Most economic forecasts fail to predict turns in the economy because they rely on the wrong economic indicators and present information in complex, inaccessible ways.Simply constructing easy-to-read charts that illustrate relationships between different economic factors works much better for making forecasts.Tracking cause-and-effect historically helps predict it in the future.

Most Forecasts Use the Wrong Data

The best time to sell is when the economy is peaking, which is counterintuitive for many people. People want to believe that the good times are going to keep rolling.

<ul><li>Recession is a poor indicator of economic health.</li><li>Growth slowing significantly causes almost as much damage as an official recession, but doesn't provoke as much concern because it's not negative.</li><li>The declining rate of economic growth matters more than whether a technical recession occurs.</li><li>People should pay more attention to slowing growth as a warning sign.</li></ul>

Slowing Growth Matters More Than Recession

Consumer spending drives most economic activity, so indicators tied directly to spending, like personal incomes and interest rates, make the best predictors of overall economic performance.Consumer spending leads to production and capital investment, so forecasting it well forecasts other indicators.

Consumer Spending as the Key Driver

Employment levels actually lag economic changes rather than predicting them. Hiring drops when the economy declines and rises when it improves again.Look at consumption instead to predict employment, since spending heads upward first. Consumption rising means employment will follow.

Employment Levels Lag the Economy

For business forecasting, use economic indicators relevant for your specific products and industry niche, and look at historical performance through business cycles.Manufacturers can relate consumer spending to their sales categories.Understand your context instead of overall data.

Use Relevant Data for Business Forecasts 

The Federal Reserve's interest rates influence consumer psychology and inflation, but they don't directly determine consumer spending. Their economic impacts are indirect.People mistake the Fed's attempts to cool down or stimulate growth via rates as linked to spending, but the relationship is not close.

Interest Rates' Psychological Impacts

<ul><li>Stock markets are ultimately tied to corporate profits and thus consumer spending.</li><li>When consumer spending declines, profits and markets follow.</li><li>Interest rates also affect markets through impacts on spending.</li><li>Understanding consumer spending helps predict market booms and busts.</li><li>Falling spending means falling markets.</li></ul>

Stock Markets Follow Consumer Spending

History shows to buy stocks when the economy looks bleak but consumer spending shows signs of improvement.The best time to sell is when consumer spending and growth peak. This contradicts the instinct to buy when times seem good and sell when worried.Take the counterintuitive approach.

Timing the Stock Market 

The book Ahead of the Curve by Joseph Ellis discusses improving economic forecasting by using the right indicators and tracking year-over-year data instead of short-term fluctuations. It argues that recession definitions are overrated, and that slowing growth is more damaging than commonly realized. The book advocates focusing on consumer spending as the main economic driver, and provides guidance on relating indicators like incomes, interest rates and stock markets to spending. It aims to help readers make better forecasts for economies, industries and companies.

Economic and stock market cycles affect companies in every industry. Unfortunately, a confusing array of anecdotal and conflicting indicators often renders it impossible for managers and investors to see where the economy is heading in time to take corrective action. Now, a 35-year Wall Street veteran unveils a new forecasting method to help managers and investors understand and predict the economic cycles that control their businesses and financial fates. In Ahead of the Curve, Joseph H. Ellis argues that the problem with current forecasting models lies not in the data, but rather in the lack of a clear framework for putting the data in context and reading it correctly. The book explains critical economic indicators in nontechnical language, identifies and documents the recurring cause-and-effect relationships that consistently predict turning points in the economy, and provides the tools managers and investors need to position themselves ahead of cyclical upturns and downturns. Economic events are not as random and unpredictable as they seem. This book helps readers recognize and react to signs of change that their rivals don't see--and win a sizeable competitive advantage. Joseph H. Ellis was a partner at Goldman Sachs and was ranked for 18 consecutive years by Institutional Investor magazine as Wall Street's No.1 retail industry analyst.

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

business

Business

books

Books

Joseph H. Ellis

Ahead of the Curve

Content creation is serious business. The <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/creator-economy-survey-influencer-marketing-150000260.html">industry was worth $13.8 billion in 2021</a> with brands, marketers, and social media platforms reliant on creators to reach critical audiences. Meanwhile, creators themselves have proven they are legitimate entrepreneurs who boast some serious hard skills: photography and video editing, SEO, small business financial management, and contract negotiation.

Content Creation: The Facts

Creators have also brought back into focus some of the “soft skills” that have taken a backseat in recent years.From their uncanny ability to create and nurture communities, to fearlessly exploring new platforms, to courageously showing up as their authentic selves day after day, creators continually demonstrate the value of often overlooked capabilities that we could all use more of, whether or not we’re trying to build a Twitter following.

The Soft Skills Required 

Today, creators have blown the starving artist trope out of the water by proving there’s real value in showcasing what makes you tick. Self-expression—whether it be through storytelling, personal style, music, dance, or even a nerdy obsession with Excel or personal finance—is what makes creators so compelling for the rest of us. Their self-confidence and authenticity in sharing their knowledge and passions is what draws people into the communities that have significant financial and cultural worth.

Fearless Self Expression

Creators bring to live the latest buzzword, resilience, everyday.We all know the potential pitfalls of putting yourself on social media—relentless criticism, trolling, and bullying. It’s not right, but it is reality, and creators face more of it than most. To be successful, creators have to stay laser focused on their goals–building community, showcasing their skills, providing value to their followers–all while setting strong boundaries and tuning out negativity.

Resilience

The thirst to continuously learn is what’s called a <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means">growth mindset</a>, and it’s something that creators have in spades. What most people don’t realize is the amount of trial and error it takes for creators to find their niche, fine-tune their content, and build their brand. It’s work that is never really done, requiring continuous adaptation, a refusal to be intimidated by what they don’t know (yet), and a just-in-time learning style—the resourcefulness to find information they need, when they need it.

Continuous Learning

In a fast-moving world where technology, culture, and the economy can shift literally overnight, the ability and willingness to challenge yourself to learn new skills, share your experience, and see opportunity in obstacles is essential—even if you never aspire to trend on TikTok.

The Bottom Line

Creators have tapped into a key skillset that is increasingly transcending social media platforms.


career

Career

creativity

Creativity

3 ‘creator’ soft skills that can get you hired

You can do a few things to fill your pantry with both the basics and a few restaurant-style secret weapons to take your home cooking to the next level. However, there is no one-size-fits-all shopping list. Think about how you really eat and your cooking plans and ability. Are you enjoying spending hours on a pastry project or do you just need to get a meal on the table for your family?

Take your home cooking to the next level

<ul><li>If a store doesn't have what you need, be flexible and try something you wouldn't have picked up before.</li><li>If you can't get to a store, consider online grocery options such as Amazon and Shipt.</li><li>Many restaurants are selling pantry items and produce as part of their takeout packages. Check their Instagrams or websites for info on where to shop.</li></ul>

Where to shop for basics

<ul><li>Pasta: Any pasta you can get - long, short, and tubular.</li><li>Grains: Rice (short and long grain, all colours), whole and ancient grains like farro, barley, bulgur freekeh, and quinoa.</li><li>Beans can be eaten on their own or added to soups, stews, salads, stir-fries, etc. Dry beans taste better if you put in the time to cook them, but canned is also an option.</li><li>Don't forget to add chickpeas, cannellini beans, lentils, split peas and black-eyed peas.</li></ul>

Pantry basics: Pasta, grains, beans, legumes

Canned and jarred goods<ul><li>Canned tomatoes</li><li>Coconut milk for enhancing soups and curries</li><li>Stock/broth (you can also make your own)</li><li>Jarred salsas/simmer sauces (good for combining with refrigerator loose ends in a pot.)</li><li>Nut butters</li><li>Pickles</li><li>Condiments (mustard, jam, soy sauce, etc.)</li></ul> <h3>Oil, vinegar, spices</h3><ul><li>Olive is essential, but canola works better for high-heat cooking.</li><li>Apple cider and rice vinegar</li><li>Spices - allspice, bay leaves, cumin, cinnamon, chile flakes, oregano, paprika, pepper, vanilla, etc.</li></ul>

Pantry basics: Canned and jarred goods, oil, vinegar, spices

<h3>Baking supplies</h3><ul><li>Flour</li><li>Sugar (brown, white, confectioners)</li><li>Baking soda and powder</li><li>Yeast for that bread you’re going to make</li></ul><h3> </h3><h3>Bread</h3><ul><li>Homemade or not, it can be pre-sliced and frozen.</li></ul>

Pantry basics: Baking supplies, bread

<h3>Produce</h3><ul><li>Lemons, limes, onions, garlic, and root vegetables: (potatoes, squash, carrots, beets) last a long time.</li><li>Hearty greens: kale and collards will keep for a week, as will most uncut fruit.</li><li>Frozen fruit and veggies are also an option, and you can do it yourself.</li><li>Fresh soft herbs such as parsley, cilantro, and mint can keep for up to a week if washed, dried, and covered loosely in the fridge.</li></ul> <h3>Dairy and eggs</h3><ul><li>Hard cheeses like Parmesan, cheddar, Gruyere, and feta.</li></ul> <h3>Meat and seafood</h3><ul><li>Ground meat, bone-in chicken legs and thighs, beef brisket or chuck, frozen shrimp and fish filets.</li></ul>

Pantry basics: Produce, dairy, eggs, meat

<h3>Texture </h3><ul><li>Fried shallots add crunch to rice and noodles, salads, and baked pasta or casseroles.</li><li>Chile oil/chile crisp add a spicy, crunchy kick to everything.</li></ul><h3>Fermented/pickled</h3><ul><li>Kimchi, sauerkraut, pickled beets, and miso are all instant flavour enhancers</li><li>Preserved lemons to add to stews, curries, grain dishes.</li></ul><h3>Cured and tinned </h3><ul><li>Tinned fish: sardines, mackerel, salmon and/or oil-packed tuna for snacking or flaking into a salad or pasta.</li><li>Cured meats like salami and smoked meats like bacon can be added to stir-fries.</li></ul> Spreads<ul><li>Creme Fraiche can pump a dish up.</li><li>Use Tahini in salad dressings and dips.</li></ul>

Pantry flavour enhancers

Use these tips to gain confidence and feel great about cooking

videos

Videos

food

Food

How to Get Started With Cooking

A shopping list for basic grocery-store ingredients to make restaurant-style food at home

How to Stock a Pantry

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Whenever there is an inconvenience or a problem, we instinctively seek a guilty party, a person or collective that can be blamed for the ordeal.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">This is a very human impulse to assign culprits to things that go wrong.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">When the economy is sluggish, it’s always due to bad policies and the bad people who make them, rather than hideously complex market interactions that even economists don’t understand.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">When the local football team has a disappointing season, it’s the failure of the coach, or the quarterback, or the management, or a lack of fan support.</li></ul>

Blame It On The Boogie!

<ul><li>It helps us process our painful emotions about the problem.</li><li>If you can convince yourself that a given problem is caused by bad people, then it means someone else is responsible for it.</li><li>It allows us to believe bad things shouldn't happen, at least not to ourselves.</li><li>It makes solutions seem relatively straightforward: stop the bad people or get rid of them.</li></ul>

Reasons Everything is Someone's Fault

<ul><li>You can observe how the mind generates suspects and verdicts within seconds.</li><li>It becomes clearer that villainizing is mostly a coping mechanism, rather than a sensible way of understanding or addressing problems.</li><li>A little curiosity on this front makes political topics less maddening to think and talk about.</li></ul>

Watching the Mind Make Bad Guys

Villianizing Others Is A Coping strategy.

Last weekend I was driving a friend home down Portage Avenue and we encountered an unexpected traffic jam. Four lanes had been reduced to one because a crew was working on the overpass. Even though it was Saturday afternoon and […]

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Why Do We Want Problems to Be Someone’s Fault?

Employers globally are struggling to fill the skills gap. To meet the unique workforce challenges of the next decade, most successful business leaders will focus on their current people instead of searching for the perfect talent.
Your team may not be at the point you need them to be, but with the right leadership approach, you can help your staff to get there.

The skills gap requires the right leadership approach

When employees can see what behaviours you value, it gives them an incentive for improving their performance. <ul><li>Reflect on your top-performing employees. What are the basic behaviours that earned them your favour? For example, perhaps they always come prepared, go beyond their teammates, or pay attention to detail.</li><li>Talk about these behaviours publicly and often. Instead of saying "be more like Jessica", your best employee, tell them to "review your work for errors, just like Jessica."</li></ul>

Value successful behaviours over individuals

On the first day, every employee wants to know how they fit in. If you don't establish behavioural expectations from the start, you allow new hires to develop less desirable behavioural patterns.
Instead, pair new staff up with your best employees to help them understand your behavioural expectations. They should think your top performers are the norm and see firsthand what it takes to thrive in your organisation.

Be clear about the path to success

Great teachers drive momentum by drawing attention to positive choices, giving high fives when they see improvements. This will result in students craving incremental improvements. Leaders of high-growth teams should look for little things to recognise to give employees momentum. "You wrote a great memo", or "Thanks for being on time every day when your whole family is sick". These statements help your employees see that your approval is attainable, which is a stepping stone for more success.

Make your approval accessible to everyone

Recognition and praise reinforce positive behaviours. Moreover, doing so publicly increase this effect. However, in a busy work week, recognition can be forgotten. If you don't manage to share compliments with your team or forget, take 15 minutes out of each week and consider what progress people have made that you didn't recognise publicly. Then do it at once. Send out one-sentence texts, emails, or Slack messages to acknowledge small successes.

Offer public recognition

People will depend on you to call out poor behaviour and correct negative outcomes as a leader. That's why you shouldn't wait for poor performers to improve in their own time. Instead, you will have to change the cycle.
Proactively reach out to struggling team members and let them know which behaviours are holding them back and which will make them successful.

Proactively change poor behaviour

How upskilling helps businesses adapt to a rapidly changing labour market

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Upskilling: Preparing For The Future

humanresources

Human Resources

Invest in your current talent to fill open roles

SQL was a go-to tool when you needed to get a quick-and-dirty look at some data, and draw preliminary conclusions that might, eventually, lead to a report or an application being written. This is called exploratory analysis.These days, data comes in many shapes and forms, and it’s not synonymous with “relational database” anymore. You may end up with CSV files, plain text, Parquet, HDF5, and who knows what else. This is where Pandas library shines.

Python Data Analysis Library, called Pandas, is a Python library built for data analysis and manipulation. It’s open-source and supported by Anaconda. It is particularly well suited for structured (tabular) data.

What is Pandas?

<ul><li>QL is a declarative programming language.</li><li>With SQL, you declare what you want in a sentence that almost reads like English.</li><li>Pandas’ syntax is quite different from SQL. In Pandas, you apply operations on the dataset, and chain them, in order to transform and reshape the data the way you want it.</li></ul>

Where do I start?

A SQL query consists of a few important keywords. Between those keywords, you add the specifics of what data, exactly, you want to see. Here is a skeleton query without the specifics:SELECT… FROM… WHERE…GROUP BY… HAVING…ORDER BY…LIMIT… OFFSET…

The anatomy of a SQL query

Fifteen years ago, there were only a few skills a software developer would need to know well, and he or she would have a decent shot at 95% of the listed job positions. Those skills were: SQL was a…

computerscience

Computer Science

How to rewrite your SQL queries in Pandas, and more

Using the employees already within your business and investing in employee development will be crucial for businesses looking to build their workforces for tomorrow. It also allows leaders to understand which skills are most in-demand across the business and identify where any areas need intervention. Over time, and as projects progress, trends in these gaps will likely occur meaning HR and leadership teams are able to understand exactly when and where internal talent needs to be developed in good time in order to fill those gaps that come up most often.

Using existing talent

<ul><li>Once a skills gap has been identified within your business, the decision has to made whether to train an existing member of staff or recruit a new one. </li><li>Now, for many businesses struggling with the same challenge of staff shortages and budget cuts, training internal staff up to fill these gaps is the wise option in order to maintain business continuity. </li><li>While the usual knee-jerk reaction to a skills gap is to loo to recruitment, many businesses simply can’t find the talent they need right now.</li></ul>

Tackling the skills gap

Employers can now, within reason, appoint talent from anywhere and employees can work from wherever they choose. What’s more, the number of companies that have no physical location with employees based in different parts of the country (or world!), is on the rise too.The ongoing pandemic has seen a general increase in remote HR practices, recruitment and talent management included. As competition for the best talent has led companies to look further afield, many companies have had to find ways to attract, interview and manage new talent remotely.

Driven by technology

The talent management strategies of tomorrow will focus less on process and automation instead of promoting collaboration, feedback and engagement.From ensuring a safe working environment and promoting wellbeing initiatives to encouraging cross-department collaboration, development and retaining talent; what constitutes a great employee experience today is probably very different in many businesses from what it looked like a few years ago.

Heightened focus on employee experience

In this article, we look at some of the key considerations for HR looking to to produce their talent management strategies of tomorrow.

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

The workforce of the future: developing your talent management strategy for tomorrow

<ul><li>New sign-ups and uploads will be disabled effective today. </li><li>Existing videos will be playable and exportable from your Video manager until December 15th. At which point they will be permanently deleted from the Vidme Servers.</li><li>All paid channel subscripitions will be suspended immediately, and subscriber-only videos will be exclusively accessible by their video owners. </li><li>Any outstanding earnings will be paid out upon verification within 60 days. </li><li>All Vidme paid subscriptions will cease as of today, and subscribers will no longer be billed. </li></ul>

What this means for users

We started Vidme (initially Viddme, before we could afford the shorter domain) in 2014 with the mission of helping the next generation of entertainers find their audience and earn a living.At the time, YouTube was the only major platform that provided revenue sharing — a system that often neglected creators with small or niche audiences.

Why we started Vidme

The first Vod platform to offer both On-Platform tipping and paid Subscriptions, Vidme became one of the top 1,000 most popular destinations on the web, reaching over 200 million people annually. Fewer than a dozen full-time employees, and in spite of increasing competition for audience attention from the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, who began spending billions of dollars per year on Video content.

What we accomplished

At the time we offered sharable video links, sharing videos was more difficult than it is today — Facebook, Twitter, reddit, and other large platforms didn’t have native video, it was often impossible to send large files over SMS, and YouTube required sign-in and publishing to your G+ page. Vidme’s simple, one-step video upload drove massive early adoption and traffic.

Sharing Videos

Monetizing user-generated content is increasingly challenging &nbsp;<ul><li>Facebook and Google combined control 60% of Online ad spending in the U.S.</li><li>Advertisers want their ads to complement "Brand-Safe" content. Even Poorly-Moderated videos can result in a PR disaster.</li><li>Few advertisers are willing to negotiate direct deals with platforms that don’t have enormous scale. This means there’s less overall revenue to be shared with creators.</li><li>The profit margin was insufficient to cover the high costs of storing and delivering Video.</li></ul>

Monetizing Content

If you’re considering building your own video platform, here are a few suggestions: <ul><li>Be wary of Monetizing with ads prior to achieving massive scale.</li><li>Consider Peer-To-Peer storage and delivery to further reduce infrastructure overhead. Consider restrictive storage policies, and own as much of the physical infrastructure as possible.</li><li>Leverage an existing audience, and/or Incentivize all platform participants by issuing a native currency.</li></ul>

Insights for newcomers

Not every member of the Vidme team will be staying on for the next chapter. We’re talking with some Creator-Focused companies that might incorporate our technology and revive Vidme in some new form in the future.

What’s next for the team

UPDATE: Vidme was acquired by Giphy, and its mission of empowering independent video creators lives on as part of the Giphy platform! After careful consideration, the Vidme team has arrived at the…

Goodbye for now

Trees are well-known as a non-linear data structure. They don’t store data in a linear way. They organize data hierarchically.A tree is a collection of entities called nodes. Nodes are connected by edges. Each node contains a value or data, and it may or may not have a child node .

Data Trees: Definition

<ul><li>Root is the topmost node of the tree  </li><li>Edge is the link between two nodes  </li><li>Child is a node that has a parent node  </li><li>Parent is a node that has an edge to a child node  </li><li>Leaf is a node that does not have a child node in the tree  </li><li>Height is the length of the longest path to a leaf  </li><li>Depth is the length of the path to its root  </li></ul>

Terminology summary

Eventually, you will learn about hash tables too. If you are pursuing a Computer Science degree, you have to take a class on data structure. You will also learn about linked lists, queues, and…

Everything you need to know about tree data structures

Writing quality programs is a process with a flow: Think. Research. Plan. Write. Validate. Modify.One of the biggest mistakes you can make as a beginner programmer is to start writing code right away without much thinking and researching. While this might work for a small stand-alone application, it has a big, negative effect on larger applications.Just like you need to think before saying anything you might regret, you need to think before you code anything you might regret. Coding is also a way to communicate your thoughts.

Writing Code Without Planning

Do not look for a perfect plan before jumping into writing code. Look for a good enough plan, something that you can use to get started. The truth is, your plan will change, but what it was good for is to force you into some structure that leads to more clarity in your code. Too much planning is simply a waste of your time.

Planning Too Much Before Writing Code

Never underestimate the importance of code quality. Look at coding as a way to communicate implementations. Your main job as a coder is to clearly communicate the implementations of any solutions that you are working on.If you are not consistent with your indentation and capitalization, you should simply lose your license to code.

Underestimating the Importance of Code Quality

Your job as a professional programmer is not to find a solution to the problem. It is to find the simplest solution to the problem. Simple means the solution has to work correctly and perform adequately but still be simple enough to read, understand, and maintain.

Picking the First Solution

Don't be attached to code because of how much effort you put into it. Bad code needs to be discarded if it isn't working. If you're not happy with a solution, you'll be stuck with it.When it comes to writing programs, the right mentality is to fail early and fail often. The minute you begin doubting a solution, you should consider throwing it away and re-thinking the problem.

Not Quitting

<ul><li>Unless you are using a bleeding-edge technology, when you run into a problem, chances are someone else ran into the same problem and found a solution for it. Save yourself some time and Google It First.</li><li>Sometimes, Googling will reveal that what you think is a problem is really not, and what you need to do is not fix it but rather embrace it. </li><li>However, be careful what you Google for. Another sign of a newbie is copying and using others code as is without understanding it. </li></ul>

Not Googling

The big idea here is that you want your code to have High Cohesion and Low Coupling, which is just a fancy term that means keep related code together (in a class) and reduce the dependencies between different classes.

Not Using Encapsulation

Do not write code that you do not need today. Do not plan for the unknown future. Writing a feature because you think that you might need it in the future is simply wrong. Always write the minimum amount of code that you need today for the solution that you are implementing.

Planning for the Unknown

The most common data structure mistake is probably the use of lists instead of maps to manage a list of records. Using lists for scalar values is okay and often the better choice for large collections. Not using stacks when writing code that requires some form of Recursion, it is always tempting to use simple recursive functions. Using a stack structure is an alternative to using recursive functions, but it is usually hard to optimize recursive code.

Not Using the Right Data Structures

Here are a few wrong practices that usually make the code a bigger mess than what it was (not a complete list): <ul><li>If you Copy/Paste a code section to only change a line after that, you are simply Duplicating code.</li><li>If you need to use a value in multiple places, that value belongs in a configuration file.</li><li>When you can avoid Conditionals without sacrificing Readability, you should. The major problem with this is extending a function with a branch logic instead of introducing another function.</li></ul>

Making Existing Code Worse

Most comments can be replaced with Better-Named elements in your code. If you are tempted to write a what comment to clarify the code, please do not point out the obvious. Remove comments like these if you have to deal with them.Educate programmers who write comments about how bad they are.

Writing Comments About the Obvious Things

If you think you are an expert programmer, you are a newbie. If you are not writing tests in code, you are most likely testing your program manually. There is nothing wrong with manually testing your code. However, you should manually test your code to figure out how to automatically test it. If you successfully test an interaction with your application, you should go back to your code editor and write code to automatically perform the exact same interaction the next time you add more code to the project.

Not Writing Tests

If the author of that code is long gone or cannot remember it, research that code and try to understand everything about it. Only when you completely understand the code you get to form an opinion whether it is bad or good. Do not assume anything before that.

Not Questioning Existing Code

<ul><li>I think the term “best practices” is actually harmful. It implies that no further research is needed. Here is the BEST practice ever. Do not question it!</li><li>There are no best practices. There are probably good practices today and for this programming language.</li><li>Some of what we previously identified as best practices in programming are labeled today as bad practices.</li></ul>

Obsessing About Best Practices

The good rule to remember about this is: if you cannot measure the suspected performance problem with the code, do not attempt to optimize it.If you are optimizing before executing the code, chances are you are doing it prematurely. There is also a big chance that the optimization you are investing your time in is completely unnecessary.

Obsessing About Performance

Do not be that developer. Be one of the professional ones who put themselves in their end-users’ shoes. They imagine what the users of this particular feature need and how they might behave. They think about the ways to make the feature easy for the users to find and use, not about the easy way to make the feature exist in the application somehow without any thoughts about that feature’s discoverability and usability.

Not Targeting the End-user Experience

Everyone has their list of favorite tools to assist them in their programming-related activates. Some tools are great and some are bad but most tools are great for one particular thing and not so great for many others.Relying on a tool’s popularity rather than how much it fits the problem is a sign of a true newbie.

Not Picking the Right Tool for the Job

An important aspect of a program is often the management of some form of data. The program will be the interface to add new records, delete old ones, and modify others.Even the smallest bugs in a program’s code will result in an unpredictable state for the data it manages. This is especially true if all validations on the data are done entirely through the same buggy program.Beginners might not immediately connect the dots when it comes to code-data relationships.

Not Understanding that Code Problems Will Cause Data Problems

In programming, some wheels are simply worth reinventing. Programming is not a well-defined domain. So many things change so fast and new requirements are introduced faster than any team can handle.However, if you need a wheel, do not buy a whole new car and put the car that you are maintaining on top of that new car. Do not include a whole library just to use a function or two out of it.

Reinventing the Wheel

Coding newbies often look at code reviews as criticism. Look at every code review as a learning opportunity. You are a forever code Learner. You need to accept that.

Having the Wrong Attitude Towards Code Reviews

Source control is not about just pushing your changes for others to have and build on. It is a lot bigger than that. Source control is about clear history. Code will be questioned and the history of the progress of that code will help answer some of the tough questions. This is why we care about commit messages. They are yet another channel to communicate your implementations and using them with small commits help future maintainers of your code figure out how the code reached the state that it is in right now.

Not Using Source Control

Every variable we define represents a shared state. It holds data that can be changed by all elements in the same scope as that variable. The more global the scope is, the worse the span of this shared state. Try to keep new states contained in small scopes and make sure they do not leak upward.

23) Over-Using Shared State

You will often be in the zone and forget to take breaks. Take a lot of short breaks. Leave your chair and take a short walk. Come back to the code with fresh eyes.

Not Taking Breaks

Let me make one thing clear first. If you are a beginner programmer, this article is not meant to make you feel bad about the mistakes that you might be making but rather to make you aware of them…

Ahead of the Curve

3 ‘creator’ soft skills that can get you hired

How to Stock a Pantry

Why Do We Want Problems to Be Someone’s Fault?

Invest in your current talent to fill open roles

Sarah Kelly