Productivity is an ongoing challenge for developers. There are so many new frameworks, tools and languages that it can be overwhelming to keep track of everything. The good news is that staying productive doesn’t just come down to knowing the right resources. Here are 5 tips on how to stay happy and productive as a developer:
1. Start journaling your mood and productivity
When you’re feeling down or unmotivated, it can be hard to get into the right head space to get work done. Journaling your moods and how they affect productivity can help you spot early warning signs that you’re becoming unproductive. Mapping out how you feel as a developer can also help you spot patterns in your emotions and how they affect your work. It’ll also help you see how certain events in your life (like new birthdays or holidays) can affect your mood. In Devjour, we are offering a guided journaling tool for developers to help them track and visualise their moods and productivity.
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2. Track your time and find your groove
Keeping track of your time is key to discovering your groove as a developer. Without knowing how long things take you overall, you can’t really get a sense of what you’re spending most of your time on. This can also help you spot patterns in your time spent. For example, if you’re consistently spending 45 minutes on a specific task, you can try breaking it up so that it’s less than 45 minutes. This could be as simple as taking a break or logging the task as a sub-task within a bigger project so you have context around it. You can also use tools like RescueTime or TimeWires to see how long you spend on specific tasks.
3. Pick a few tech tools and stick to them
When you’re just getting started as a developer, it’s helpful to pick a few tech tools that will help you get started. Once you’ve had a few weeks or months of experience, you can try to add more tools as you see fit. For example, you can use Slack to stay in touch with your team and stay on top of tasks and updates. There are tons of integrations for Slack that you can use to stay in touch with your team. If you don’t use Trello, you should start. For tasks that aren’t within your team, you can use Asana as a central place for your projects (you can also use Trello for this). You can also use Trello’s smart cards to give context to specific cards and make it easier for other teams to follow your work.
4. Every code-completion tool helps you learn at least one thing
If you’re new to a specific language or framework, you can quickly add to your knowledge by starting with code completion. After you’ve had a while with a tool, you can try to be critical of how you use it.
5. Celebrate small victories
As a developer, you’re constantly trying to push further. It can be easy to get discouraged when you don’t make progress as fast as you want. But even small victories can help you stay positive. Whether it’s a small project you completed or improving your code-completion results, celebrate these small wins so you don’t get too down when you don’t make as much progress as you’d like.
Conclusion
It’s important to be productive as a developer, especially when there are so many new tools, languages and frameworks to learn. Keeping track of your mood and productivity can help you spot early warning signs and spot patterns in your time spent. These include journaling your moods, tracking your time and finding your groove.
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