5 Mistakes I Did as a Developer During My 15 Years Career

 Sticking to a Single Programming Language.

The first programming language I learned was Clipper5, a very old language, however, I only used that when I was 8 years old after that I learned Java, and a year later I switched to C# and got immersed in the .NET world.

C# was the first programming language I used professionally, and it was the only programming language I was using professionally for a very long time, however, the market started to require fewer C# developers over time, and while there are still a lot of job offers for C# other languages are taking over and gaining share in the market.

An easy fix for me was to go back to Java, after all, I already knew the language, over time I also learned Python, and now I have access to a lot more job offers just because I’m proficient in more than one programming language. And in fact, I’ve got access to some really good positions due to the fact that I knew those 3 languages, which is what gave me a competitive advantage over other candidates.

Staying Too Long in the Same Company

There is nothing wrong with staying in the same company for a long time as long as you keep on growing and advancing in your career.

The problem comes the moment that there is no more room for improvement, this could happen either because you are working in a company where they do not promote their employees, or don’t see your potential to promote you, or if you just reached the top position you could in that company.

It is also possible that because of the product and technologies being used you can’t expand any further, which means slowly you will start to become a “dinosaur” in the IT world.

Developing a Product I Didn’t Really Like

Put it this way, if you don’t like what you are developing, then your job is just that “a job” and you are there just for the money, which well if you really just need to pay bills, of course, is fine but with time you will hate it. This means you will not be looking forward to going to work, and not only that you will not look forward to learning and improve your technical skills. And might eventually just end up burning out.

Being in My Zone of Comfort for Too Long

This one might sound weird, after all, if I’m developing something that is always in my comfort zone, it means I’m really good at what I do right?

Well, of course, but then you are not learning new things, and remember, technology advances really quickly.

I made this mistake once, and after some years, my skills were no longer “employable” so I had to work very hard for over a year to come up to date and learn all the new technology around during nights and weekends, and believe me it was not fun at all having to rush on that.

Work for Someone Who Didn’t Appreciate Me

Since you are basically selling your time to a client and not using that time to spend it with your family, friends, or doing something else you like, at least make sure you are working for a company or client that does appreciate your work and you as a person.

The last thing you want to do is to work for someone who does not trust you or like you.

That will just create a tense and negative environment around you, and you will be spending a lot of hours in there, so make sure it is a nice and friendly environment.