Engineering Best Practices

-Engineering Best Practices for-
Effective Teamwork

If there’s a time when software developers can thrive, this is it. With SaaS and mobile apps increasing in popularity, demand for programmers is high.

They can support the creation, growth, and maintenance of these projects.

The movement is huge because it spans many business fields. These include finance, commerce, education, governance, entertainment, transportation, and other services.

Thanks to this, today’s programmers have a world of possibilities at their feet.

The Most Wanted Professional-
Software Engineer Skills

Technical skills are the foundation upon which to build a coding career. The more languages you know, the better. It also helps to have experience in different areas. This includes front and back end, Internet of Things, app development, game programming, system programs, robotics, and AI.

However, there are other ways a programmer can improve the quality of their work. This will help future employees to find you as they narrow down their search for talent. Thus, you can get the best deals and positions. These skills are particularly important when working on a large project.

Knowing this, we provide our clients with the best quality. There is nothing like the combination of individual and collective talent. Because of this, we make sure to provide both.

When recruiting our members and assessing our performance, we employ the golden rules. Find out what they are in the following section.

The 4 Golden Rules

These golden rules enable businesses to obtain straightforward
software development across teams.

Keep it Simple

Writing simple and concise code is key for effective engineering. This type of code is easy to maintain and ideal for long-term projects.

If you focus on the code’s main purpose, you can remove unnecessary lines which may generate bugs in the future. This is especially important if the code will be integrated into a large repository.

Perform Automated Tests

Continuous testing is vital for a functioning code. It is a good practice to set automated assessments. That ensures both a superb user experience and straight forward functionality.

Our team offers 90% coverage with automated QA testing using Selenium and Cypress.

Keep your Documentation Complete and up-to-date

Coding without documentation is like working without backing up your files. By writing descriptive documentation you help make the process smoother.

If there are any bugs they will be easier to fix. It also allows the effective organization of the workflow across teams. Our engineers use LSdoc to document their work. Thus, we follow a standard that helps us optimize the processes. This also generates an HTML document for easy review.

Flexibility and Control

The code should be modular and editable. Our engineers use Git as a control base across our different teams. Thus, we get safe backup and can merge the codes seamlessly.

The Code Engineering Best Practices

Using these four principles, we can establish the best programming practices for smooth
teamwork. These are particularly helpful when working on large long-term projects.

01Submit small pull requests

The ideal pull request should not contain more than 250 lines of changed code. There are many reasons why a pull request shouldn’t be too long. In general, smaller ones contribute to the smooth running of the overall process. For example, they make the reviewer’s job easier. Revising 1,000 or 2,000 lines of code means it will be hard to spot mistakes. So mistakes have a greater chance of reaching the main repository. If that happens, reviewing the lines to find the error must be as easy as possible. For this reason, to avoid bugs, one of our policies concerns the length of the pull requests. This helps keep the team available for further development rather than bug fixing.

02Limit each pull request to a specific purpose

In line with the previous point, pull requests must be as specific as possible. We encourage our engineers to fix one bug at a time.
Trying to solve more than one error within the same pull request can generate new bugs. Also, if it’s necessary to revert the request, it’s easier if it only reverts one location in the codebase. Of course, the implementation of this principle varies according to the type of project and team. But it’s a factor worth considering.

03Be as descriptive as possible

Programmers should include commit messages to identify the changes that they’ve made. We train our developers to write as much description as possible. This gives context to a code and might help other professionals if they have to revise it. It might be a great source from which future programmers can learn. A description of what you fixed and the purpose of the code is necessary when working on a large project. We recommend attaching a screenshot too.

04Know when to ask for help

When you find an issue, the best thing to do is try to figure out the solution by yourself. However, it’s important to know when to ask for help. Spending hours on one bug is not only detrimental for the person but the whole team. Our engineers have a strong cooperative spirit. The ability to communicate with each other consolidates the team and improves efficiency.

05Know the people you work with

Generally, engineers work with a variety of people. They will have contrasting skills and knowledge. Programmers can work with UX designers, marketing professionals, content developers, and graphic designers. These professionals may not understand the context of your work. It’s important to consider this when communicating with coworkers. Otherwise, there can be misunderstandings that lead to poor team performance.

Tools and Resources

The following tools and resources can help programmers to implement the principles above. They
are fine approaches towards perfecting development projects across different units.

Selenium

This software performs automated tests on apps and browsers. It also automates administration tasks. It comes in three versions:

  • Selenium WebDriver: This version runs a browser in the same way a user would. It’s a robust solution for automated tests and for distributing scripts to large teams.
  • Selenium IDE: This option allows you to create bug reproduction scripts. Thus, programmers can run automated exploratory testing.
  • Selenium Grid: Use this to run tests on multiple machines, across different environments. You can execute these revisions from a central point.

Cypress

This is a testing solution to optimize your software performance. Cypress combines different processes into one and simplifies the work.

Git

This is a DevOps tool that’s used to handle coding processes. You can use it for any purpose, but it’s ideal for large software development projects.

It allows engineers to coordinate their efforts and reach a maximum optimization level. Git allows you to track changes and work together with other professionals. The developers are always aware of the ‘big picture’ because they have access to a copy of the entire code. Thus, any change made to the repository can be revised and tracked by other engineers.

Also, team members can communicate with each other regularly. These factors constitute a straightforward workflow across teams. It’s a useful approach, especially during Covid-19, when most people are working remotely.

Pull Requests

This feature makes programmers aware of any code changes. When an engineer changes a piece of code, it must be inserted into the main repository.

When they make changes, they submit them through a ‘pull request’. This not only notifies others of the change, but also allows for follow-up. The system includes a forum to discuss the changes before their integration to the main branch. It allows for follow-up commits. You can track the activity within the pull request, which is very convenient.

Commit Messages

This Git feature is, in essence, a message. Its purpose is to describe what changed and why the code was rewritten.
The sections of a commit message are:

  • Subject Line: It must be concise and to the point. Instead of writing ‘Fixed bug’, write ‘Introduce a widget for image uploading’. The future code reviewer will thank you.
  • Message Body: This part provides context to your code. Describe what the project is about and what the project’s owner/administrator needs to do. For example, an administrator needs to upload avatar pictures to their staff’s profiles.
  • Stakeholder Impact: It must describe the intended audience for the code change. In the previous example, the change will mainly target owners and administrators. Designers, end customers, and proofreaders won’t be using this feature. A clear description helps to establish the developer’s goals in rewriting the code.
  • Design Notes: During the work process, a programmer might make tradeoffs. We must state these within the design notes. This will help future developers that might be working on the same project.
  • Breaking Changes: Programmers must state what changed exactly. In other words, they must explain what the outcome of the rewrite was. For example, ‘Modification of the profile interface’.

- 7 Ways to Improve Your-
Programming Skills

A smooth organization across units is necessary. But this needs to be further supported by
individual talent. Hence, this section presents a few guidelines for programmers to upgrade their skills.

01Use different
learning methods

Programming is an art. This is a challenging profession that requires constant training. It involves problem solving, flexibility, and creativity. While it’s a very rewarding career, it can be overwhelming. We recommend using different learning methods to acquire new skills. Use flashcards, quizzes, puzzles, and design apps to have fun in the process.

02Be fluent in
debugging

Whether we like it or not, fixing bugs is an important part of a programmer’s work. Learn debugging techniques instead of researching one bug at a time. This strategy will save you time and optimize the overall projectdevelopment.

03Learn from other
developer’s work

One of the best paths to excellence is to learn from other people’s codes. Read other programmers’ code and analyze them. Establish whether you could improve the code and how. By practicing this on a regular basis, you’ll upgrade your skills considerably.

04Write for people,
not computers

Paraphrasing Martin Fowler, anyone can write code for a computer to understand. The challenging part is to write so that people can. Great programmers write code that’s easy for colleagues to grasp. Doing so allows for review, further development, and debugging.

05Get involved
in projects

Projects such as app development can be a great learning field. It requires you to meet certain standards, reach objectives, and follow guidelines. This can be a challenge that boosts you to the next level. Needless to say, it’s also something to put on your resume.

06Master one
tool

Beginners must study as many tools and languages as they can. However, as you develop a career, it might be a good idea to specialize in one technology stack. This will open many doors, with the possibility of obtaining an excellent job.

07Be
curious

Curiosity is your best friend. Being in constant search of new challenges and knowledge can be profitable.
Recruiters love ambitious professionals and value initiative.

Conclusion on Engineering Best Practices
for Effective Teamwork

It’s possible to narrow down the best engineering practices into three categories:

  • Individual Technical Skills
  • Individual Soft Skills
  • Team Dynamic

Being a programmer is not only about learning coding languages. Attention to detail, the spirit of
teamwork, and being proactive are also important.

Recruiting top talent is the first step towards building a successful development team. The next
step is to provide the necessary tools for workflow optimization.

The balance between these factors determines the efficiency, performance, and profitability of a
software engineering project.

Contact us now and let the TechVariable team
support you on your journey to success.

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