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Habits of great software engineers

vadimkravcenko.com · 2,231 words · saved by 1 readers

The role of a software developer often gets distilled down to a singular activity: coding. While coding is undeniably the heartbeat of the profession, defining a developer by this act alone is akin to defining a painter by their ability to mix colors. It's a crucial part but just the tip of the iceberg. The true essence of a software developer's role combines many different skills, mindsets, and disciplines. Imagine a world where every software developer is just a coder. In such a world, code might get written, but would it solve any problems? Would the code be even useful or just an implementation of something fancy? The difference between a developer and a great developer is the breadth and depth of their approach in delivering value. I want to talk more about what makes a great software developer. What are the habits of highly effective developers? And I’m not going to talk about coding (too much). TL;DR; for those who want to know if there's value before they scroll down. I talk ab

Habits of great software engineers vadim kravcenko career development growth management Habits of great software engineers 04 November 2023 · 95,495 views · Updated 04 April 2026 Tuesday night, somewhere between sip three and four of espresso, I caught myself rewriting the same helper function for the third time. That’s when it hit me: the job was never just the keystrokes. Code is the visible part, sure, but most of my day is conversations, design docs, ripping out dead logic, reading somebody else’s five-year-old Perl (why, past me, why?) and then—finally—writing a few solid li

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