Recently, I’ve read two great books about habits and it struck me: the difference between senior and junior software engineers is not only in the size of their paycheck; most importantly it’s in their habits!
Let’s be honest here. Majority of the day-to-day coding problems are solved by an extensive google search. On the other hand, good habits make any engineer more efficient by:
- Preventing from making the mistakes (or mistake prone code) in the first place, e.g., patterns, TDD/BDD and language convention habits
- Helping them to come up with solutions faster, e.g., debugging and thinking habits
In my humble opinion, that’s what Hack Reactor is really excellent at. It’s the factory of good habits where for 12 weeks, 6 days a week and 8–10 hours per day students get routines ingrained in them to the point of automation, until they become their second nature… until they can code in sleep. :-)
PS: Two books about habits in business and life are The Power of Habit and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
PS2: I know that some senior software engineers are solving cutting-edge (not on StackOverflow) problems; for them it’s even more important to rely on good habits to get the trivial things out of the way.
