Dear new developer,
I wrote this post years ago, but it still applies today.
Ah, the arrogance of software developers. (I’m a software developer myself, so I figure I have carte blanche to take aim at the foibles of my profession.) Why, just the other day, I reviewed a legal document, and pointed out several places where I thought it could be improved (wording, some incorrect references, and whatnot). Now, why do I think that I have any business looking over a legal document (a real lawyer will check it over too)? Well, why shouldn’t I? I think that most developers have a couple of the characteristics/behaviors listed below, and that these can lead to such arrogance.
Just because you are good at something valuable (development) doesn’t mean that you are good at everything. I was blinded in my youth because I was good at asking questions, paid attention to details, and was good at creating logical constructs in my head. That is helpful in so many contexts.
But it is also true that almost every profession has as long, if not a longer, sense of history and as big, if not a bigger, well of knowledge than software development. So beware that your ability to probe, ask questions and solve problems doesn’t inadvertently (or worse, intentionally) dismiss the learning of other professions.
On the flip side, domain expertise (through lived experience or study) and software development is a powerful combination. You can model software such that end users can speak in the domain. You’ll be closer to understanding their problems.
Another issue with arrogance is that when you’re sure you know the answers (or have the right way to find them), you don’t listen to other people as well.
I was very happy to charge forward with whatever solution I thought made sense, and that led to suboptimal solutions. Both in the coding sense and in the sense that you have to bring people along. The best coded solution in the world won’t work if people won’t use it. So listen to your users and make sure you fully understand their worldview as best as you can before you charge ahead implementing solutions.
Sincerely,
Dan
Letters To A New Developer 