources used. Take notes to stay organized to find information when you need it.

Keep a great deal of determination

Veteran programmers are experiencing experiences that make them feel like beginners in discovering new technologies and learning for themselves in record time. Each expert in his field is a novice in another area and there are a lot of techniques so you can be an expert of one of them and a newcomer of another technique.

Know that small decision is very important

When writing a program, you will feel as if there are a billion decisions you have to make, even when you add only a small feature such as naming variables, functions, and other small things that have a big impact. Professional programmers develop patterns to help them name variables, saving them time to think about nouns because they often call things the same way.

Use the right tool to do your work

There are many open-source libraries and tools and programmers know what to use for every problem they face and are willing to learn anything new that allows them to be more productive. This is done by selecting two or three tools and then immediately applying the best tool to understand how they work on their software environment.

Be a powerful user of your development tools

If you spend most of your time writing code in a particular environment, you should know exactly how to control it no matter what your tools are. There are many tools like Sublime, Text, Atom.io, Emacs, Vim, or Visual Studio. However, professional programmers begin to master the easy tools like Sublime and Atom and then learn and master the most difficult tools.

Learn how to use Vim for a bit

Vim is one of the most important code editors used from the Terminal window of Linux and Mac, where it is automatically installed with the system, and can also be used in the Windows command panel after installing on Windows. You should be able to at least protect your software with such a professional editor, as many experienced programmers have their codes that are unique to their work.

Accept criticism with a great welcome

Developers who write many codes a day can be required to decode them based on comments from other developers. Therefore, you need to develop the ability to respond rationally and logically when exposed to these situations, and there is no objection to updating the code and improve it if necessary. One of the best and most professional development methods is the frequent code review by a veteran.

Be aware that the difficult part of self-employment is not in writing code, but in everything else

What makes developers with a very high income is not only the difficulty of writing code but also the management of these businesses, as any project needs sales, marketing, customer support, quality assurance, and product management to complete the project and be successful and it takes a lot of time.

Start overcoming your fears by making mistakes

Mistakes are the best chance of learning so don’t treat your mistakes as failures. Instead, learn from her and know that it is very important for you as a professional programmer.