How can I be a better developer? If this is the question that you have been asking lately, this is a post for you. It has a bunch of actionable items that you should help you be on the path to be a better developer.
#1 Putting yourself out there
Writing blog posts/making video tutorials about whatever you learn helps you share your insights and opinion about a particular subject. These articles often get good comments and help you understand the nuances, in case you have missed any. This also opens your reach to other good developers who have a habit of reading such technical posts, this overtime helps you connect with these people and can open up new opportunities.
#2 Working on open source projects
Working on open-source projects helps you see how other people code, their design, decisions and implementations. It highlights the importance of collaboration in a software project, which is again a key component of being a quality developer. Obviously, it also helps you build a solid portfolio.
#3 Following People and Reading blog Posts
Following popular people in ecosystem is the easiest way to keep track of what's happening and why. They also share deep technical posts which are the best resources to dive deeper and enhance your understanding, the things that separate novices from experts.
#4 Trying new Paradigm
Trying out new paradigms helps you how things can be done in other ways, this broadens your understanding and opens you to new ideas. The base idea is to increase your knowledge width. Going deep and wide, both is crucial for a developer. Have been OO expert for a while how about trying functional ways of doing things?
#5 Reading Docs
While reading blog posts to learn something new is a very good skill. To be able to read the official docs and learn things on your own its a greater asset because then you can hop onto a new piece of technology and be among the early adapters and write initial pieces of posts for other developers to consume. Even otherwise, its a handy skill to get things done on your own.
#6 Communicate effectively
Being able to articulate your ideas, technical or non-technical and present it is one of the key skills that companies look for in a senior developer. As you grow, I guess your role becomes more of a mentor who guides junior folks to cover ground and build a high velocity team, but communication holds the key for it.