In Search of a Code Buddy - Adventures of a lonely programmer
Programming has always been a collaborative task, one that has resulted in many success stories. Usually what a non-tech people hear are stories about the super — rich geeks, but we the programmers respect team work for what it has given us, the awesome frameworks, libraries all originating from a single mind, contributed-to by many.
In our “code world” everything is about teams. But what happens when you are the team, the idea man, the programmer,the front-end designer & even the graphics guy.
TLDR; when you are the team, IT SUCKS!!
Recently, working on my biggest project till date, I realized the pitfalls of working alone. There are many of them, I’ll just write up a few.
Some times, while writing code our mind concentrates so much on the present problem that its easier to forget the bigger picture.
When working on client’s project, we have a clearer view — the client’s view, but when you are the idea man, things are different, to-do lists are not that helpful, having someone who shares your idea he keeps you informed about the current state of affairs.
Front-end, back-end, graphics do ‘em all and one of them is bound to suck.
Gone are the days of master of all trades, now is the time for specialist at one…. or maybe two but not three. I started programming in Java, got my first job at 19 as a front-end developer doing HTML/CSS & then got back to Java. While at my last project, I was responsible for the Front-End and the Back-End and believe me, some pieces of code sucks, and I know that.
The most important of them all
Your code buddy keeps you upbeat
When working for long hours, you are bound to burn out, and anyone who has written more than “Hello World”, understands the fact that one can come across very frustrating situations. Having a code buddy who understands this thing helps you to keep upbeat about the prospect of finishing what you important.