3 ms·

idk about y'all but I do spend a lot of my time trying to write less code, not more. And not in a, "I want to minimize my effort" way, but in that I write more

• dekhn 7y ago
  my goal now is to spend more time writing good tests and less time writing feature code. I get a lot more enjoyment out of a good test- it means people can add new features with confidence, and I often find bugs in the course of writing tests (typically not even related to the test I'm writing). In fact, my number one advice to junior programmers I advise is: write better tests. Write tests that prevent production bugs. Write tests that allow people to add a new feature with confidence they aren't breaking an old one. Write tests that give 99% of the signal required in 30 seconds, etc, etc. That said, I often do love writing code- when it's something I'm interested in, that nobody else has done before, and I know once the code is done I'll learn a fact nobody else in the world knows (I work in scientific ML). That's a dopamine hit that is hard to match. But, after a while of advisor really top-notch juniors, I've learned to enjoy the pleasure of... not having to do everything myself, and seeing smart people do things I couldn't have done, in shorter time.