Mindsets to avoid as a Software Developer

By NIIT Editorial

Published on 14/03/2021

5 minutes

The information age has enabled an open-source culture where learning is not reserved for the elitist. Instead, all you need is an internet connection and a laptop to begin educating yourself on scholarly subjects. The self-taught software developers of the day know exactly what we’re talking about. But self-taught, or university-educated, such IT experts often step foot on a sticky spot of mind frame. It is best to avoid such toxic mental attitudes that enter our subconscious self to keep things productive at work. Here are 3 such mindsets that software developers should try to vapourize from within.

The Know-It-All Attitude

It is an altogether different feeling when you bag a programming job without luminously decorated degrees. However, this feeling of accomplishment often results in egotistical attitudes which are not well taken by peers at the workplace. If it goes on unchecked for long, invisible walls get built up and your hard-earned knowledge which was supposed to gravitate people towards you ends up doing exactly the opposite.

Even if we have taught ourselves complex technical subjects, doesn’t mean we’ve done it single-handedly. The books were written by authors, who probably derived learning from experiences, that possibly came from people collaborating on projects.

Education is simply passed on knowledge that never arises from a single source but a coming together of diverse ideas and opinions. Try and remind yourselves of this each day so it helps keep your feet to the ground.

Superiority Complex

The workforce today consists largely of millennials. But there are yet still those in higher supervisory roles that hold a multi-decade experience responsible for organizational stability. This experience speaks for itself, but it has been seen that such well-versed professionals get blindsided by their sentimentalist viewpoints of being better than younger software developers.

This is far from the truth.

Technology has made multifold strides in the time elapsed since the turn of the century. In that time millennials and now the Gen-Z have come afar in scaling their knowledge to match industry demands. SDLC has innovated in practices and cliched approaches stand little chance to succeed.

Respecting the thoughts of your subordinates especially when they are younger helps breed an environment of positivity. After all, they are the future, and senior, more experienced managers need to set the right example.

Saying no to Upskilling

Technologies of yesteryears have helped massively in engineering the in-use tech today. After all, that which is being used today is essentially an upgrade on what we used to work with earlier. While considering software development, you would remember around the 2000s when an enormous interest arose with the launch of smartphones towards mobile app development. Since then, it has become a billion-dollar industry.

This is an industry that rewards those able to offer state-of-the-art competency. Remember, when Google launched Android, Java was its official language for development but that decision was overturned in 2017 when it introduced Kotlin as a substitute.

IT is a dynamic industry and what you need are individuals with an outlook to grow with time.