Today I would like to share my thoughts on ways a backend developer can improve his productivity and become better at their work. The topics raised here are based on my personal experience and do not focused on any pattern. These are general advice on how to improve your personal traits, and improve your productivity as a backend developer.

Watch Full Video Here

Some of the things in this article are based my personal experience, while others are from personal research.

So i will give you a break down list here and then over each of them in details:
1. Automation
2. Don’t Optimize yet.
3. What to optimize.
4. K.Y.T (Know Your Tools)
5. Side Projects/Learning new things
6. Collaboration
7. Prioritize your task and commit to it.
8. Eliminate Distraction
9. Find a mentor
10. Understand the Business.
11. Take breaks, Sleep, Rest
12. Learn to debug and Write Clean Codes.

1. AUTOMATION: Automate everything that you do repeatedly including command line (bash scripts), text manipulations and logs, refactoring, building, deploying, integrating, testing etc.
Your automated processes need to work well because they are error prone. If a developer forgot about one step he might get stuck, this means loss of flow and will cost you more time to get back into it.

In my case, I have a list or a library of reusable components or script that I found myself using often, things like authentication, registration scripts, SQL CRUD scripts etc those are part of my automation process because I don’t have to write them over again each time, I just made modifications to it. Watch video here

2. DON’T OPTIMIZE YET: The impulse to optimize is usually premature. Clever solutions to squeeze performance increase complexity and undermine the end goal.
Get the code working then optimize just that code that needs it at the end. I go with this simple term a lot for my day to day job. “ First, Solve the Problem. Then Write the Code before Optimizing”

3. WHAT TO OPTIMIZE: You can optimize for speed but the most precious thing you should optimize for is your own time. Optimize for readability, and clarity. If you have to stop and ask yourself, how does this work? Or why isn’t this doing what it should do? You have just wasted your time. Don’t use lot of complex data structures and algorithms or advanced language features as a way of demonstrating your ability unless needed by the project. Watch video here

4. K.Y.T (Know Your Tools): For me, one of the best productivity trick of all time is this.. Getting myself familiarized with the tools and environment am working with. For example am a big fan of Atom text editor and Netbeans, so almost all the relevant shortcuts I store them in a book I can easily reference.
Getting familiar with your tools not just limited to IDE and Text Editors, any tool you used frequently will increase your productivity as a back-end developer greatly.

5. SIDE PROJECTS/LEARNING NEW THINGS: This could greatly improve your productivity and confidence, Having a side project you could do if you are bored with a particular project could be great, but note that it depends greatly on the duration of your main project. Also always learning and improving your skills by reading other peoples source code, Watching YouTube videos or reading blog articles (like this one), or whatever works for you could be a great source of motivation for you to stay productive as a back-end developer.

6. COLLABORATION: Another great source of productivity is collaboration, see no one is an Island of knowledge, you need to collaborate with people so you can ask for help, work on projects together and learn team building and/or management,
You might be the smartest guy, with the best time-management skills and a knowledge of all the technical skills in the world and still, there are some problems that you’d find problematic or decision that should be made by the whole team. Therefore, always involve other people when tackling a problem or making an important decision.
Introducing collaboration techniques sure as pair programming, code reviews and/or some other collective practice to your development process could be a productive approach.

7. PRIORITIZE YOUR TASK AND COMMIT TO IT: This will require a little bit of discipline, it's not enough to schedule something to do – you want to actively perform well in those activities that are more valuable to you and/or your company. This requires keeping your mind focused on the task at hand. You can’t really write a good piece of code or solve a difficult problem when you are thinking a lot of things at the same time. Therefore, always do one thing at a time. If you need to get something done in the middle of doing something else, just schedule a break from your original task to finish this secondary task, then be disciplined enough to come back to you original task.

8. ELIMINATE DISTRACTION: Stay off social media for a while at work. Social media could be one of the main distraction for backend developers, including youtube, quora, stackoverflow. Its just requires some degree of discipline at your end to stay committed to your job and be productive.

Watch Video Here

9. FIND A MENTOR: This could be a great source of motivation for some developers because where your strength could not reach your mentor can carry you through. Therefor, finding a good mentor can boost your productivity level.

10. UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS: One crucial thing that could kill your productivity is not understanding the project, the business or even the requirements properly. So to hack your productivity in a project or company you need to have a proper understanding of the processes, culture, project and requirement.

11. TAKE BREAKS, SLEEP, REST: I heard lots of programmers saying they don’t sleep or they love working at night or whenever that takes away sleep or rest from them.
I want to say to you today that for you to be productive as a back end developer you need time to rest and sleep, at least breaks to cool you nerves before you continue. Working fewer hours can help you remain productive. In the meantime, you also need to get proper sleep. Without proper sleep you can easily hamper your productivity to a great extent. Not to mention, improper sleep can also hamper your health and cognitive capabilities…. REST, SLEEP and EAT.

Watch Video Here

12. LEARN TO DEBUG AND CLEAN CODES: One important skill a back end developer should know is debugging skills. It can save you lot of time figuring out something in your programs. So learn debugging skills and also learn how to write clean codes by reading CLEAN CODES by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob).

WRAPPING UP
Everything i have listed above is from my personal experience, so choose whichever work well for you and be discipline enough to commit to it.

So these are my 12 Productivity Tips as a back end developers. This list is not complete until you add or remove from it.. So let me hear your thought in the comment section below.

If you are interested in backend development (or you’re internet enthusiast) both (Mobile | Web | Desktop) subscribe to our Youtube channel, we will be posting a collection of help full tutorials and guides like this one for artisans.

good one