Biggest Mistakes Of Developers

Internet, ChatGPT and social media - so many ways to find good information, but devs still make the same mistakes!

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YEAR AFTER YEAR.

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But first, why these mistakes are so important not to make?

One short answer - time ⏳!

These mistakes lead to years of lost time and potential.

I've seen so many good developers who are getting underpaid, or staying in their comfort zone when they can grow their careers literally overnight!

And I don't want you to be one of those devs.

So let's break down the most popular mistakes of Beginners, Juniors, Middles and Senior Developers

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1️⃣ Beginners: Mistake #1 - FREAKING FOCUS!

You are just starting to learn how to code or even know something.

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But then you see a YouTube video in your recommendations with the title: 'THIS NEW FRAMEWORK WILL CHANGE IT INDUSTRY'.

You watch it, and you are getting so excited 🤩 about this new technology, so you SWITCH TO it.

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But then in 2 months ANOTHER YouTube video with NEW FRAMEWORK pops up, excites you - and you repeat the cycle 🔁.

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And I've seen people jumping from one technology to another FOR YEARS.

And instead of being really good at one thing, they are bad at everything.

2 months is not enough to get good enough for the job in ANY tech stack.

You need at least 5 to 14 months!

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So FREAKING FOCUS 🎯!

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Do the research, choose ONE tech stack and stick to it until you find a job!

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2️⃣ Juniors: Mistake #2 - LAZY A*S

You followed the first advice and focused on one thing. Let's say Frontend Development with React.

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After some failures and struggles, you've finally found your first job and officially become a Junior Frontend Developer.

Congrats! 🎉

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You think that it's finally time to relax. You start thinking about your first vacation, new apartments and more benefits.

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ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND????

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You've literally got the dream job, that millions of people all around the world are fighting for, and you are thinking about vacations?

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Here are a couple of facts:

• 🤦‍♂️ You are bad. If you lose this job in a month, you are going to be in the exact same situation as you were before this job. As 1 month of experience is nothing!
• ⚠️ A company that hired you TOOK a huge risk hiring you, considering you have NO EXPERIENCE. If it doesn't work out, they will lose thousands of dollars they spend on hiring and educating you.

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So don't be lazy a*s. This is not the time to relax. Within the first 6-12 months of your career, your main goals are:

• to learn as many things as you can
• to get as many real-world projects to your portfolio as possible
• to build as good a reputation in the company as possible

Focus on these things, and in less than a year you will start seeing that hard work pays off 💸!

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3️⃣ Middles: Mistake #3 - Responsibilities are your friends

You were working hard at the beginning of your career and managed to become a middle developer.

Now you feel quite secure about your job because even if you are going to lose it, you won't have any problems finding a new one.

Moreover, you are making pretty decent money and finally FULLY CONTROLING your life.

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But you can do more. At this level, you already have almost everything to become a senior.

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But for some reason, you are scared to take on more responsibilities. Why?

The more responsibilities you are going to take, the faster you will become a Senior, as being a Senior is not just having X years of experience ❌.

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So here is the list of things you should try doing as a Middle to become a Senior faster:

• Conduct Technical Interviews
• Lead Development Process and Manage Other Developers
• Decide on the Project's Architecture and Tech Stack
• Actively Participate in Code Reviews
• Keep a bigger picture of the current work in the team, and call out if you see that an important task has been forgotten
• Help Junior Developers
• Prepare Presentations for the events (if your company has any)
• Run Internship Programs

Wow! A lot of stuff!

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But you don't have to do all of it straight away. Just start taking more responsibilities and with time you will notice that YOU ARE INSANELY valuable for the company + you have TON OF HIGHLIGHTS that you can add to your CV.

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From my experience, I can say that conducting technical interviews and managing a team of multiple developers were THE MOST VALUABLE things to add to my CV, that helped me to land decent jobs 😎.

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4️⃣ Seniors: Mistake #4 - Don't be an OLDF*G

You are cool. I understand that.

But the IT industry constantly changes. You have to learn new things from time to time.

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Also, BE A LEADER!

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Some of the younger devs are looking at you like on the GOD!

So be nice to them, and pass your knowledge, so they can grow as well!!

Be a part of the community. Your own, or someone else's.

Participate in conferences, run a Twitter, and create open-source projects.

Finally, start a business if you are ready to sacrifice your free time.

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Don't stagnate. You have money, knowledge, experience and connections. Leverage them to become a better version of yourself.

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Conclusion

These were quite common mistakes I've seen across the industry.

Of course, there are a lot of other things you can fail in, but it's impossible to be perfect in everything.

Try avoiding the mistakes mentioned in this email, and it will be very hard not to succeed in your career.

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