The difference between the professional and an craftsman in software development

There are a lot of things which designate a professional in software development and IT in general. But there is one quality which in my humble opinion is very significant and by my personal observation is very common among professionals (and not only in IT) and beginners/amateurs often lack this quality and it is a systematic approach. 

Systematic approach in different fields:

  • Bug-fixing - craftsman tries to fix the bug itself and they are usually limited in their approach and in the ways they solves the problem. Professional fixes the issue. They have more knowledge about the reasons why bug can appear.
  • Tools - craftsman tries to use the tools he is good with. When talking about IT, they usually do not like using new languages or technologies. Professional on the other hand often does not have such limit. They are capable of switching tools, because they understand the importance of using the correct tool for a correct situation.
  • Writing code - craftsman writes code for a task and they often do not think about the future of the code, how difficult it will be to add features. Professional writes code thinking about its reusability. I agree, that it sometimes might take a little bit more time to write an easy to extend code, but it could save a LOT of time later.
  • Following patterns and good standards - professional also tends to have a systematic approach in utilizing good practices. They know, that it is much easier to build a house using standard approaches. Craftsman tend to write the code their own way.

Usually craftsman code has one of two features - either it is overcomplicated, with meaningless variable and method names, hard to follow and extend. Or it can be too simple, with bad structure, a lot of copy-pasting and repeating. I have seen both (and made both of these mistakes) and came up to a conclusion, that it is better for everyone to have a more professional approach in software development.


Is it worth to hire a professional?[1]

1. https://thepixelworkshop.com/great-value-3d-visualisations/pay-peanuts-get-monkeys/


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