What are the times when you just really really love doing this stuff?
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What are the times when you just really really love doing this stuff?
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
vincanger -
Rizèl Scarlett -
dev.to staff -
dev.to staff -
Top comments (83)
My favorite time it's when the thing you have been working on for hours, days, weeks, months, finally goes into production and people actually start using it. It's usually the start of a long journey, but it's the best feeling.
Yes! I get to have that on Tuesday. Guess until then, I'll have to live with the nervousness
I hope everything goes well for you! I feel the need to ask what you are deploying, but if it's a stealth release, feel free to tell me no lol.
It is the-network.io, a platform for VC investment funds, and over the past week we had a bunch of calls with clients, showing them a non-permanent version of the platform to get their feedback and maybe have them subscribe to it. I'm happy to say it was received very positively :)
Congratulations!
Doing TDD up to the point where the last line of implementation is done and everything works.
Great feeling indeed 😄
When I've finished a thing (feature, a commit, a whole project). Those are the best moments.
A pause for pragmatic celebration.
When I'm working on an interesting, complex problem, but making progress at a steady pace.
It's a balance that's easy to upset in either direction: if the problem is too simple, especially if it's a lot of repetitive, rote work, sure you'll make quick progress, but it can get boring; but if a problem is overly complex, like a caused by subtle, weird race conditions that are hard to reproduce, or if the library you're using has some unexpected behavior and you have to dig through someone else's poorly organized deep class hierarchy to find the bug (this is definitely a hypothetical and not my actual life right now 🙄), it can feel like trudging through deep mud, making frustratingly slow progress.
Both of these are normal parts of software development, but they aren't the parts I love the most. I'm happiest when I'm presented a really interesting, non-trivial challenge, especially one where I have to do some research and learn a new technique, but where I have at least an idea where to go and I consistently make some significant progress daily, check off a subtask each afternoon before I leave.
Wow, you really nailed this!
When I'm actually coding.
So no:
But I understand it's all part of the game and my seniority demands me an important role in all of that, so it's ok. Just let me code once in a while.
I feel this deeply. I don't mind some backend optimization work, and I get that it's important, but man, there's nothing like user-facing development, especially in a situation where you can talk directly to your users and take feedback.
How much of your work do you typically find "matters"?
I think it is when the focus is on the problem I'm trying to solve rather than on tedious language, framework, or environment quirks. That was the initial appeal of web development for me because I could start a new file and turn a design into code and have something to show for it. When the extraneous setup and prerequisite learning are already taken care of or if a language/framework/environment makes that super easy, then I tend to be happy while coding.
Refactoring!
Nothing beats the feeling of transmuting a garbled mess into well-written prose
But first you have to read and understand the garbled mess, even (especially) if it's yours, and I find that part excruciating.
But yes, after it is done, it is really a fantastic feeling of accomplishment. Maybe it is actually proportional ?
You're absolutely right! It's painful to refactor large piles of stinky code. I find it less accomplishing to do manage that since I don't find any joy in doing it. Then again, continuously optimizing/refactoring after every small change in code slows your progress to a crawl.
I think laying down the logic, and THEN ironing out wrinkles afterwards is the sweet spot!
Laying down the logic is the part where you must rethink your logic (why sometimes asking yourself "what the h*** was I thinking ?"). I find its a stimulating time. Most of the time, I use my good old paper and pen to do that, and really like the process.
I totally agree with using pen and paper to map logic! This is where I appreciated my UML diagram lessons back in university. They may seem esoteric, but knowledge of flow charts/activity/sequence diagrams really help clarify your own intentions. Plus, it's a good skill to have if you work with a team.
Indeed! I actually discovered the computer world with flow charts/sequence diagrams first, using them to work with a software that allowed to create new modules without code (a so-called "no-code" platform). You could say that I start with diagrams, before learning to translate it to code
The moment when I had been sitting for hours/days on a complicated task / feature / issue and then had the enlightening breakthrough to solve it! 💡
In this very moment you feel you just understood the whole universe 😁
Kinda lame: When I delete more lines than I add in a PR
LoC is an incredibly stupid metric, without a shadow of doubt, but there's something about the joy of making something better than it was by reducing the amount of code needed to make it happen :-)
I have a confession to make. Because I really like doing those refactors that last intensively for a couple of days. They're not healthy for one to do continuously and generally it is better to improve incrementally in small steps, but just getting yourself lost entirely into some code and complexity for a couple of days is something I love. Even with all the swearing I have to do with the "stupid" existing code that is in the way and doesn't do things the way I want :)
Honestly, getting paid 😅
Don't get me wrong, it's an incredible feeling working on my own projects and seeing them work. But to be rewarded for what I am passionate about and actually making a living from doing what I love is the greatest high ever.
Keep in mind that I did numerous projects for free just to fill up my portfolio and earn some credit. It was many years down the line when I actually asked for some money.
Getting paid to do something valuable that you also love is the best!
When things are working on the first attempt without having to fix any semicolons errors 😂
When I create value for other people creating something that works. It doesn't even have to be coded. Might be no-code, a demo version using a mockup tool, etc.
As long as I'm providing value I'm on the jazz.