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You Are Not the Same Developer You Used to Be
Developer change code and code changes developers
The developer you are today is not the same developer you were yesterday
Developers are a product of their environment, they are shaped by their people, technology, solutions and experiences. A developer never writes the same code twice. The code is the same, but the developer is different.
What felt like a struggle at the time, can turn out to be the project you learned the most from. You realise what you learnt, when you to step back and appreciate the code/software you created.
Evolution
You have to evolve as a developer otherwise your skills will eventually go out of fashion and demand for them will dwindle (There is a strategy to be the last surviving VB6 developer, but this is no life for a developer)
If you don’t change or challenge yourself, you stagnate and this leads to boredom.
Some changes you go through are started by yourself, learning new skills, taking new roles, moving company. Many changes are because of the environment, people and projects they are working on.
I think of this quote a lot
“Any year that you don’t destroy one of your best-loved ideas is probably a wasted year.” Munger
What ideas, technology, approaches, tools, services and good practices have you moved from and to? A developers perspective is taken from their experiences and this gives them a different perspective of a situation.
The past is the key to the future
The key to understanding the developer you are, is by understanding the past.
Theory, knowledge, certificates and knowing best practices are useful, but what shapes a developer is writing code and creating software.
Every developer learns the hello world example quickly becomes irrelevant once faced with real software requirements to be used by real users.
