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1 --- 2 title: "The Balanced Developer" 3 date: 2011-10-31T00:00:00+00:00 4 draft: false 5 canonical_url: https://www.viget.com/articles/the-balanced-developer/ 6 --- 7 8 In preparation for a recent team offsite, I spent some time thinking 9 about what I hold dear as a software developer. One idea I kept coming 10 back to is the notion of *balance.* I see balance manifesting itself 11 several ways in the work of a successful developer, some of which 12 follow. 13 14 ## Speed Versus Quality 15 16 The most obvious example is the balance of development speed and 17 quality. When building software, it's never a good idea to write code as 18 fast as possible without any attention toward maintainability, just as 19 it's never a good idea to spend such an inordinate amount of time 20 designing and tweaking your software that it never ships to customers. 21 The balanced developer focuses on delivering value both immediately 22 *and* through the life of the software. 23 24 ## Shiny Versus Proven 25 26 When it comes to selecting tools and technologies, again, balance is 27 key. An unbalanced developer selects technologies simply because they're 28 new and exciting, or rejects them simply because they're unknown and 29 unproven. A balanced developer evaluates new technologies on their own 30 merits, weighing gains in functionality against the inherent risks. 31 32 ## Doing Versus Sharing 33 34 If you've ever looked at someone's code after hearing them speak at a 35 conference, you know that there's not necessarily a correlation between 36 someone's ability to speak about technology and their ability to create 37 it. At the opposite end of the spectrum, there's the quiet fellow who 38 sits in your company's basement, writing fast, elegant code that no one 39 ever notices. The balanced developer understands that doing work and 40 sharing work are most effective in combination. 41 42 ## That Said... 43 44 To hijack an old saying, you should strive for balance in all things, 45 including balance itself. Falling perfectly in the middle of every pair 46 of tradeoffs would be, frankly, *unbalanced*. Everyone has their strong 47 opinions, and that's a good thing, provided it's balanced out with a 48 healthy dose of pragmatism.