acm-header
Sign In

Communications of the ACM

ACM Careers

Seven Simple Habits of The Top 1% of Engineers


View as: Print Mobile App Share:
array of faces, illustration

Top coders' principles and habits add time to the first pass of coding, but save time in the long run.

Credit: Getty Images

Phenomenal engineers, both at large companies and smaller companies, all have some overlapping habits in the code they produce.

  1. They stick to a consistent standard and style of coding. Consistency makes code easier to read and understand by both future you and your teammates.
  2. Every elite engineer produces code that may have been complex to produce, but was simple to both read and understand at the end.
  3. Good code is predictable. This is done by following code principles and writing proper tests.
  4. The best engineers are both communicative and collaborative — not afraid to take the time to work together for the chance at a better end result.
  5. Amazing engineers stay unattached to the code itself. Nobody cares about perfect code. They care about code that delivers change.
  6. The best engineers I know complete projects fast . . . by coding slow.
  7. Code for the user, not the computer, or yourself.

From The Engineer's Codex
View Full Article


 

No entries found

Sign In for Full Access
» Forgot Password? » Create an ACM Web Account