Staying Relevant and Effective as a Solo Software Developer

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Being a solo software developer inherits many responsibilities. You are the lead software developer, project manager, and QA. Your technical decisions will dictate the direction your projects will go. With so many responsibilities, being effective with your time becomes a top priority.

Whether you are self-employed, a freelancer, a consultant, or the only software developer in your office, they all have one thing in common. What they all have in common is that you are the primary start-to-finish person for most of your projects. Unfortunately, if you are a solo software developer, there are not many resources out there. Most talks, books, training or blog posts are geared toward software developers that work in a team.

My goal in this post is to go over some ways or tips for you to become more effective as a solo software developer based on my own experience.

Learn Effectively

To develop a piece of software nowadays, there are many frameworks involved. It is not possible for a single person to become an expert in each of the frameworks especially with them frequently changing. The best thing that you can do is learn the important parts and cut off the rest.

This applies to not just to learning on your own time, but also during work as well. If you want to learn everything there is to the technologies that you will be using, then you will never finish your projects. However, if you learn just the essential and then start working on the project, you will be amazed by how much you can get done.

You will run into roadblocks along the way, but that means you now have questions. You can go back to your resources and search for the answers. When you are aimlessly trying to learn everything, the information will not stick with you and will only waste your time.

In addition, you can accelerate your learning rate by understanding how you learn best. Each of us has a unique combination of learning styles that suit us the best. By adapting your learning routine around your learning styles, you can ensure your time is put into good use. Also, I have a post about the learning process of a software developer where I go over my learning routine and how I tie it together with my learning styles.

Use Source Control

Source control is something that you will learn to love as a developer, but as a solo software developer, it is essential. At the beginning, you may think it is not necessary to learn or use source control, but through your projects, there will be moments where you wished you had. Manually doing “copy and paste” source control is error prone and inefficient. Manually doing source control means you will have to manage many copies of your code. Source control will remove the hassle by handling it for you.

Test Your Code Often

Testing your code and ensuring that it works should always be one of your top priorities in the code you deliver. It becomes especially important when you are the only developer. No one else is going to help test and find bugs in your code.

Also, you should get into a habit of writing unit test. It may seem like overkill for some of your smaller projects, but it will help you have cleaner and better code. In addition, it is also a good habit to pick up because it will benefit you in your career.

Document Your Code

Documenting your code is important regardless of your role or where you work. This is a tough habit to adapt, especially when only you who would be reading the documentations, but proper documentations can have many benefits. For example, your documentation can inform others of all the work you have done. As a solo software developer, it is hard to get noticed for what you do sometimes.

Having good documentations allows your employers to understand what you do. It also serves as an example of how much goes into making a “small change” that gets requested from time-to-time.

Another huge benefit with documentations is when you need to revisit a codebase again. As a solo software developer, you will be going back and forth between projects. Your documentation can help you get up to speed on the codebase at a faster rate. Although your documentations will not fully remedy the cost of context switching between projects, it can reduce it.

Documentation can also act as a baseline for estimating timeframes for future projects. Looking back at your documentations and seeing how much went into developing certain features, you can better estimate the time require for projects.

Embrace the Opportunity to Grow

As a solo software developer, you have the unique career opportunity to manage and follow through with every software project. You are the lead software developer and your technical decisions will heavily influence the direction of the projects. This also means you have the freedom to experiment around and try out a new framework or technology. Use this opportunity to learn and become good at what you do.

Embrace Failures

Failures are common in software development and the sooner you accept that fact, the easier it is for you to leverage failures. Failure is not always a bad thing, in fact, it provides you with feedback and helps lead to better results. Failures are also learning opportunities because now you know what works and what does not. Here are more reasons why failures is not a bad thing.

Learn from Your Professional Peers

Being a solo software developer does not mean you cannot interact with someone else in your profession. You can get on social media and get in touch with other developers. If you are running into trouble, you can post on stack overflow or other forums that are dedicated for development questions. By leveraging social media, you can still interact with other developers.

Look After Yourself

As a solo software developer, you are not going to be able to get much downtime, if any at all. However, that does not mean you should work non-stop and let your health degrade. When your health is affected by your work, then you know you are working too much. You might feel like you are still productive, but in reality, you are not.

Here are some things you can do to keep yourself in check:

I hope you found this helpful. If so, share it with others so they can benefit as well.

Is there something else you believe would be a great addition? Can you relate to any of these tips? If so, feel free to leave a comment, send me a tweet, or send me an email at steven@brightdevelopers.com. I will be glad to hear what you have to say.

To stay in touch, you can follow me on twitter.

About Steven To

Steven To is a software developer that specializes in mobile development with a background in computer engineering. Beyond his passion for software development, he also has an interest in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Personal Development, and Personal Finance. If he is not writing software, then he is out learning something new.