Professionals Have Standards
21 Sep 2017
“Professional” Gamer
There are many titles used to signify a person’s professional title, such as: champion, specialist, doctor, director, supervisor, and more. As a kid, I wanted my job title to be “Pro Gamer”, meaning I would make my career playing video games. To be recognized as a professional gamer would require me to follow a set of standards created by the professionals who came before me. For example, I can not be recognized as a “Pro League of Legends Player” if I do not play the game because of the standards held to that title. These standards apply to all professionals, especially those that develop software for a career. This begs the question, is it necessary to follow all the standards expected by a professional?
Standard Standards
Standards exist for a reason and can help you understand what it means to be a professional. These guidelines have evolved over centuries of humans trying things and learning from mistakes. Just as man learned that some food is safer to eat cooked, professionals have learned that keeping a set of standards helps guide the future. For example, all cars produced from 1998 and on in the United States require dual front airbags. This changed the future of motor vehicle safety standards and is a feature I expect in my vehicle. In essence, standards exist to keep practices up-to-date. For professionals, they are the guidelines that shape your career.
“Professional” Coder
The purpose of ESLint is to find patterns or code that does not adhere to style standards. A lot can be inferred from a person that follows a code standard. It shows that the person wants their code readable and easy to understand. It shows that a person is willing to go the extra mile to make code presentable. It shows that the person is dedicated to their work. Altogether, it makes a person more professional.
Taking the time to experience ESLint in Intellij has been impressive. Software engineering is a team effort, thus presentation of your code is important. At first, I thought ESLint was unnecessary as missing a few spaces or how you place closing brackets is insignificant compared to the code function. However, many tiny mistakes add up and can cause 100,000 lines of code to be unreadable. Instead, keeping a standard among collaborators holds everyone accountable for their contributions. A professional is an expert in their field, to wield that title is to uphold the principle of good work. I wish to become a professional, and hope to pass on the knowledge that I gain from my career to the future.