Pinned — 28 Oct 2025 #codingStreet-Smart Coding: 30 Ways to Get Better at Coding Without Losing Your Mind
I spent five years in college learning to code.
A stupid dissertation delayed my graduation. But that’s another story.
Most of my five-year program didn’t prepare me for real-world coding. My real coding journey began at my first job, with one Google search: “how to get good at coding.”
I found a lot of conflicting advice:
“Use comments”
“Don’t use comments”
“Do this”
“Don’t do that”
Arrggg!
It took years of trial and error to learn what worked.
I had to survive on-call shifts, talk to stakeholders, and say “no” politely. More importantly, I had to learn that coding takes more than just syntax.
That’s why I wrote Street-Smart Coding— a roadmap of 30 lessons I wish I had when I started. For every dev who’s ever typed “how to get better at coding” into Google or ChatGPT. (Back in my days, I didn’t have ChatGPT… Wait, I sound like a nostalgic grandpa…)
Preview of the first ~12 pages
Inside “Street-Smart Coding”
This isn’t a textbook. It’s a battle-tested guide for your journey from junior/mid-level to senior.
Some lessons are conventional.
Others were learned the hard way.
And a few are weird.
One lesson comes from a TV show. Nope, not Mr. Robot or Silicon Valley. That’s on Chapter #29. It will teach you about problem-solving.
You’ll learn how to:
Google like a pro
Debug without banging your head against a wall
Communicate clearly with non-tech folks
…and 27 more lessons I learned over ten years of mistakes.
For a long time, I believed my career was the most important part of my life. I chased titles like Software Architect or Staff Engineer at my last full-time job. But I was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.
After a couple of years, the honeymoon was over. Work felt like a burden, and I thought a new role would spice things up.
When I discussed the chances of a promotion with my boss’s boss, I was told “You could build any role you want.” But all my ideas were rejected with a “Someone is already doing that.” That subtle rejection frustrated me even more. Months later, I was laid off.
I let my work frustrations spread to the rest of my life. I stopped exercising, writing, and eating regularly. I burned out so badly I couldn’t get out of bed.
But burnout and a layoff made me rethink everything. My job and a title aren’t the most important parts of my life. I’ve placed strong boundaries around work and leisure. I code part-time, and only code during working hours. At lunch, I shut down everything work-related and return the next day. Zero emails or notifications. I joke by saying I’m not a passionate coder anymore.
After two days without sleep, I almost collapsed. I had forced myself to make money online and quit my day job. For that, I started on a social media platform and challenged myself to grow it by leaving 1 post, 10 likes, and 5 comments every day.
Within days, I pressured myself to scroll faster and longer, to leave more likes and more comments. All the contradictory advice only made things worse. “Find a niche,” “Don’t find a niche,” “Sell digital products,” “Start a community,” “Offer coaching calls…” Arrgggg!
But no matter the platform or your goals, doomscrolling is still draining.
Every session with a feed (or dumbscrolling, as I prefer to call it now) made my brain race and my anxiety rise. Until I couldn’t sleep because my brain refused to slow down. And probably for the first time, I had a panic attack after waking up.
To reset my nervous system, I had to literally stop and do nothing. I didn’t open any platform with a “For you” feed or with a number next to my name for a week. In the meantime, I had to go back to walking in nature, writing just for fun again, and living away from screens. I had to go back to my daily healthy rituals.
Normalize that if it drains you, it’s OK to cut it out. Because it will cost you days to reset your nervous system and go back to your calm and steady life.
The wrong habits can destroy your body and your sanity.
For two days, I woke up in the middle of night and couldn’t get back to sleep. My mind was rushing with countless thoughts. Deep breathing didn’t work. Relaxing sounds didn’t work either. My body felt tired, but my mind refused to rest.
Those days, I had started on Substack. To grow my followers and subscribers count, I scrolled down the “For you” feed to hit a daily goal of likes and comments. That routine broke me after a few days. I imposed myself the urge of making money and quitting my contracting coding gig. And that’s was only on the second week of a 30-day experiment.
When my sister realized I was a walking dead, she asked me to open up, which I did.
“Go back to your baseline,” she said.
After burning out, I take care of my body, mind, and spirit every day. Most of the time, that’s walking, writing, a moment of silence, and reading a page of Proverbs. Of course, that’s away from screens and feeds. That practice keeps me rooted. That’s my baseline.
It took me an entire week to feel calm again. One week! I scheduled all my writing and stayed away from social media. Going back to my baseline took me to sit down at a bench in a park with a book. That walk ended with me hugging a tree. I never thought I’d do that, but I did.
Have a set of daily habits that keeps you healthy and regulated, to help you get throught your daily life and reclaim your peace when you drift away from it. Make every day a good day. Find your baseline.
For this week, I had planned to leave 5 comments and 10 likes daily. But I changed my plan.
Substack “For-you” feed doesn’t energize me, just like any other social platform. After a few days of engaging for growth, I noticed how my energy was depleting and my anxiety raising. It was again a junkie. I felt the pressure of growing and making money, even after a few weeks.
Nobody wants to read about the successful being successful. That’s a bad story.
James Altucher, one of the writers I’ve stolen from, shares not to be heroes, but vulnerable. Our struggles make our stories more relatable. He has a rule: if it doesn’t make you scared, don’t hit Publish. I probably read it in Choose Yourself Stories.
These days, a reader told me the book related so much with her, because she’s been going through similar situations. That made it a 5-star for her. And that’s the power of stories.
