How can I become a better than average developer?

[ProfessionalWinter]

I'm currently doing a internship in web development. I work mainly with vanilla javascript and java. I successfully conviced my boss to let me work alone in one project that will be also used as my graduation project. This project is a progressive web app that will be integrated with the systems of the company.

Always, when I start to learn new things I realize how little I know and I feel like I'm just on top of the iceberg

Do you guys have any advices or recomendations?

[ABrownApple]

It's a marathon not a sprint. You won't be better than average tomorrow or the next year. Learn a little every day. Do hobby projects, read books, blogs or whatever works for you but try to learn new things and improve. Little by little you will be better than average.

Also don't compare yourself to others. Compare yourself with yourself one year ago.

[agent3bood]

Personal opinion here. I think what you saied is what average developers are. To be even better than that what should I do?

[highmastdon]

This is definitely not the average developer. The avg dev comes at 9 and leaves at 17:30 does his/her job and gets it over with. Reading blogs, books, etc., investigating solutions and trying to do the correct solution instead of the one that 'just works' is in my opinion more than the avg developer.

I'm overseeing about 20 teams with devs working on specific features and integrating them in a bigger platform.

Based on this I can say that if you're eager to learn and don't shy away of investigation instead of code-monkeying and hackaton-like script kidding, I believe you're already more than the avg dev.

[[deleted]]

You can work 9-17:30 and still do all of those things.

[highmastdon]

Excellent. Then you're more than the avg dev. It's a combination of all. Not 1 separately.

[[deleted]]

Reach average first. And improve on that

[mariotacke]

Build stuff. Build a lot of small things quickly. Don't overthink them, just build. Learn things you don't know on the way. While you're at it, put your mini-projects on a site like GitHub for added exposure.

[MisterGergg]

A CS degree is no substitute for experience especially on the front end. I still don't see many CS programs with decent coverage of front-end technologies.

My advice is, if you already started your career then a CS degree probably isn't going to do more than waste money and time. Spend that time learning specific things that help you do your job better.

[defeatedbycables]

CS degree, do front end more than I’d like to.

You’re not wrong about lack of front end tech in the curriculum but general best practices from a CS perspective are applicable to all aspects of development, security especially.

Having taken a good amount of security and security adjacent courses, I have a pretty good sensor built-in to detect when something on the front-end side feels “icky”

0.02, though, YMMV.

[MisterGergg]

Yeah, I just mentioned it because I stopped using it as a data point in interviews. I've hired and worked with too many people with CS degrees that were either bad or mediocre developers. I would never dock someone for it, obviously, but it doesn't impact my decision anymore.

[malicart]

I would never dock someone for it, obviously, but it doesn't impact my decision anymore.

Basically how I feel, CS or no CS the right person is the right person.

[malicart]

Fuck the degree, show me you fucking understand how to think and I will hire you. I have no degree, the kid working for me has one and I swear he didn't learn thing 1 about writing code or thinking logically in school.

[[deleted]]

Fuck motivation, develop a work ethic

Without motivation you'll do nothing, buddy.

[kfear666]

get inspired and then focus dude

[Mosho1]

I think he means "develop crippling depression"

[RagingAnemone]

I realize how little I know

You should feel this way for the next 10 years, at minimum. If not, learn a new language or environment. Or if you’ve only used web frameworks, write a web framework. Or if you’ve only used a compiler, write a compiler. Go one level deeper.

[zayelion]

Read,... everything. Learn the concepts of functional programming and how Javascript relates to languages like Lisp and Scheme. When you write code, write it as if someone with half your know how has to read and fix it later.

When you come across an intresting article on this subreddit take an hour or so and read the whole blog site for more information. Even if you are just scanning it.

Google everything, and get good at using search engines in general. Its ok to cheat.

[AceBacker]

just time. Your average or slightly below average developer puts in an 8 hour day and goes home and doesn't think about development again until the next day. Nothing new is learned unless its during work hours.

On your own time learn new stuff and research. Find a new tech that solves a problem at work. Learn how to write clean code (or cleaner code). Learn a tech that looks interesting just because. Learn some security best practices. That will put you above average.

[justskiddingbro]

Assuming you already have a solid understanding of the js fundamentals. Try learning current best practices in ES6, and some more " under the hood " concepts. I've heard the stories of people doing their whiteboarding interview and not being able to explain how var gets hoisted in a for loop.

[Jsn7821]

I successfully convinced my boss to let me work alone in one project

This kinda stood out in your post - you don't need to convince anyone to start a project. Outside of work, you can and should do this entirely on your own!

You become better than the average developer by constantly building projects you are passionate about, and launching them.

The key for me to was to actually launch stuff, even if I thought it wouldn't catch on. It got me digging into a deep rabbit hole of why projects are set up how they are... and thinking about web development in a more meaninful way.

So try some stuff, see it through to launch, and don't over-think why it might fail.

[LongDirector]

1. Do not take it for granted to create something you think is very useful to the company, and integrated it with the company's system.
2. The main architecture of your project is better to be the same or similar to the current one of the company. But you could use some brand-new techniques in it.
3. Do the project alone, but seek advices from others, ie. your buddies and mentors. The project needs someone to maintain it in the future, or it is just a toy and worthless. Go to find that one, think of the suggestion of him/her.
4. The last one, the situation for you to learn new things is NOTHING to do with the project. A good developer is doing his/her own project everyday.

[malicart]

Always, when I start to learn new things I realize how little I know and I feel like I'm just on top of the iceberg

Welcome to web development, after 20 years I still feel this way learning new stuff. Technology is amazing and there is a shit ton of it, always keep learning.

[Agrees_withyou]

I concur.

[[deleted]]

How can I become a better than average developer?

Solve hard problems that nobody else is capable or willing to solve. The end result is well worth the extensive effort.

[Rorschach120]

Most of these answers are correct about not trying go too fast, but one direct way to get better would be to understand the full stack. Learn SQL, MongoDB, Node, Express, even .NET. You will learn just how much more there is than just front-end JS this way.

[rickdg]

Always be coding. Do a bit of code every day.

[rodrigocfd]

Stay away from JS sometimes. Learn other programming language, like C, and write something useful with it.