Not everything is programming

This week was one of the rarest of the year, because between too much work, the lack of a computer, unfortunate events and personal things, it has been one of the worst weeks in my life in terms of stress and anxiety. But I want to emphasize that all this was worth it and everything was solved step by step.

Communication

Every week I have been able to see how communication is really important in development. Communication was my best resource this week, because in the absence of a computer, communicating my ideas and solutions became vital to the project.

Test

Tests are more important than you think. In programming, I have noticed that first you have to think about what you want to do, then think about how to test it and finally code to pass the tests. It’s a good way to see the problem trying to reflect the software requirements in the tests (doesn’t apply in all cases).

When paying attention during all of the little steps, you may discover patterns in your code. Therefore, the application code actually helps me debug the tests. That is, since the tests are the specification, feedback from the application code helps me debug the specification.

Agile is key

Agile methodology and what it takes to work this way is just too useful.

I learned the utility of pair programming where it does not mean that they are both programming, but since I did not have a computer, I was a contributor, both thinking about the solution. I realized how important people’s perspectives are in order to converge and get a solution.

Of the most important things that I have learned since I started working is that the best way to learn about development is the experience.