Developers become developers because they like to code.
Many have taken up coding as teens after school, or during after-hours after their cubicle job.
Coding is a way of life.
Its as simple as that.
Theres just one little problem:Codingis not the only part of software development.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
It wont even be the code you wrote, believe it or not.
In two years, nobody will understand your source code
Languages and frameworks come and go.
Just a few years ago, Python2 was the status quo of back-end programming and data science.
Or maybe its just trendier.
Theyll rewrite your code.
Or forget about it completely.
Maybe youre writing part of the front-end of an tool.
But without at least some knowledge about what the backend does, nobody will understand the code in-depth.
And, as many devs can testify, in-depth understanding is crucial for maintaining code.
You cant just add a front-end feature without thinking about back-end support for it.
Team members come and go even you
Documentation is the best friend of on-boarding.
Think about it: How many new hires has your team had in the past couple of years?
Developers need to ship.
Your manager doesnt care about your mentoring abilities.
They want to see results in the form of code.
Documentation is the solution.
All that you might explain you might also write down.
Once written, it can help one new hire.
Besides, one day you wont be around to mentor new hires.
Maybe youll move on to a higher position.
Or youll change companies.
Or youll be on sick leave when something happens.
Either way, when youre not there anymore, your documentation will work for you.
Your documentation is your legacy.
Your manager wont understand anything at all.
Most managers know this.
Thats why they dont read source code.
At the core of it, though, theyre managing the people that make code.
Theyre managing code at a very high level.
You cant manage code if you dont understand anything at all.
So managers read the code documentation.
Besides, if you consistently produce great documentation for your code, your manager might notice.
And give you a promotion.
But developers dont want to write like theyre Stephen King.
They want to code like theyre Bill Gates.
you’re free to make it less painful, though.
UseContinuous Documentationand write up your docs while youre coding.
Usesmart toolsto write and maintain your documentation.
Only a small proportion of devs are doing this.
But that proportion is getting bigger fast.
More and more devs are realizing that they need to upgrade their documentation.
Its a necessary evil.
If it were just about writing amazing code, it would be a straight road.
Documentation makes the road to achieving success harder because its a task that many devs dont enjoy.
Cut it into little pieces, and document every change as soon as you make it.
