I recently read a blog by Jeff Atwood that there is no such thing as a “Rock-star programmer.” These are people who can write cleaner code, refactor faster than anyone else, write a lot of tested code and follow good methodology. This means each one of us has scope to get better as a developer.

I am in my first software development job and there is a lot of scope for me to improve and get better. Obviously this is not going to happen overnight and I need to work hard to achieve this.

Here is my plan:

• For JavaScript server side, read Madhu’s code and learn
• For JavaScript client side, read Ruben’s code and learn
• For Python, read code from good projects like Django
• Write loads of code in NoSQL goodness (MongoDB)
• Incorporate good software development practices
• Have a good foundation with algorithms and space-time complexity
• Acquire a good grasp of the theoretical aspects of JavaScript and Python
• Write a lot of tested and RESTful APIs
• Write tons of open source software
• Spend an hour on IRC everyday
• Work on a crazy project that is impossible to achieve
• Work more on automation and deployments
• Estimate, organize and plan my work well in advance

Well, these are kind of my strict TODO list. At this moment, I think I have a decent understanding of technology and software development process. But, I am far from being a really good developer. There are loads of things to learn and I am really excited about the process.