The Bad Habits That Could Kill Your Web Development Career (Part 1)

Working in web development is not one of the most easiest careers in the world – you have to deal with clients, designers, managers and all manner of other people in order to get a website off the ground. Over time, many developers begin to take on practices and bad habits that could be highly detrimental to their career – and here are the most common ones:

• Lack of people skills
  Nothing will kill your web development career faster than having poor people skills – clients want to deal with developers who are friendly and approachable, not someone who is going to complain, whine or make excuses. Even when dealing with difficult clients, it is important to learn how to best handle them so that you can keep them happy.
• Being complacent
  When a developer simply follows the same process for every project that they encounter, they are actually doing this at the cost of their career. Whilst there is nothing wrong with being satisfied with the way that you tackle projects, it is important to cater the development process to each project as it comes along – don’t try and fit the project to the process you are most comfortable with.
• Being lazy
  Go one step further then being complacent and you are likely to become overly lazy when it comes to web development. Essentially, you will stop caring about the websites you’re working on, whether your clients are happy, and whether your career is moving forward or not. Ultimately, this will lead to dissatisfied clients who will leave and your business will die.
• Being a copycat
  It can be very tempting for many in the web development industry to “borrow” code from other websites, especially when a client comes in saying that they want something similar. But, you must remember that this could result in accusations of plagiarism, which effectively kill your career for good.
• Being casual
  Whilst there is nothing wrong with rocking up to your web development job in a pair of worn out jeans and a t-shirt (if this sort of attire is what your workplace allows), this is certainly not how you should dress when you know you will be meeting with clients. You must appear professional at all times.

These are only some of the bad habits that could kill anyone’s web development career; in part 2 of this article we will look at some of the other practices and bad habits that people in the industry are known to adopt. By avoiding these habits in your own life, you can ensure that your web development career is a long and successful one.