Jeff Atwood has an interesting post on his Coding Horror site entitled “Yes, But What Have You *Done*?” ( http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000809.html ). Programmers, Jeff says tend to be natural introverts, and left to their natural devices will migrate toward head down coding.
“But it is possible to go too far in the other direction, too. It’s much rarer, because it bucks the natural introversion of most software developers, but it does happen. Take me, for example. Sometimes I worry that I spend more time talking about programming than actually programming.”
I know how Jeff feels. In my role as a development lead I spend a lot of time in meetings, or talking to other developers about their projects. As a result I wind up spending a lot of time late at night doing coding, just to keep up with the latest and greatest techniques.
The need for code experience directly resulted in one of my “How To Be A Better Developer…” ( https://arcanecode.wordpress.com/2007/07/13/being-a-better-developer-in-6-months/ ) pledges.
I will work all the code samples in the book. Reading is one thing, but doing is even better. Personally, I find I get a better understanding when I actually type in the code samples and run them. And not just run what’s in the book, but tweak it, experiment with it.
I’m amazed at the number of times I meet some guy who comes across as a self proclaimed expert on a subject. When I quiz the person or try to ask tough questions, it turns out said individual read a book, but never actually wrote any code. Book learning is great, I certainly buy enough books every year to know, but there’s no substitute for doing.
When learning something new, start with the samples. Work it, tweak it, understand it. Then, if appropriate use it on your project at work. If it’s not appropriate, find someone else’s project that it would be a good fit for. Offer to work a few hours unpaid overtime and contribute some code to their project. They’d probably be grateful for the help, and might repay with some pointers and critiques.
Can’t find an appropriate project at work? There are thousands of open source projects out there, find one where you could contribute. Or look around the community; find a charity that needs some programming done.
It’s easier than you think to find some real world places to apply your coding skills. So what are you waiting for, just code it!
Arcane Code 