Software Engineering Stack Exchange
Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [self-improvement]

Questions on self-guided improvement. Because no one cares as much about you as you do.

This tag is for questions on self-guided improvement and how you can make yourself be a better programmer.

Questions should focus on things you can change about yourself and not your situation.

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What is the single most effective thing you did to improve your programming skills?

Looking back at my career and life as a programmer, there were plenty of different ways I improved my programming skills - reading code, writing code, reading books, listening to podcasts, watching screencasts and more. My question is: What is the…
Oded
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Is LISP still useful in today's world? Which version is most used?

I try to teach myself a new programming language in regular intervals of time. Recently, I've read how Lisp and its dialects are at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from languages like C/C++, which made me curious enough to know more about…
TCSGrad
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116
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16 answers

How to avoid "DO YOU HAZ TEH CODEZ" situations?

I have a strange situation at work, where a colleague of mine often asks me and other co-workers for working code. I would like to help him, but this constant request of trivial snippets interrupts my thoughts and sometimes makes it hard to…
volothamp
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17 answers

Does Scrum turn active developers into passive developers?

I'm a web developer working in a team of three developers and one designer. It's now about five months that we've implemented the agile scrum software development methodology. But I have a weird feeling I just wanted to share in this site. One…
Saeed Neamati
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101
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61 answers

What's the most absurd myth about programming issues?

To put it another way... What is the most commonly held and frustrating misunderstanding about programming, you have encountered? Which widespread and longstanding myths/misconceptions do you find hard for programmers to dispel/correct. Please,…
Maniero
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12 answers

Do you spend your working hours on learning?

Do you spend your working hours learning new stuff, reading tech blogs, books on programming etc.? What's your opinion on it? Can an employer have benefits allowing developers to spend about 1-1.5 hrs a day on learning. Will it be repaid in future…
make_sense
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How important is self-teaching in the programming field?

I'm 16. I started programming about a year ago when I was about to start high-school. I'm going for a career in programming, and I'm doing my best to learn as much as I can. When I first started, I learned the basics of C++ from a book and I started…
Bugster
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4 answers

Which algorithms/data structures should I "recognize" and know by name?

I'd like to consider myself a fairly experienced programmer. I've been programming for over 5 years now. My weak point though is terminology. I'm self-taught, so while I know how to program, I don't know some of the more formal aspects of computer…
Earlz
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When would someone be considered a bad programmer?

How would you consider that a programmer is bad at what he or she is doing? If possible... How should he/she improve?
Tamara Wijsman
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What non-programming books should a programmer read to help develop programming/thinking skills?

There are a lot of questions about what programming books should be on the programmer's bookshelf. How about non-programming related books that can help you become a better programmer or developer? It would also be interesting to know why they would…
FeatureCreep
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What should every programmer know about programming?

Please, stay on technical issues, avoid behavior, cultural, career or political issues.
Maniero
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20 answers

What's the best place for a high school programmer to get his work noticed?

I'm a 16 year old high school student, with a passion for computer programming. I'm in grade 11, and I've been learning it as part of the school syllabus for about 8 months. I've gone beyond what's being taught at school, and witten a few…
viraj
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52
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6 answers

How to Deliberately Practice Software Engineering?

I just finished reading this recent article. It's a very interesting read, and it makes some great points. The point that specifically jumped out at me was this: The difference was in how they spent this [equal] time. The elite players were…
JasCav
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How can I improve my problem-solving ability?

Everyone says the same thing: "a real programmer knows how to handle real problems." But they forget how they learned this ability or where: it's not taught in schools. What can I do to improve my ability to tackle complex programming problems? What…
user12278
50
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12 answers

Releasing an open source project without getting embarrassed

I've been working by myself on a fairly large open source project for quite a while and it's nearing the point where I'd like to release it. However, I'm self-taught and I don't really know anyone who could adequately review my project. A few years…
Hopeful
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