--- title: Habits of great software engineers | daily.dev description: The article discusses the habits of great software engineers, emphasizing the importance of focusing beyond coding, pursuing efficiency, enjoying tinkering,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/habits-of-great-software-engineers-2cyrgleyx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Habits of great software engineers | daily.dev og:description: The article discusses the habits of great software engineers, emphasizing the importance of focusing beyond coding, pursuing efficiency, enjoying tinkering,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/habits-of-great-software-engineers-2cyrgleyx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/2CYrgLeYx.png og:image:alt: Habits of great software engineers og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Habits of great software engineers **[Just Another CTO](https://daily.dev/sources/justanothercto)** · [@vadimk](https://daily.dev/vadimk) · 15 min read · 763 upvotes · 33 comments ## Summary The article discusses the habits of great software engineers, emphasizing the importance of focusing beyond coding, pursuing efficiency, enjoying tinkering, understanding the 'why' behind the code, thinking in systems, recharging beyond technology, approximating numbers, transferring knowledge to new problems, simplifying complex concepts, playing the long game, and developing a code nose. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@vadimk** · 10 upvotes > Hey everyone, author here. Glad you liked the article, let me know if you have any questions. Cheers, Vadim. **@idoshamun** · 9 upvotes > I relate to everything mentioned there. I should keep it for quick reference. > > One of the more opinionated points mentioned is "Joy of tinkering". Many people will find it toxic and anti work-life-balance. But I believe that like anything in life, if you pursue greatness this is what it takes and it's also perfectly fine not to be great, you just need to acknowledge that. **@trickooo** · 5 upvotes > A very good read! Thanks for this article i’ve learned many things 🙇‍♂️ I totally agree that watching George Hotz tinker with code looks very cool 😁 **@zaysan** · 4 upvotes > This is one of those posts where someone in a profession mistakes their professional experience for the understanding of how people work. Although not explicit, there is perhaps an implication that one should TRY to have these things to be brilliant. > Many of these habits are a byproduct of personality traits, which are largely plastic. Tinkering and lots of projects indicates high levels of Openness(HEXACO- openness to experience). Low Neuroticism can play a large part in the point about environmental fragility. > > Great software engineers can (from MY experience and largely the collective... **@aboel3z** · 2 upvotes > There's something deeply depressing about a modern software developer role consisting of 20% coding. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/habits-of-great-software-engineers-2cyrgleyx) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Habits of great software engineers","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/habits-of-great-software-engineers-2cyrgleyx","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/habits-of-great-software-engineers-2cyrgleyx"},"datePublished":"2023-11-04T11:13:08.880Z","dateModified":"2023-11-04T11:12:52.764Z","description":"The article discusses the habits of great software engineers, emphasizing the importance of focusing beyond coding, pursuing efficiency, enjoying tinkering,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/42da4ee1ff3fbf861a0103f26719bb2d?_a=AQAEufR","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/42da4ee1ff3fbf861a0103f26719bb2d?_a=AQAEufR","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Just Another CTO","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Vadim","url":"https://daily.dev/vadimk","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--AcPSId8W--/f_auto/v1705937417/avatars/avatar_KUvKIGxcjCb57gACEqH1H","description":"I grow teams, build products and solve problems — occasionally a computer is involved.","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":910}},"commentCount":33,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/habits-of-great-software-engineers-2cyrgleyx","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":763},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":33}],"keywords":"career","timeRequired":"PT15M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Just Another CTO","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/justanothercto"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Habits of great software engineers"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/habits-of-great-software-engineers-2cyrgleyx","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Hey everyone, author here. Glad you liked the article, let me know if you have any questions. Cheers, Vadim.","datePublished":"2023-11-05T09:43:46.627Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2CYrgLeYx#c-LITeOBoLB","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Vadim","url":"https://daily.dev/vadimk","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--AcPSId8W--/f_auto/v1705937417/avatars/avatar_KUvKIGxcjCb57gACEqH1H"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I relate to everything mentioned there. I should keep it for quick reference.\nOne of the more opinionated points mentioned is “Joy of tinkering”. Many people will find it toxic and anti work-life-balance. But I believe that like anything in life, if you pursue greatness this is what it takes and it’s also perfectly fine not to be great, you just need to acknowledge that.","datePublished":"2023-11-05T16:29:40.263Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2CYrgLeYx#c-YKLvV3yHU","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ido Shamun","url":"https://daily.dev/idoshamun","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s---xy_OAwk--/f_auto,q_auto/v1703781380/avatars/avatar_28849d86070e4c099c877ab6837c61f0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":9}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"A very good read! Thanks for this article i’ve learned many things 🙇‍♂️ I totally agree that watching George Hotz tinker with code looks very cool 😁","datePublished":"2023-11-05T05:18:40.030Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2CYrgLeYx#c-K60VGpRt3","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Patrick Castro","url":"https://daily.dev/trickooo","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/24643418?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":5}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"This is one of those posts where someone in a profession mistakes their professional experience for the understanding of how people work. Although not explicit, there is perhaps an implication that one should TRY to have these things to be brilliant.\nMany of these habits are a byproduct of personality traits, which are largely plastic. Tinkering and lots of projects indicates high levels of Openness(HEXACO- openness to experience). Low Neuroticism can play a large part in the point about environmental fragility.\nGreat software engineers can (from MY experience and largely the collective commentary of hacker news) have a variety of dispositions.","datePublished":"2023-11-08T01:48:17.478Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2CYrgLeYx#c-6T6nbgsnL","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Zaysan","url":"https://daily.dev/zaysan","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"There’s something deeply depressing about a modern software developer role consisting of 20% coding.","datePublished":"2023-11-08T01:47:41.216Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/2CYrgLeYx#c-ezZRWqQf1","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Mohamed Aboelez","url":"https://daily.dev/aboel3z","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}]} ```