Sometimes I get asked by newcomers how one can become a developer like me - specifically, with a job and career like mine.

I find this sort of question impossible to answer. My personal situation is the result of the time I started, local and international economic forces, politics, and happenstance. I can’t tell you how to recreate it from scratch in 2024!

It does create a little thought exercise in my head though: if you were to remove all external variables, what traits in an individual developer are most likely to lead them to their version of success?

There was a time when everyone was going on about how you had to have “passion” for web development if you wanted to be a top performer. I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think you need to be particularly passionate about the field you’re in or the job you have to do well. There are heaps of great developers who don’t make their job their identity or source of fulfilment.

If I had to pick one trait, it would be the ability to be comfortable with “the struggle”. That part of the day/hour/minute where the code isn’t doing what you expected, things aren’t looking like they should, or where things are going wrong and you don’t know why. The times where you’ve planned out a system, realised you’ve screwed it up and missed something crucial, again. The times where you swear at the screen, let out a massive sigh or hit rest your head on the desk in exasperation.

I’ve known developers who’ve put up with the struggle with the expectation that one day it will go away: one day they’ll be an expert and never have to struggle again. This day never arrives, and so they bail out of the field.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the struggle ever goes away. I’ve been doing this professionally for 14 years now and I still have to deal with the struggle almost every work day.

If you can be comfortable with the struggle and build up your tolerance for it. If you’re able to sit in that moment and be okay without drama or a total crisis of confidence, I’m fairly sure you’re going to do just great.

And if you’re someone (like me) who happens to go one step further and enjoy the struggle, you’ve found the perfect career¹.