Being productive at something we all struggle with at some point in our career. As a developer when we start working for a company or a client, most of us get obsessed with coding. We spend a lot of time in front of the computer screen writing the code, fixing the bug, reading about the technical stuff, and trying new things in programming. We enjoy doing it and we spend endless hours in coding even on weekends. A lot of us also start thinking that moving away from our computer simply means we are lazy and we aren’t a hard worker.

How to be productive as a programmer------>

1. Minimize Distractions

Most of the software developers work on so many complex problems and in day to day job they use a bunch of tools, coding platforms, online resources and apps which require understanding at both core and deeper level. They need to stay focused and pay attention to solve complex problems and coding stuff. If they are will be interrupted , it will be hard to get back in the grove and it can take around 15-20 minutes to regain the focus. Stop wasting time on social media, news, etc. When you’re working turn off all the notifications from your desktop, mobile phones, or other gadgets. It just hinders your focus and decreases your overall productivity. You can take the help of some apps or extensions to limit your time on certain sites or you can also block the websites. Also, try to minimize the tabs or windows open in your browser. You don’t need more than 5 browser tabs, or 5 code windows at a time in 90% of the cases. The more windows and tabs you have open, the more distractions you’ll have, plus more chances of errors in your code.

Read an interesting question here on StackExchange about a topic how to let others know you do not want to be disturbed when working. Create a peaceful and productive environment.

3. Don’t Multitask

Multitasking: Screwing up several things at once…. Developers need to add this new definition of multitasking in their dictionary if they want to be more productive. They should always focus on one thing at a time instead of being a multitasking person. Do not review someone else code simultaneously in the middle of writing your piece of code in your application. If you think this will make you more productive then you’re wrong. It is also revealed in some research that multitasking is brutal for your brain. When you try to do multiple things together you need to switch between tasks and it becomes a distraction. Instead of being productive, you will find that you need to backtrack a lot because every time you have to find out where you last left off.

Developers spend thousands of hours in front of their IDE. It’s one of the important tools and it won’t be a foolish thing if you spend some time in mastering your IDE. You need to know it inside out because any efficiency that you gain using your IDE is going to be multiplied by those thousand of hours that you’re going to spend in front of it. You need to know two things about your IDE…

Functionality
Shortcuts

Spend some time to learn how to use your IDE effectively through some online resources, blogs, youtube channels, or with the help of pair programming. When you do pair programming you get to know some features, some functionality of your IDE you are unaware of, and some efficient way to do some tasks. You can install some plugins or snippets to increase your productivity. Snippets allow you to not keep writing the same code over and over and some plugins such as syntax highlighting make your code more readable and help you with finding the syntax errors easily. Choose some powerful code editor with solid functionality. It can make your life much easier by automating mundane things like indentation, refactoring, autocompletion, and other repetitive tasks.

8. Learn New Skills and Work on New Projects

It’s easy to fall out of the habit of learning new things once you get a job as a developer. You get complacent with technologies using at work. your passion goes away and you may suffer later in your job. Work on some side projects and learn new things. This will also keep your minds fresh. Sometimes engineers get stuck in working with one project or working with the same technologies and tools. That makes their job monotonous and frustrating for them. Doing a side project or learning new skill not only help you to grow but also helps you to be more productive in future projects. You can also listen to some podcasts while driving the car, hitting the gym or you can read some books while traveling somewhere. Learning new skills makes you more creative and it brings some new ideas as well.