DEV Community

What's your greatest software development skill?

Ben Halpern on July 09, 2019

What are you best at? We can't all be great at everything, but we all have certain skills which set us apart. What is it for you?

Collapse
 
jackharner profile image
Jack Harner 🚀

I'm a big fan of the following flow chart:

Just wish I could figure out someway to convey this idea as a tattoo.

Collapse
 
zejnilovic profile image
Saša Zejnilović

Hello.

I am stealing this.

Thank you.

Thread Thread
 
jackharner profile image
Jack Harner 🚀

Hello.

I don't own it so go ahead.

Thank you.

Collapse
 
scottishross profile image
Ross Henderson

I literally tell my girlfriend this probably at least 2 - 3 times a week. "Why worry about something you can't control? You're just putting yourself through it twice".

Collapse
 
maxart2501 profile image
Massimo Artizzu

My colleagues treat me like a living encyclopedia.

But I don't think it's my best trait. On the contrary, it may have a detrimental effect in the long run. And I think I'm not very good at controlling this.

Maybe because I've graduated in Mathematics and not CS, I've always been pretty comfortable at grasping the big picture of a project. Never lose sight of the goal (thesis), divide the problems, follow the implications and such.

Also, I've never had any problems with mathematical formulae, logical expressions and geometry. Always useful, even in web development.

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

If one person is tasked with having that encyclopedic knowledge...

Collapse
 
maxart2501 profile image
Massimo Artizzu

Precisely on point.

Not that we actually face emergencies, but giving away punctual notions usually doesn't help your colleagues grow. And that's a problem, or at least a missed opportunity.
It's definitely a problem if developers start relying on that.

I've suggested my boss to let me (and other seniors too) create internal courses and classes, especially now that we're growing. I would love that, really, not to mention we could also sell the courses outside the company.

But this idea hasn't taken off yet: we can't "sacrifice" our seniors' time to that. Oh well, I hope that'll change ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Collapse
 
deleteman123 profile image
Fernando Doglio

I think I'm a good teacher and I enjoy explaining difficult technical concepts to those who're just starting out.
Other than that, I have debugging superpowers (I'm known to have spent days searching for am missing comma on a 3rd party library to fix a bug they were having, which ended-up affecting us).

Collapse
 
jacobmgevans profile image
Jacob Evans

I also love teaching others and having mutual knowledge exchanges with people.

Collapse
 
quii profile image
Chris James

Telling people who ask us to do crazy things "no"

Collapse
 
samuraiseoul profile image
Sophie The Lionhart • Edited

A true god among men right here.

Collapse
 
cheston profile image
Cheston • Edited

People ask me...

"How do you always have a cup of coffee?"
"Where are you getting this coffee?"
"It's 5pm, how are you still drinking coffee??"

This is my greatest development skill.

Collapse
 
jordonr profile image
Jordon Replogle

I get the opposite question: "How do you work in IT and not drink coffee/energy drinks?"

Collapse
 
thefluxapex profile image
Ian Pride

While I am skilled in many areas, I love automation!!! Some might not think it's a development skill, but automating things can be efficient, productive, and smooth with proper utilization of tools and correctly interfacing with APIs and years of experience. I don't just use AutoHotkey, AutoIt, or AutoKey (Linux), I use various languages integrated with each other as many programs do. I debug well too :D

Collapse
 
kleene1 profile image
kleene1

Finding where you can automate is really cool as well as where it's not possible to automate. And then having to tell the client that haha 😄👏👍.

Collapse
 
thefluxapex profile image
Ian Pride

I am not very happy with the state of automation of UWP (or limit/lack thereof) :(. Though I haven't spent much time researching the state of UWP automation, but that's because I am not a fan of UWP in general. Slowly, but surely, I guess lol.

Collapse
 
codingmindfully profile image
Daragh Byrne

Remembering that I have solved things before, which means I can solve whatever it is I'm "stuck" on.

And that nobody has ever died because of code I wrote.

Collapse
 
kleene1 profile image
kleene1

Lol ! Haha ! 😂😂

Collapse
 
jacoby profile image
Dave Jacoby

Vague memories of things I touched ages ago.

Collapse
 
kleene1 profile image
kleene1

Haha 😂😅😱💥

Collapse
 
gabriela profile image
Gabi • Edited

I feel comfortable debugging an issue. One memory that I sometimes remember is when i spent two entire days on encoding. I was working on a Python project (i learn as i go, i don't know python, i just adapt) and we had some serious problems with some generated reports. Loved that task.

Collapse
 
reergymerej profile image
ᴙɘɘᴙgYmɘᴙɘj

I'm a master debugger and can figure out repro steps for even the most bizarre cases. This is probably due to my help desk origins.

Collapse
 
val_baca profile image
Valentin Baca

I came to say the same thing!

I worked at my college's IT dept and I feel it was key to how I debug issues.

It even helps when debugging non-tech issues. For example:

hm, my office is cold even though we put in new insulation. What provides the heat? Furnace. Is that working? Yes. Other rooms are heated. What if I'm losing heat? Possible. What changed? Insulation was put in. Noted, but how could that make it colder? Check the vent, hm. Some hot air but not nearly enough. Maybe my room is further from the furnace? Nope. Other farther rooms are heated. Time to get into the crawlspace. Turns out the insulation workers knocked the vent loose!

Same thing with code: What are the conditions the bug occurs in? What about when it doesn't? What's changed? Does it happen in all cases? If not, when does it? When did it start? ...etc etc.

It's even become a problem when watching TV. I think my debugging skill makes it easy to predict what's going to happen or be said. The plots, jokes, dialogue, and "twists" become predictable, mostly because it's easy to catch things because they only show things that are relevant. It's still enjoyable though, it's just a fun game I play. It used to drive my spouse nuts but now she's picked it up too!

Collapse
 
dmahely profile image
Doaa Mahely

This is very cool!

Collapse
 
erikthered profile image
Erik Nelson

I feel like I'm pretty good at picking stuff up and running with it, even if I haven't had much exposure to it before. Another tangential skill I have is sticking with a difficult problem when others might give up.

I will admit though, the latter sometimes results in me being the keeper/expert on certain things that I don't love.

Collapse
 
obahareth profile image
Omar Bahareth

The only thing I'm good at is that I can read very fast (700 - 1000 wpm). It really helps when going over books, docs, or example code. I actually prefer reading over videos or podcasts because of that.

Collapse
 
espoir profile image
Espoir Murhabazi

I'm a great problem solver and debugger, I know the right place where I can put a logging statement in the code.

My StackOverflow reputation can confirm it!

profile for Espoir Murhabazi at Stack Overflow, Q&A for professional and enthusiast programmers

Collapse
 
fultonbrowne profile image
Fulton Browne

Not loosing my mind when stuff doesn't work.

Collapse
 
jonathanpwheat profile image
Jonathan Wheat

LOL, great examples :)

I've run out of f*cks to give. My f*uck bucket is empty.

I learned this from my co-worker. If there's a problem just ask "is anyone dead or dying? Could someone be killed (because of this problem/emergency/urgent interruption"

No? Ok, it's not that bad then. It helps put things in perspective quickly.

 
jonathanpwheat profile image
Jonathan Wheat

You'd love working with me then. I'm 48 and still in the game playing hard. I do have to say it IS amazing the perspective you have on things at this age. Especially when I look at how far technology has come - which is a distinct advantage for me.

I literally had 20k and 64k RAM in my first and second computer, no internet, dial up BBSs and you traded 5 1/4" floppy disks if you wanted to swap software. With those types of constraints, you learn to use your resources wisely. I can write some pretty tight code because of it compared to some of the bloated code I have to deal with that other devs write.

To your point, at 48, life is too short to give one.

Ok, getting off my old-man soapbox now, hope I don't fall and break a hip.

Signed,
"Get off my lawn" Jon

Collapse
 
_bigblind profile image
Frederik 👨‍💻➡️🌐 Creemers

I'm somewhat of an all-rounder. I haven't found something that I feel like I'm that much better at than my peers.

Collapse
 
steelwolf180 profile image
Max Ong Zong Bao

Being persistent to the point until I had achieved something.

Collapse
 
pbouillon profile image
Pierre Bouillon

In my opinion: detect the strenghts of each member of your team
You could gain in efficiency, allow each of them to assign tasks in which they feel great; if not in charge, you can see with the most skilled person for most of the questions you need help with on certain topics

Collapse
 
torianne02 profile image
Tori Crawford

I'm still a new developer and am constantly learning new things about myself in regards to code. I think my greatest skill so far has been my ability to learn new concepts and tools quickly.

Collapse
 
mak12776 profile image
Mohammad Amin Khakzadan

Turning on computers, entering password in user login. type on keyboards to write some f***ed sh*ted programs. then compiling and executing for enjoying what I was wrote.

It's Dreaming...

Collapse
 
jackharner profile image
Jack Harner 🚀

Googling. Everything I've learned, I've found it through Google.

With that comes with a very shallow knowledge about a lot of stuff. Way too many times people are debating the answer to something while I'm busy looking it up. We could all just sit here shooting in the dark, or we can just look it up.

Collapse
 
casen profile image
Casen

For me it is overall system design. I'm quite good at hearing out business requirements, and imagining the various stages the business will go through as it grows, and then parlaying that into a system design that is robust enough to grow alongside the business while suffering only minor tech-debt issues.

Collapse
 
thehanna profile image
Brian Hanna • Edited

Learning. I'm great at diving in and figuring out something I've never seen before. This is mostly due to having ADHD and being able to hyper-focus with a strong dose of caffeine, but hey, I'll take it

Collapse
 
hamatti profile image
Juha-Matti Santala

My ability to talk about technical things with non-technical people. It has allowed me to succeed in work both in product companies and in consultancies.

Collapse
 
tammalee profile image
Tammy Lee

I'm creative and really good at thinking about user experience and how to engineer backwards from that.

Collapse
 
jonathanpwheat profile image
Jonathan Wheat

I would have to say the two-edged sword of empathy is my skill.

I can quickly empathize with the user and understand their pain, frustration or pie-in-the-sky ideas. Which helps me quickly analyze problem areas, etc. By putting myself in their shoes, I can develop software that hits their sweet spot because I was "there" with them.

I sometimes can over-empathizing and their pain/frustration/expectations quickly become mine and that can cause stress and anxiety at times. Mostly I can see it happening and can handle it, but if it creeps up and I don't, it's stress city.

Collapse
 
mgh87 profile image
Martin Huter

I would say finding finding/pointing out how someone (even myself) got to a weird state with a git repository.
Well at least most of the time.
Some times the easiest solution is to cd .. & rm folder & git clone & cd into 😄

Collapse
 
gypsydave5 profile image
David Wickes

Team morale. I bring the enthusiasm and energy, or so I'm told.

Actually it's just the fifteen double espressos I drink everyday...

Collapse
 
prahladyeri profile image
Prahlad Yeri • Edited

It is probably this:

changing stuff and seeing what happens

Collapse
 
mak12776 profile image
Mohammad Amin Khakzadan

Great picture !!!

Collapse
 
mdhesari profile image
Mohammad Fazel

Solving solutions and writing complex and clean programs however evreyday I try to enhance my knowledge so that I can become more advance on various topics...

Collapse
 
billmask profile image
Marcelo H. Gonçalves

I am best at delaying. Why do it now if you can do it tomorrow?

Collapse
 
cathodion profile image
Dustin King

I'm good at isolating where a problem lies. This is a blog post I wrote about how I do it a lot of the time.

Collapse
 
orkhanfarmanli profile image
Orkhan Farmanli

I am good at learning.

Collapse
 
jydoskey profile image
jydoskey

use of representations to solve problems, going from mockup designs, to writing few codes on paper, flowchart etc. Simply put a detailed analysis of what is to be solved or worked on

Collapse
 
florinpop17 profile image
Florin Pop

Googling 😎

Collapse
 
morales_eze profile image
EzeM

I'd say none, but my coworkers say that I'm a fast learner and a fast coder.

Collapse
 
sendilkumarn profile image
Sendil Kumar

Learning
Listening

Collapse
 
brunogiovanni7 profile image
Bruno Giovanni

To architect environments (with Technologies and practices) to develop softwares and put them in production

Collapse
 
skryking profile image
Jason Ormes

Kludging stuff together rather quickly to solve short term problems :)

Collapse
 
bigblackclock profile image
bigblackclock

Googling

Collapse
 
jbradford77 profile image
Jennifer Bradford

I hyper-focus when I'm really into finishing something urgent or figuring out something I've not done before.

Collapse
 
n8chz profile image
Lorraine Lee

refactoring

Collapse
 
ahkohd profile image
Victor Aremu

😆

Collapse
 
jonsaxon77 profile image
Jonathan Saxon

Helping others solve there problems, I am particular good at this as once I start on a problem I will not stop till it is resolved.

Collapse
 
jacobmgevans profile image
Jacob Evans

Troubleshooting.

Collapse
 
r3i profile image
R3i

Asking the right questions when figuring out requirements.

Collapse
 
jaakidup profile image
Jaaki

Listening and digging into customer requirements.
Although that's more a business skill.

Collapse
 
akshaymukadam profile image
Akshay Mukadam

I am informal you need some help ok will do that, this needs to be changed no issue buddy, I hate those developers who behave like managers everything needs to be formal. It shit