8 Characteristics of A Good Programmer

There are some characteristics that can define a good programmer and in this article I'll share a few. Whatever is here is not like the exact characteristics one needs to have in order to be a good programmer but it's just what I think, this is absolutely my own personal opinions.

Also one doesn't need to have like all of these characteristics but having more than 4 is great.

1. Team Player

Being a team player is one characteristic one needs to have for it plays a big role. Most organizations today work in teams so as a programmer you should know how to interact with your team members. Also interacting with your clients if you work as a freelancer is part of being a team player so freelancers also need to have this characteristic.

2. Patience

​​​​​ A good programmer needs to be patient, I remember when I started coding I was like I wanted things to open up quickly and I had this friend who used to tell me "be patient".

So I think patience is a characteristic one needs to have, patience doesn't have to be in contrast with what I have talked about wanting things to open up quickly, patience plays a big role. In programming you'll get bugs, challenges but you need to exercise patience.

3. Love Learning

Learning is essential in software development world. Technologies change like on a daily basis and you need to keep learning the new technologies. So having this characteristic will play a major role in making you a great programmer.

4. Problem Solving

This characteristic has a lot of weight. One needs to be good at problem solving. Programming revolves around finding a problem and trying to look for ways of solving that problem through code.

So as a programmer you really need to work on your problem solving skills.

5. Love What You Do

Passion might be the exact word to use here. Have passion in what you do and do it to your best.

Being proud of what you do also plays a big role, for example if you have done a small project it doesn't matter if its 10 line code project or 1000 lines, be proud of it because it is your work and you put effort into it.

Some guys never get proud of their work because maybe they look at some project another developer did and looking at theirs' they see like they did nothing, take that as a challenge and show yours off, somebody somewhere will look at your work and love it.

6. Good Time Management

Time is very precious and you need to know how to manage it well. Time management is very essential because without this you might end up with lots of unfinished projects.

7. Good Focus

Having good focus is also important like know when to focus on a certain project. Focus is something that can come and go at any time so you just need to know how to control

your focus and concentration so that you can get to finish your tasks early.

8. Listen To Others

As a programmer you need to learn to listen to others. Personally I do learn a lot from listening to what my peers are telling me. Don't be stuck with whatever you know no matter how good you are, give some room to listen to others, listen to their ideas and you might end up learning more from them than you could ever learn from school or even tutorials.

That's it guys, I didn't want to bore you with like 10, 20 characteristics but I think the ones I have shared can shed some light on your programming journey and help you become a great programmer.

See you later...