In a Nutshell
- We work hard to improve our tech and soft skills. But our character traits, our mindset - we take it for granted. An innate, fixed part of who we are. And thus, we let it run on autopilot.
- This way of thinking is harmful. Not only is your mindset critical for a successful software development career (maybe even more than your skills), but it's also under your control.
- True senior devs acknowledge that character traits are malleable, are self-aware of their mindset, and deliberately work on it. This is the superpower that makes them stand out from the crowd and accelerates their career.
- In this post, I'll discuss the 10 most critical traits of a successful developer, why they are important, and share a few tips on how you can shape them.
Three Things You Need To Succeed as a Software Developer
Professional software development is a complex discipline that requires a diverse set of abilities to succeed. We can group them into three main categories:
Technical Skills
This is the most obvious group. To be a successful developer, you need to be good at your trade: programming languages and frameworks, clean code principles, architecture, testing, debugging, and so on. You also need to be skillful with your tools: version control, command line, and IDE.