Underrated Technical Skills
An average technical interview of a software developer is a pretty boring thing. One person asks another about his experience, programming languages used, database structures and tricks, and key features of the used framework. But there are some essential skills which most developers do not even consider for including into CV or technical interview. Let us have a look at these skills and check the benefits.
Algorithms and Data Structures
Nowadays, it is common to do not even think about the algorithms and data structures on small and middle-level projects. Frameworks offer lots of already implemented solutions, and the developer’s task is to combine them and make sure they work. If some solution is not available out-of-the-box, then the project can use a 3rd party library with a small integration adapter.
However, sometimes knowledge of the low-level logic like algorithms and data structures is crucial. These are high load projects, projects with strict performance requirements, science-related projects, and other unusual projects. So, developers have to understand how each tool works to accurately and efficiently use it in production.
Also, exercises related to algorithms or data structures are great to keep up proper mental activity, and the interviewer can use them to understand whether a person can handle complex tasks. Such developers can usually think outside the box and find better alternative solutions.
Environment and Tools
Knowledge of the development environment and proper tools is very beneficial too. In-depth knowledge of real environment may become necessary for low-level optimizations (e.g., which file system to use), debugging some issues (e.g., know where to find logs), and other similar activities. It is a common trend to keep the environment in a container to simplify development and deployment. However, sometimes the developer has to go deeper and debug the application on a lower level.
When developers start talking about the tools, the very first thing they mean is IDE. Modern IDE indeed encapsulates tons of features, useful plugins, and shortcuts — all this is good. But there are some tasks that more comfortable to do from the command line, and this is the time for CLI utilities to shine. These utilities allow fast processing of significant amounts of data, and this is the exact area where the developer has to use them. When a regular developer writes a program to collect some statistics or analyze logs, an experienced UNIX-developer can write a script using standard CLI tools like grep, sed, and awk. And surprisingly enough, such a script takes less time to write and has better performance.
Finally, experienced developers write their tools or scripts to automate standard processes to save time. Such tools are usually shared between all the team members to get better results faster.
Software Development Process
This process is not only a technical thing as it requires a bit of organization and communication skills too. But if a developer knows the software development process well, then he/she can save much time by optimization of this process.
The very first thing that can help here is a software development methodology. Everybody knows Agile methodology (Scrum, Kanban, Lean — you name it), but a few heard about the alternatives. Agile methodology is convenient enough, but it is not a silver bullet. In some cases, alternative approaches are more convenient and more comfortable to use.
Then there is a development workflow. No matter the methodology, every team uses some standard workflow to organize and standardize the development process. An experienced developer may do an extra step and either simplify this flow or propose a better alternative.
Knowledge of the project management process can save time too. Good understanding of required roles and the correct assignment of involved developers not only saves time by having proper people in proper places. It also contributes to healthy teamwork, and so prevents burning out of team members.
Excellent technical skills and knowledge are essential traits of any good software developer. Depending on the area, some skills are more useful than others. However, the skills mentioned above are useful for pretty much every developer on every project. Do not forget about them, and use all the related benefits you can get!