At Codecademy, we don’t just learn the raw syntax of code. We also learn about approaches to work such as Test-Driven Development (TDD), pair programming, and writing clean code. However, for each of these “best practices” and “good habits,” there seem to be countermovements. On the internet, it’s easy to find people who say TDD is bad, pair programming is bad, and so on.
Recently, while being strict about approving Pull Requests at my coding job (where I used the skills I learned from Codecademy), a co-worker sent me a message that said “clean code, horrible performance.” I responded by saying that if we didn’t prioritize good coding practices, we could end up like Cyberpunk 2077 – buggy at launch and poorly received on release. My co-worker countered by saying that we could also end up like Skyrim – buggy at launch but still well-received.
It’s frustrating that there is so much conflicting information online about what constitutes good software development practices. So my question is, what are trustworthy sources and tech influencers when it comes to best practices and mindsets in software development?
Side question: Also, does a startup have an excuse to not follow some of these practices?
Disclaimer: I used ChatGPT to improve the writing but the post is still 100% my intention.