Mistake that stopped me from getting better at dev for 3 years

Sent on August 10th, 2021

Hi, I’m Aravind Balla and you are reading letter #18 from the Hackletter where I talk about my learnings and give you behind the scenes of things I keep doing for fun.

Don't leave a bug unattended 🐞

With experience, I've learned that - it's good to act on the bugs you detected immediately. That's how we can build quality software.

At least, file a card/issue in your project tracker so that doesn't stay in the app for too long.

Earlier, I only concentrated on doing the task at hand. I wouldn't consider solving an issue if

• it doesn't affect the card I'm working on
• it's hard to be discovered by boss/QA
• it leads to an unfinished sprint

This is how things used to work at my first job. I hate to say it - work culture in India is bad. At least it was bad 3 years ago. It requires effort to unlearn what one does in the beginning of the career.

Don't be that person. If you are a lead or get chance to mentor juniors, don't let them do it as well.

There is some vibe associated with the applications we build. When we leave out bugs like that, we know something is not perfect. And that affects that vibe which makes it hard to release or ship with confidence.

Have you ever felt that vibe? Would love to know your thoughts.

See you next Tuesday 👋

Thanks for reading. Forward this to your friends if you think they’ll enjoy too.