whether you are new to coding or have been coding for years on end one thing that stays the same
is having different skills to help you stay productive does this sound familiar to you you
are coding but you feel like you aren't getting anywhere that you're just staring at the screen
and hour after hour nothing is really changing this is something a ton of developers experience i
know i have been one of them but there are certain skills or tips that you can acquire to make you be
a more productive developer before we get into it though make sure to hit that subscribe button for
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this is a story that really isn't so uncommon when developers are staring at screens at their code
for hours on end or maybe it just feels like that but you're not really getting anywhere you're not
being productive and it seems as though you just can't kind of what is that saying put your foot
on the gas to get moving it's not that uncommon but when you hear about some of these skills or
tips that you can acquire very easily to make you a more productive developer this will really shift
instantaneously now i'm not trying to say there's a secret formula here to always being productive
because productivity is a myth in itself a lot of times however these skills and tips are really to
help you when you are feeling as though you just don't want to write code today or move
forward but unfortunately you have to uh that can help you kind of move forward at a quicker pace
the first tip i have for you is to not be afraid of errors yes i know it sounds kind
of contrary to what we all think when we first see an error come on screen is uh what is that
but more often than not if we just take a step back and actually read what the error
says i know it sounds very obvious but i mean how many of us are guilty for not doing that
it can really save us a lot of time by just taking the time to step back read what the error
is sometimes it's not that helpful i understand that but other times it will give you the answer
as to solving your problem right in the error learning to properly debug an application can
save you so much time in the long run and although really learning to debug is a skill in itself
that does take time to develop once you have developed it it will save you hours hours
weeks probably years on end by being able to debug properly this is something that i honestly i think
i held off on for way too long i thought okay i'll just log out everything i won't learn learn to use
different debuggers properly depending on what language i was using and honestly it really for
a long time caused me headaches that i didn't even need to have but because of my own stubbornness
by not just diving in there and debugging or learning to properly debug it really slowed down
my coding growth and in the end my productivity so if you are someone who is either learning
to code or has been coding for some time and you haven't picked up the skill of debugging
put that on your list to do first debugging number one number two on my list is have a plan learn
that before you dive into coding before you are building a feature or building a product if you're
building a small tutorial product or your own product or project have a plan go in with a plan
too often we get excited especially if you are a beginner learning to code that we just start
typing on screen and i'm guilty of this still too rather than coming up with a full plan i
just start diving into it thinking oh this isn't going to be that big or it won't take much time
hours later you're halfway through in spaghetti code and getting nowhere because you didn't
take the time to plan properly one of my favorite things about coding is there are so many different
ways to develop new features however that can also be one of my least favorite things because
there are so many ways to develop features a lot of times we don't even really think about the
best solution we just dive in and do what we are comfortable with or what we have done in the past
and rather we should take some time step back plan out properly what we are hoping to achieve really
honestly even today i had that moment where i was asking for help and if i would have just
taken a few minutes instead of that to just speak out loud to myself or to a rubber ducky and say
what i am trying to achieve and come up with a plan it would have saved a lot of back and forth
and a lot of time and so rather than just jumping into writing your code and starting a new project
come up with a plan a high level plan and then really break it down now don't go the other way
where all you do is end up spending all your time planning that you never actually code you need to
find that happy medium but make sure you just not jump in without at least having a high level plan
of the different components you're going to make how you're going to structure your code
how you're going to make it reusable if it needs to be reusable and it will save you so much time
in the long run the third tip i want to talk about is find the right environment for you there are so
many different places where we can code and we can code from pretty much anywhere where we want
which is amazing however one of the downfalls to that though is sometimes we put ourselves in
environments that might not be suitable for us to be productive for myself i know if i go to
a coffee shop it sounds like great scenario for me being able to walk in have a coffee sit down
be surrounded by other people however i'm never really that productive there and maybe for some of
you that's where you're most productive but it's really important to know what environments you
really thrive in and can be productive in and what environments are distracting to you and really
are counterproductive this is really done by trial and error if you never have tried out going to a
coffee shop or working from home or any of the scenarios you're not going to know what's best
for you one thing for me i know though is i love coding by having my two monitors my dual monitors
that's really productive for me because i can see everything i can see my code on the screen
versus just on my laptop screen i'm not someone who is productive coding on the couch or in my bed
so just be aware of the environment you are coding in because the environment you put yourself
in to work in will have a huge impact on your productivity the fourth tip i have for you and
this is something that once again i had to learn the hard way is to have a set of tools to help you
and what i mean by that is when i i'll give you an example when i first started coding
at the first company i ever worked at i was really resistant to using different tools such as postman
or um what are some other ones you know even chrome dev tools or really any tools that would
essentially help me um by being a better developer and help me develop faster i was so resistant
to use different kind of tools and i think the reason for that was because i was just still new
to coding and getting my foot in the door that the thought of introducing more tools on top of what i
already was learning just seemed too overwhelming the problem with that though is it really slowed
down my development and i think it will for any of you as well who are learning to code if you
are not willing to adapt and bring on different tools that will help you with your productivity
now you might be asking how do you know what tools can help you with your productivity and
development and i can't really say specific tools because it depends on what you are working on what
i would recommend though is if you are working on say an angular application or a react application
or maybe you're working on a back-end application for the back-end of an application google just
use google google's your best friend some tools that can help you with that specific language or
specific framework whether it be different kind of plugins that you can download whether it be
different tools such as postman different tools that will really help your development process
speed up now also too i really want to highlight don't go the opposite way by downloading every
single tool in the books so just try once again and find that happy medium balance but just kind
of take note if you are starting to resist using tools it might be just because you are feeling how
i was feeling just overwhelmed with everything and but just recognize that it will save you a
lot of time and the last tip the final tip i want to share with you today tip number five is to take
breaks i get so many messages from people saying how long should i code for every single day to be
efficient or how long do you code for every day it's not about how long you code for it's about
what you do in the time that you code so it's always a very interesting question to answer for
me and i think more than anything is realizing that coding for six or eight hours straight is
not beneficial to most people anyways you need to take breaks and step away from your computer to
give your mind a rest and kind of what is the word refresh it just like an application you really do
and you can't just be a robot sitting there coding 24 7. so be kind to yourself take breaks
even if you are stuck on a problem i know it's very easy to just want to stay at the computer
and not leave until you figure it out or for me anyways i'm really guilty of that but it's
so important to take breaks step back go for a walk at in the end of the day it will make
you more productive i know it doesn't sound like that but i can tell you firsthand it always makes
me feel more productive and be more productive when i come back and a lot of times it helps
me solve the problem so take breaks i know you all are very hard workers but you gotta
take a break okay those are my top five tips for different skills or habits that you can develop
to be a more productive developer it is so key to take these in order to really grow your coding
skills and become a better developer i hope you found this video very valuable and helpful leave
in the comments other video topics you want me to cover if you haven't already make sure to hit that
subscribe button and give this video a thumbs up okay i'll see you all soon thanks everyone
you