3 Ways Every Developer Fails And How To Avoid Them

What pitfalls should I avoid as I learn to be a developer? What are the things that slow people down when they are learning software development? These are the questions we will answer in today's episode of Dev Questions.
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[@andergarcia1115]

When gratitude is great, words are few

[@IAmTimCorey]

👍

[@learncodingbycoding]

18:23 I remember Tim mentioning that there's actually a real screen behind him bit it never actually stuck in my head 😅. Great video BTW.

[@gahshunker]

😂😂😂

[@IAmTimCorey]

Yep. I would have re-recorded it except that was my second time because of that same issue and it was late. Stupid Windows Updates. I thought telling it "not now" was enough. Nope. It asks you again in 20 minutes, just in case you changed your mind.

[@KaerioMika]

Haha that's' cool to know more how is the set made

[@faisalalhoqani6151]

Great episode dear Tim keep it up.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thank you!

[@Anton-Os]

Thank you Tim, thank you for your video life lessons.

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@torrvic1156]

Thank you for precious advices Tim! You was absolutely right about discipline and will. I love to do nothing and lying on the couch but I am using my will to force myself to do something. It is is what it is. I found that people achieve good results when they have a strong will because I think that otherwise we just played video games and do nothing if we could.

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@martindzeble]

Tim, I will always praise your name, you always grow me whenever i listen to you

[@IAmTimCorey]

I'm glad my content has been helpful.

[@jeffsherman9638]

Great video Tim. Getting frustrated and hitting dead ends and working through is part of the career path. Many people give up because of this or don’t advance in their career, it needs to be an attitude adjustment. Likely the reason why software developers get paid well, not easy for most including seasoned developers.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks!

[@DanielAzevedo94]

Most times i find really hard to find what i could improve. Só many variables outside of my control. Do you register this things as you go in the task? Most of my time is lost at testing, the env its problematic and sometime i don't know the best flow. People normally don't answer very quick and i get bombarded with messages.

[@DanielAzevedo94]

And how you know what steps should bem documenting? To avoid loosing time in the future. After collecting everything it gets so hard to find what you need.

[@IAmTimCorey]

It sounds like you could use practice in project management. Taking the initial requirements, identifying the assumptions and eliminating them, breaking the resulting data down into a series of tasks, completing those tasks, and then documenting what you accomplished. You are always going to struggle when working with other people. That's the nature of working with other people. The key is to get better on your end at knowing what to ask, how to document it, and how to execute on it. The way to get better is to honestly evaluate where you could be better. Not where someone else could be better at getting back to you. Evaluate how you could better organize the returned information next time. Then evaluate how you could ask better questions next time to get more precise answers.

[@andywalter7426]

One question I have is you mention about the problem of underestimating. I would think there is more of a problem of overestimating how long a project take. I did a project today that I thought would take 4 hours and it ended up taking me 1.5 hours. I even had another project I thought would take 2 months and I completed in 2 weeks.

[@IAmTimCorey]

That's not typically an issue. If you find yourself consistently over-estimating how long projects will take to where it is a problem, you are probably not spending enough time actually working on finishing the project. Projects can work really early on in the process. The bigger issue is dealing with edge cases and ensuring that you have a really good user experience (not just a flashy UI).

[@StuartLoria]

I have noticed estimates are never evaluated against reality to steer the team towards higher estimation times or towards more details in the tickets, one could think managers don’t like higher delivery times and enjoy the idea of pressuring the team to deliver faster, just an observation.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Managers struggle with the same thing as everyone else - accepting the reality of what is rather than what you want it to be.

[@andywalter7426]

I would actually find it impossible to do the learning outside of work while holding down a job. I would find I would get so distracted from what i am learning, i would harm my job performance. what is more important between outside learning and holding down a job. it is impossible to do both though. when i would do the outside learning, then while at work, if i had unresolved problems, i would be so depressed not knowing if i can fix those problems i would make too many mistakes at work. how does somebody solve that type of problem. of course now, those aren't issues since i could not even get a job anymore since tech has advanced so much that the entry level jobs you mentioned like data entry they don't have much of anymore.

[@IAmTimCorey]

My first suggestion would be to have you work through your feelings about development. Becoming depressed because of an unresolved problem in your code is really unhealthy. It sounds like you might be connecting your self-worth to what you can do with code. Please don't tie those two together. Who you are as a person should not be dependent on who you are as a developer. The vast majority of the time a developer spends writing code will be spent on fixing mistakes and tracking down problems. If your self-worth is tied to being able to fix mistakes immediately or not make them at all, you will not be able to work. If you really cannot disconnect the two and if not being able to fix a problem immediately causes you to be depressed, my recommendation to you would be to look for a different career. In the end, I really think you need to address the root issue because it will follow you wherever you go, but there are some careers that will be much more conducive to your mental health. Dealing with the constant problems in development will not be one of them.

[@andywalter7426]

@@IAmTimCorey What causes me the problems is because there is an app i really want but know if i can't fix the problems, then those apps would never be created. On the job its worse because if i am unable to fix the problems, then i lose my job then. what i find that happens is i get depressed but if i am able to fix the problems, then i get excited because i go it fixed and can eventually have the app i always wanted. i actually got into development because i wanted more automation and more custom apps and processes.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Go back and read my previous comment again. Your clarification doesn't change my advice. If this is how working in software development makes you feel, you either need to work with a counselor to change your viewpoint or you should not continue in the software development field. Tying your success as a developer to your self worth is incredibly dangerous.

[@ArkFen]

)) yeah I remember same story with ssl ))) then I also created a document for future myself 😂

[@IAmTimCorey]

It was always a pain.

[@afgdfdgdfddf42]

I'm switching between classic asp to C#. And no you don't understand my pain 😂

[@IAmTimCorey]

I've been there, done that. Actually, I really like classic ASP. It is a culture shock, though, when you switch back and forth.

[@IkethRacing]

I suffer with #3 with learning SDKs

[@IAmTimCorey]

Identifying the issue is a big step towards fixing it.

[@karimvtvtvtvvgvvvvakabery6025]

perfect perfect

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks!

[@harrisonwell1719]

Hi

[@IAmTimCorey]

👋

[@WeavingMocha]

Tim Corey has been listening to too much Jocko :) Extreme ownership is a valuable life lesson though.

[@IAmTimCorey]

I didn't even know who that was until I googled him.

[@Sysshad]

Chaos is the future

[@IAmTimCorey]

When has that not been true? You can always see the future as chaos. You can also always see the future as bright. It all depends on how you want to look at things. In my experience, things are never as bad as predicted, nor are they as rosy as others predicted.

[@BeepBoop2221]

People would delete an entire project because of one winforms bug? That doesn't seem like a good mindset.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Nope. And unfortunately, that was taught to them by the professor. The thing is, though, that's what happens when you code with "magic". When you don't know why things happen, it is magic. When it is magic and the magic stops, you are helpless. That's why I am so insistent on learning things fully and not skipping past something until you actually understand it. Doing so gives you confidence as a developer, which makes you better at what you do and makes you happier in the long run.

[@rjean99]

It's my wife's fault 🤣

[@IAmTimCorey]

😂 She doesn't read these comments, does she?