You might be thinking that something is wrong with me after reading the title. But I do not want to be a super developer. It would be best if you did not want either, and you will agree with me by the end of this article.

How did I get the idea for this article? I got the idea of writing this article from the tweet below:

If you’re new to or already in tech, you don’t have to:

👉 listen to 50 podcasts per day
👉 listen to podcasts/tutorials in your sleep
👉 do 10 hours of coding before and after work
👉 code a Facebook-level app every weekend

Have a life outside work. ☀️

— ᴄᴀᴛᴀʟɪɴ ᴘɪᴛ 💡🚀 (@catalinmpit) February 21, 2020

Actually, there is another tweet that made me do it. Here is the second tweet:

You can be successful even if you:
– watch Netflix sometimes
– eat fast-food once in a while
– “waste” a week relaxing and not doing anything “productive”
– don’t exercise for a few days
– don’t work 100 hours per day like Elon Musk

Stop letting sm “success” put pressure on you.

— ᴄᴀᴛᴀʟɪɴ ᴘɪᴛ 💡🚀 (@catalinmpit) February 19, 2020

You might have already got the idea of what this article is about. If not, you will understand by the end of it.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, CATALIN

I do not know if you are on Twitter, but if you are, I bet you come across tweets from “motivational gurus” at least once a day. “Wait Catalin, I still do not understand”. I am talking about those people that promotes work 24/7 and share quotes from Elon Musk that you should work one hundred hours per day. Yes, why should we sleep when we can work 24 hours, seven times a week? 

“But what is wrong with that? We get motivated!”. No, you do not get motivated. You are just heading towards a bunch of health problems. I bet you heard about burnout. You are heading full speed towards it. This comes from someone who used to follow a lot of “motivational gurus” for the daily dose of motivation. Until I hit rock bottom and had the worst burnout and anxiety of my life. I mean, who does not want to be the best developer? I surely wanted that. And I thought I am doing the right thing ignoring my family, my hobbies, my health, and everything. I thought that by working every day, for the whole day, I am going to be at the top of the summit. What a surprise I have received. You do not want this type of surprise. Trust me. 

Life taught me quickly that it is not all about being the best developer. Now I am content with “only” being a good developer. 

WHAT SHOULD WE DO THEN

While it is not bad to work hard (quite the contrary – it is good in some measure), you need to understand that life is more than work. If you do not want to understand this, then life will teach you. Even success does not require only hard work. You can see success as a combination of:

• hard work
• time off
• exercising
• healthy eating
• good sleep
• having fun

It is very easy to fall into this trap. Even more, when you are a junior/beginner, and you feel like everyone is tens of years ahead of you. When you feel like you are constantly catching up. But never forget than success means more than only “hard work”.

CONCLUSION

In my case, I have tried to become a super developer and became super burnout instead. I repeat again: hard work is what you need to achieve success and become a good developer. However, hard work is not the only ingredient. It is part of a much bigger recipe. 

Stop listening to all those people telling you that they code in their sleep, that they listen to ten podcasts per day, that they are this and that. Most of them are role-playing. Be assured that they do not do what they preach. 

Be patient, be consistent, be curious, and you can become an excellent developer, and also have a beautiful life. Always remember that life is more than just work, and programming.