Forget Syntax and Lines of Code. Do This to Stand Out

Good code won't save your career. For so long, I chased perfectly clean code, thinking better code = better cod-er. That turned me into a clean code cop, looking for infractions around me. That attitude got me fired from my first job. Focusing on syntax alone was my biggest mistake as a new coder . Why code isn't enough Two experiences taught me good code isn't what mattered most. #1. At a past job, when the team leader left, the one promoted wasn't the best coder , with perfectly named variables and short methods in his pull requests. It was the one who showed initiative to own the core feature. #2. Then during layoffs, I talked to a leader from another team. He was told to sort people into buckets: A, B, and C. Bucket C left first, then B, then A. The criteria wasn't perfect code. It was whether the leader wanted you on the team. Of course, the ones writing horrible code got into the C crowd first. It was always something else besides coding. Your code can't speak. Addy Osmani, a lea