Hard Truths About Coding They Don't Teach You (Part 2)
20 Nov 2025 #coding #careerI was about to start a new list from scratch. But I remembered I already wrote about some hard truths about coding.
Here are five more truths:
#1. Most of your day will be in meetings, not coding.
#2. You won’t be building systems from scratch. Most of the time, you’ll be maintaining and rewriting legacy systems.
#3. Communication skills, not more languages, will take you further. Just asking the right questions will make you stand out.
#4. You will have to learn a lot of subjects. Don’t try to learn them all at once. Get your feet wet in many areas, then stick to a few. The learning phase never ends.
#5. At some point, you’ll realize end users and business owners don’t care about code. It’s a tough lesson. You won’t like it, but it changes how you see coding.
Junior me focused on mastering syntax and forgot about problem-solving, communication, and collaboration. That’s why I wrote the book I wish I had on day one, Street-Smart Coding: 30 Ways to Get Better at Coding. Because coding is more than syntax and typing symbols fast.