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Void⚡

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Obvious Mistakes Every Junior Developer Should Avoid

Mistake every developer should avoid

I asked tech twitter to share ONE mistake they wish they had avoided in their developer journey. I have documented the top responses in this article. Hope these will be helpful — especially for beginner devleopers.

Let's dive in! 🚀

TL;DR

Overwhelming yourself 😟

In tech there is always:

A new library
A new framework
A new buzz word

…to overwhelm you.

It’s ok to not know everything.

Learn to take things 1 at a time.

Setting unrealistic goals 🎯

No, you can’t learn JavaScript in 1 month.

Or Python. Or Kubernetes.

You want accomplishment, but you will get anxiety.

Instead:

Set small goals. Have low expectations.

And scale slowly as you gain momentum.

Not tracking progress 📈

Measuring progress doesn’t come naturally.

But, without it you will reach nowhere.

Track finished projects.
Track time taken for tasks.
Track happiness levels.

Remember:

You can only improve what you measure.

Not being consistent 🗓️

If you want to be good at something,

you need to stick to it.

Long term consistency > Short term intensity.

Don’t overcomplicate it.

Start today. Repeat tomorrow.

Not taking breaks ☕

Working without breaks leads to burnout.

So, disconnect from work.

Often.

Listen to music
Go for a walk
Talk to your friend.

Make time to recharge.

Wrapping up 📝

Hope you will learn from these mistakes and avoid them in your career.

If you liked this post, follow me for more of these. 🙂

Share a mistake that you wish you had avoided. Would love to hear it. 👇

Top comments (17)

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viktoriabors profile image
Viktoria Bors-Pajuste • Edited

Great post! Honestly for me the hardest is taking breaks… 😕

I can get “lost” in a task so deep and not standing up from the table for hours… Really bad “habit”.

Any idea how to force myself to take breaks? (I tried to put alarm to take breaks in every hour but unfortunately I know how to ignore it.. 🙈)

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ant_f_dev profile image
Anthony Fung

I was going to suggest the Pomodoro technique (work for ~25 mins, break for ~5), but it'll be more challenging if you ignore the alarm.

You could always try setting a device in another room to play a really annoying sound or song every so often - that way you have to walk away. Not so great if you're in an open plan office though :)

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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡

Yes, pomodoro is a great way to structure your work sessions.

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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡ • Edited

Haha..try keeping the alarm across the room to ensure you have to get up and switch it off 😀. The other way is to have an accountability partner who keeps a check on you taking regular breaks. Also, you can start maintaining successful breaks streak for added motivation.

I believe this will be required for a short time as you will see results of taking breaks pretty soon. Best of luck.

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viktoriabors profile image
Viktoria Bors-Pajuste • Edited

Thanks a bunch for the advice. Luckily I work from home so I can put lot of annoying alarms all over the house to get my butt out from the chair :) I am going to try it next week. Wish me luck!"

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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡

Good Luck 👍

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thanu_ profile image
Thanushkanth Shan

Below points are not mistakes to avoid but to follow as J.Dev (Correct me If I'm wrong)

  1. "Keep It Simple". Eventually it will get complicate when you finish your project so make sure solve your small tasks simple way as possible.
  2. "Follow Best Practices".
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ant_f_dev profile image
Anthony Fung

Not tracking progress is a good one.

I'm not new to this game anymore, but there are some days when I just feel that I haven't accomplished anything. But then when I look back over e.g. the past week, I find that I've accomplished more than I realised.

Another tip: keep a high level daily work diary - just one liners on what you've done. Compile it compile it into a weekly block at the end of the week. Re-read it after a month.

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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡

Great tip. Thanks for sharing Anthony.

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prafulla-codes profile image
Prafulla Raichurkar

Nice Thread, I would like to add to the below -

  1. Never just watch a tutorial, type along and follow it along to be better. [The above trick will help you alot if you are someone who struggles with syntax]
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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡

Thanks Prafulla. Great add 👍.

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sidunn profile image
Si Dunn

Excellent advice. Thanks for posting this!

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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡

Thanks for reading :)

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ashkamrip profile image
adhanaAshu

What is the best way to stay consistent and track your progress ? anything special or just spreadsheets

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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡

You can check my blogpost on consistency here

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hybridmong profile image
Paul Gift Chibueze

'Set small goals'..... This I'm guilty of.
Hopefully I'll learn to take things easy

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codewithvoid profile image
Void⚡

And that's ok. Try making it smaller than you think is necessary.