Top 6 Powerful Mindsets You Must Have To Be a Good Programmer

Many successful people you admire today made it to their position because they had the right mindset. So many programmers who want to learn to code almost always fall into the trap of not having the right mindset required to make their programming journey so easy.

Computer programming is so intimidating and overwhelming that missing a semicolon (;) from your statement can make you wipe your entire code and either start from the beginning or completely give up on programming. But I assure you that with the right mindset you will excel and become a pro in programming.

Most of the time, programmers spend their time convincing a stupid machine to do what they want it to do. And they keep programming until they successfully compile and execute. To do this successfully you need a certain level of mindset, and that's what we're looking at next.

6 Powerful Mindsets You Must Have To Be a Good Programmer

In this blog, we are going to explore 6 mindsets that every good programmer (beginner or advanced) must have in other to go far in computer programming. Stay with me as we explore these powerful mindsets.

1. Be Curious. Try Everything You Can Imagine

Every good programmer almost always has a strong desire to learn the HOW and WHY some things are the way they are. They are very inquisitive and they rather die trying to find out the reason a line of code was written the way it is, why it should not be so, and the best alternatives when things don't suit them very well.

As an aspiring future programmer, it is super important not to overlook some things, and also necessary to try everything that you can imagine. And this helps you to learn new things. Always trying new things can keep you 10 years ahead of your colleagues.

I can't stress the importance of learning new things as a programmer. You immediately fade away if you are not curious to discover, learn and try new things in the tech world especially in computer programming no matter how hard it is. In other words, be free to make research, Google some hard parts, and ask the professionals for assistance.

More importantly, go ahead and try a lot of new projects, and involve some people who might be interested to make a good team with you. Share ideas, and make reasonable arguments as to why some ideas should be or shouldn't be in the way it is. This will help your level of knowledge to skyrocket to a very high level.

2. Keep Your Mind Open To New Ideas And Corrections

There are a lot of new things that happen every day in the tech industry. Also, programming is evolving so quickly that any person who is or wants to be a good programmer must try as much as he can to follow up on the latest trends. And by keeping to the latest trends, you become so valuable and important to so many employers.

To be a good programmer, you must have the mindset of open-mindedness and the humility to accept corrections. A good programmer remains humble and it takes humility to command a stupid machine to do something. He always has this mindset that there are a lot of new ideas to learn ahead. Therefore, they take their time to listen more than they talk.

"Mastery" of a programming language is perhaps not impossible, all you need is to be open to new ideas and corrections, that will make your journey a lot smooth and easy. I think you need to be a little patient with yourself and give yourself time to absorb the necessary information.

Currently, we have seen a lot of incredible improvements in different areas of the tech industry, ranging from automobiles, aerospace, engineering, and software, to programming. Anyone who is or wants to be a good programmer must also dive deeper into knowing more about what comes or will come In the future.

3. Be Patient

There is a saying that goes thus; "everything worth learning takes time". And this is very true for skills like computer programming. When so many other people see problems, try to visualize solutions, while others are focused on the problem, be patient to focus on the possible way to solve such a problem.

In general, any little mistake you make in your lines of code can take several minutes if not hours or days to figure out depending on your level of mastery. And this can cause a lot of frustration and in the end, so many people try to quit. Take your time, be patient and follow the process to get all the necessary knowledge that you need to be a good programmer.

Most people give up shortly after seeing a few concepts in computer programming, that should not be you. Patience pays. Stick to one thing at a time, visit, re-visit, practice, and ask questions to solidify each concept in your memory. Finally, trust that the process will work out for your good. 

4. Be Lazy But Never Give Up

This is a very powerful mindset if used and understood properly. Be that programmer who asks "How can I get this done with the least amount of effort now and even less effort to fix it later?". A good programmer looks for an easier way to get things done in a very clean way, which will also be easier to adjust later in the future.

Bill Gates (Microsoft Founder) once said "I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it".  Good programmers find the quickest way to fix their problems because they don't like being bothered by anything when the focus becomes their priority. They put in all their efforts when they want to solve a particular problem.

Good programmers persist, they don't quit because they know that there is nothing that comes out of quitting. They start something and try their best to finish it. When things get hard along the way, you don't quit. An option could be to take a break, relax, and reward yourself for coming this far. Many never get to the stage you are.

A good programmer is so obsessive that he will not get some rest until he figures out what is wrong along the line. Yes, he knows that it may take some time but the ability to keep and maintain the best mindset in every situation makes him the strongest programmer of all time. In other words, to be a good programmer you must develop the mindset of being patient, obsessive, and never giving up because that's your power and strength.

5. Don't Wait Until You're Perfect

Perfect means; super good, no errors ever, no mistakes, 100% ideal, completely efficient all the time. Many brilliant programmers have given up on their dreams because they never figured out a perfect way to get their work to be perfect. The mindset of thinking that you need to be perfect before moving on can ruin your life forever.

In sciences, we are made to understand that no machine is an ideal machine, which means no machine or software can be 100% good. If the computer which you use to build amazing software and mobile apps is not an ideal machine, how can the programmer who uses the computer be perfect? LOL

Very few or nobody gets things right the first time. Don't be so hard on yourself for not getting it done the perfect way. It's okay to make mistakes, fail at something, break some rules, and take some break. But what is not a good idea is to give up because you could not get things to be perfect.

A good programmer builds the right and positive mindset around this concept. He understands that computer programming is an incremental skill to learn. Even the best software still has so many bugs to be fixed and other maintenance that can be done to make it faster and easy to add more features in the updates to come.

However, you would not be reading this awesome blog post if I had waited till every single word here is arranged to be perfect. LOL! So move on and always come back to learn the things you didn't get very well at first.

6. Be Consistent, Code Every Day

Many programmers think that computer programming is something anyone can do on a part-time basis. Well, this doesn't work. The only way to be good at what you want to do or what you already do is to Practice! Practice!! Practice!!!

You can watch a lot of videos on YouTube, and read tons of PDFs or books about computer programming on the internet but if you don't practice, you have not lifted a finger. No work has been done yet. To be good at computer programming, you must make out time every day to get your hands dirty on the code, there is no substitution for this very mindset. A good programmer is a consistent programmer who learns new things every single day by doing something different.

Yeah! and that's it!

If you find yourself thinking that you can never make it as a programmer, or you think you're not a good fit for programming, I think you should try and conquer your fears and also learn the reasons why you are afraid to get started at the first place.

Happy Coding!

---