From My Experience

Hi, I’m Jamal Williams. After 23 years in software development, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to successfully launch code with any sort of consistency. During my career, I’ve worked for large Fortune 50 companies to very small startups, and through it all, I’ve learned that technical skills alone won’t get you far. While strong coding ability is essential, being a truly professional developer requires a broader approach, encompassing business understanding, teamwork, and a commitment to the entire software lifecycle. It’s about more than just writing good code; it’s about being a professional in this industry and making meaningful contributions.
Let’s explore what I’ve come to see as the key qualities of a professional developer.

What I’ve Learned

Understanding the Business Context: The Bigger Picture

As an engineer, it’s easy to become very focused on the code itself, and that’s understandable. After all, that’s what they are paying you to produce, right? However, you have to realize that code is always written within a larger business context. A professional developer needs to understand that their work is intended to serve a business goal. This isn’t a school project; we’re here to solve problems and make opportunities for the business. It’s critical that you make an effort to understand the overall objectives of the company and how your team’s work contributes to those objectives.
Understanding this bigger picture allows developers to make more informed decisions. They can consider not only the technical aspects of a solution but also its business implications. They can anticipate potential issues and propose solutions that are both technically sound and aligned with the company’s strategy. This understanding transforms a developer from someone who simply executes tasks to a valuable contributor who helps drive the organization forward.

Teamwork and Collaboration: Working Together Effectively

Software development is fundamentally a collaborative effort. Complex projects require teams to work together effectively. Professional developers recognize the importance of teamwork and prioritize collaboration. This relies on strong communication, empathy, and a willingness to compromise. Building a positive and productive team environment is crucial for success. It really only takes one coworker who can’t put their personal desires to the side for the good of all to derail a project and throw a team into chaos.
Key elements of effective team collaboration include:

Helping and seeking help:

A professional developer is willing to both offer assistance to colleagues and ask for help when needed. Sharing knowledge and expertise strengthens the team.

Recognizing when you need help and asking for it is a sign of strength, not a weakness.

It allows for faster problem-solving and collective growth. An engineer with a problem is most often an optimist; they always think they are just about to “figure it out.” You might be right, but there is still a good chance that you’ll get the answer faster if you engage with your colleagues. You don’t get prizes for being right; you get paid to ship code early and often.

Taking responsibility, avoiding the blame game:

Mistakes happen in development. One of my favorite interview questions is “When was the last time you broke production? And what did you learn?” I’ve refused to hire people who said they’ve never pushed bad code. They’re either lying or they haven’t done any real work. A professional developer takes responsibility for their contributions, both positive and negative. When problems arise, the focus should be on finding solutions as quickly as possible and learning from the experience, rather than assigning blame. This fosters accountability and trust within the team.

Learning from constructive criticism:

Feedback is essential for professional growth. Professional developers actively seek and value constructive criticism as an opportunity to improve their skills and their work’s quality. They understand that feedback is intended to be helpful and contribute to their development. You can’t get better if you don’t know where things aren’t performing well.

Contributing opinions and committing to decisions:

Collaboration involves discussion and debate. Professional developers contribute to these discussions by forming reasoned opinions and expressing them respectfully. If you don’t have an opinion, you should be able to read up, ask questions, and form one. Voicing your concerns is an important part of the job, but continuing to make the same arguments over and over can quickly read as sour grapes. Once a team decision is made, it’s important to commit to that decision and move forward together, even if it wasn’t your initial preference. Team unity and progress are paramount.

Balancing Priorities: Long-Term Vision and Urgent Needs

Developers often face competing demands: urgent tasks and long-term goals. Addressing immediate issues and meeting deadlines is critical, but neglecting long-term investments like code refactoring, testing, and addressing technical debt can create significant problems over time. Professional developers must learn to balance these competing priorities effectively.
Effective issue logging and prioritization are essential for this balance. Clearly logging issues allows for a comprehensive understanding of both immediate problems and underlying systemic issues. Prioritizing these issues based on their impact, urgency, and technical risk allows for strategic resource allocation. This ensures that both short-term needs and the long-term health of the codebase are appropriately addressed, preventing urgent demands from completely overshadowing essential long-term work.

Commitment to Quality and Consistency in Code

Professionalism in development is deeply connected to a commitment to quality and consistency. Code should not only function correctly but also be reliable, maintainable, and scalable. This requires a focus on consistency, repeatability, measurability, monitoring, and thorough testing throughout the development process. Engineers have a tendency to want the latest and greatest tech, but sometimes if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it is the best policy. All change introduces risk to a project, and adding risk without a compelling reason to do so is bad business.
Key aspects of this commitment are:

Code readability and team standards:

Code should be written to be easily understood by others on the team. Professional developers adhere to team coding standards and prioritize code readability. This makes codebases easier to maintain, debug, and evolve over time, and improves team collaboration.

Understanding and managing risk:

Development decisions always involve risk. Professional developers proactively assess and mitigate potential risks, considering security, performance, scalability, and the impact of changes. Managing risk is critical for delivering reliable software.

Early error detection practices:

Finding and fixing errors early in the development process is significantly more efficient and cost-effective. Professional developers prioritize early error detection through practices like linters, unit testing, integration testing, and code reviews.

Investing in comprehensive testing:

Testing is not optional; it is a core part of professional development. Someone is going to test the code for the first time, and it should not be your clients. Investing in thorough testing, including automated testing, is essential for ensuring code quality, minimizing regressions, and providing confidence in the software’s reliability.

Investing in the Entire Software Lifecycle

This lifecycle perspective requires a commitment to continuous learning. The technology field is constantly changing, and professional developers are dedicated to staying up-to-date with new technologies, tools, and best practices. They actively seek opportunities to expand their skills, improve their processes, and contribute to the long-term success and maintainability of their projects. A professional developer’s responsibility extends beyond just writing code. They recognize that software is a dynamic system requiring ongoing attention throughout its lifecycle. This includes involvement from initial design and architecture through deployment, maintenance, and eventual decommissioning. You need to be an active and responsive partner to the people and teams upstream and downstream. You should be interfacing with the PMs, designers, marketers, and support reps to get a holistic view of the software you’re writing.

Conclusion

Being a professional developer is a continuous journey of growth that extends beyond technical expertise. It involves developing a broad range of skills, including business acumen, collaboration, a focus on quality, and a lifecycle-oriented approach. These qualities are not merely desirable attributes; they are essential for navigating the challenges of modern software development and making significant contributions to successful projects and organizations.
As you consider your own career in development, reflect on these key aspects of professionalism. Are you focused on simply writing code, or are you striving to become a well-rounded, professional developer? Embracing these broader skills will not only enhance your individual career but also strengthen the software development industry as a whole.