5 Mental Models for Programmers

Tips to improve your career as a developerPhoto by Per Lööv on UnsplashWith thousands of programming languages and paradigms, it’s important not only to have a good understanding of what you’re learning but also an awareness of the “bigger picture” — a…


This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Ikram Ben Sassi

Tips to improve your career as a developer

A man looking to a board with many tasks on it
Photo by Per Lööv on Unsplash

With thousands of programming languages and paradigms, it’s important not only to have a good understanding of what you’re learning but also an awareness of the “bigger picture” — a mental model that illustrates the relationship between different technologies in order to make sense out of everything.

This article will explore different models for how we code. Some of these models are practical and easy to grasp while others are less obvious, but they’re entirely worth understanding in order to grow from a code monkey to a legitimate system architect.

The first section will discuss some general concepts in software and how these concepts relate to other disciplines such as biology and physics, while the last section is a bit more advanced and discusses how machine learning fits into these models.

1. Learn How to Learn

Having the ability to learn quickly and easily is a critical skill for every architect. Every skill-building can start with doing something right, then make it easier and better.

Thus, you should embrace the continuous learning process and get up to speed on new technologies.

You need to learn how to teach yourself and others how the system works and what problems it’s solving.

2. Develop Peer Mentoring Skills

Absorbing knowledge and becoming an expert in multiple areas are very important skills for architects to have.

An architect needs to find the best way to help other people succeed.

3. Zoom Out to See the Big Picture

If an architect is moving up from a developer role, they must embrace the process changes moving up requires. They need to be trained to use many tools and programming languages.

As the evolution of programming and software architecture is ongoing, you need to be flexible enough and never limit your knowledge or box yourself in with certain design decisions.

4. Personal Intellectual Growth

Once you’re steeped in the world of development, it’s easy to become satisfied with what you know and lose motivation to learn new things. By building a leadership reputation and becoming an architect, your personal growth will increase because it will become clear that there are other ways for you to grow as an individual.

5. Develop Engineers Who Get It

An architect needs great engineers who understand that it’s not about them and their code working.

It’s about solving the end user’s problem — whether it’s data modeling or running reports against real data from production.

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5 Mental Models for Programmers was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.


This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Ikram Ben Sassi


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