What Makes a Great Software Developer?

The page gathers advice for software developers from Michael O. Church and Matthew Gertner. Church’s list stresses learning on the job, managing a career actively, knowing software politics, avoiding burnout patterns, and paying attention to long-lasting technologies rather than short-lived buzzwords. Gertner adds that great developers should slow down enough to build software that is usable, maintainable, stable, and based on a real need.

Reading notes

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• Developers in a competitive industry should keep learning on the job and manage their careers actively.
• Church advises recognizing underperformance and overperformance, understanding software politics, avoiding fights that are not their own, and exercising regularly.
• He also says developers should manage their hours, avoid long days when possible, learn as much as they can, and value autonomy.
• The page highlights the difference between technologies that endure and technologies that fade, using NoSQL and big data buzzwords as examples of short-lived trends.
• Church says a working knowledge of linear algebra will remain useful.
• Gertner argues that developers should slow down and build something with a solid foundation that is usable, maintainable, and meets a real need.
• He says projects fail more often because software never really works properly than because they miss a market window.
• He also says tests and documentation should be worked on as development happens, and that the goal is stable, performant, maintainable, understandable software.