This document outlines the characteristics of a good programmer. It discusses that good programmers are 28 times more productive and introduce 28 times fewer bugs than bad programmers. Good programmers spend 90% of their time thinking, researching, and experimenting to design the best solutions, while bad programmers spend that time debugging randomly. The key characteristics of a good programmer include humility, curiosity, ownership, attention to detail, quality focus, laziness, pragmatism, creativity, passion for learning, teamwork skills, and balancing work and personal life.

1. HOW TO BE A GOOD
DEVELOPER
SOPHIA DAGLI

2. What do you see yourself
 In 25 years from now
 In 20 years from now
 In 10 years from now
 In 1 year from now

3. What is that you going to do ?
 Write Code
 Read Code
 Write Code for reading
 Make money for the code you write

4. Good Vs Bad Programmer
 A good programmer can be 28+ times
more productive than a bad
programmer.
 A bad programmer will introduce 28+
times more bugs than a good
programmer.
How much does the cost compare for
a bad programmer Vs a bad
programmer ??

5. Good Vs Bad Programmer
 A programmer spends about 10–20%
of his time writing code, and most
programmers write about 10–12 lines
of code per day that goes into the final
product, regardless of their skill level.
 Why ?

6. Good Vs Bad Programmer
 Good programmers spend much of
the other 90% thinking, researching,
and experimenting to find the best
design.
 Bad programmers spend much of that
90% debugging code by randomly
making changes and seeing if
they work.

7. Good Vs Bad Programmer
 Good programmers need minimal
support from their mentors & both get
more time to do more from their time
at work
 Bad Programmer sap the time &
energy of their mentors, if they refused
to learn.
 Whom do you want to work with ?

8. What do you need to be a good
programmer ??

9. CHARACTERISTICS OF A
GOOD PROGRAMMER

10. Humility

11. Humility
 They don’t mind admitting that they
don’t know something.
 They know that there is nothing wrong
in saying “I don’t know”
 Nor do they harshly judge another
team mate who says that.

12. Humility
 They share their code with others and
welcome feedback.
 Work hard to swallow their pride and
overcome their fear and shyness of
letting other people review their work.
 they enjoy company of programmers
who are smarter than them

13. “if you’re not doing a few things where
you’re failing a little, you’re probably not
trying hard enough. I say if everyone
likes you, you probably aren’t doing
anything interesting.”

15. Curiosity
 They don’t accept things as they are.
 Acts like a compiler !! Scrutinizes each
and every line
 Will ask why why why ?
◦ To himself
◦ To his boss
◦ To his client !!

17. Ownership
 Looks for the Big-picture perception of
a software.
 Looks at the business oriented
approach to the software.

19. Attention to Details
 Attention to detail
 Feel very very uncomfortable on
seeing poor code or existing bugs &
would want to fix them.
 Cringe every time they are forced to
put in a patch fix for the benefit of time
and will always go back and put a
better fix whenever they can
 Doesnt ignore a teeny weeny bug

20. “ Computers are good at following
instructions, but not at reading your
mind. ” - Donald Knuth

22. Quality
 Writes Clean code
◦ Little or minimal documentation
◦ Clear function / variable names
◦ Small functions
◦ Smart looking code.

23. Any fool can write code that a computer
can understand. Good programmers
write code that humans can
understand. ~ Martin Fowler

24. Lazy

25. Lazy
 They hate doing manual tasks and
therefore invent creative ways to
automate mundane jobs.
 Hate typing (so find innovative ways to
write lesser code).
 Seeks simplicity (Doesn’t like to wack
his brains too much)

26. “ First, solve the problem. Then, write
the code. ”

27. Pragmatic

28. Pragmatic
 Able to make a value judgement about
what is really important
 Values practical outcomes
 Understands priorities. Will ask about
the priority.
 Believes in getting the job done
 Avoids gold plating

30. creative
 Programming is an ART !
 Sees ways to do things that others
don’t see, comes up with better ways
of doing things, goes beyond.

32. A student always
 Have a passion for learning
 See learning as an investment
 Spend a lot of time upgrading their
skills and improving their knowledge.
 Learns new language, doesn’t get
scared of any new coding language
(The basics are right).
 Loves getting to learn new languages

33. A student always
 Spend on books & read them too.
 Read, browse, blog, network, join
forums, attend conferences.
 Get into the trenches try out new
things whenever they can.
 Are tool junkies

35. Loves working in a team
 Listens to his team members
 Pays respect to his team members
 Gets continuous feedback from his
team members

37. Works hard and parties
harder
 Manages time effectively for personal
and professional growth.
 Doesn’t bother colleagues
unnecessarily for tea, smoke & loo
breaks.
 Finishes work on time – so never has
to leave late.