Noob Software Engineer vs. Pro Software Engineer

The best software engineers proactively front-load the work to write clean code. They do this by planning ahead to find the best approach and taking the time to "dress up" their code review really well.

Here are the core points from the video:

• Noob Engineer - Their goal is just to get the code to work. As soon as they get the happy flow functional, they submit the code for review. Their pull request doesn't have good context attached, and the test plan isn't thorough at all. They have to go through many revisions of teammates rejecting their code before they can finally land the commit. After it's landed, there's a high chance it breaks, and now they have to go back to their code to patch it up (or hard revert it).
• Pro Engineer - They come up with a plan to implement the best approach and vet it with their teammates. They make sure the code is polished and covers edge cases thoroughly before submitting the pull request. Their PR clearly explains the purpose of the code and has a very detailed test plan demonstrating what it does. Their teammates quickly and smoothly read their code and accept it on the first try. The pro engineer is able to land their commit shortly after submission, and the entire process was smooth for everyone. The pro engineer's reputation within the team grows with every masterful commit they push to production.

This highlight is from our masterclass on "How To Write Better Code Faster As A Software Engineer". Click here to watch it.

Related resources:

• One Diff, One Thesis - What Every Code Review Should Be Like
• "What can I do to quickly build my reputation as a junior engineer?"