How to Be a Cracked Developer
Becoming a cracked developer a term for someone who consistently delivers exceptional work requires a blend of technical mastery, strategic thinking, and a relentless focus on impact. This blog is a refined guide based on observations of top-tier developers at early-stage startups. It s written as a personal reminder, an aspiration, and a roadmap for anyone striving to excel in software development. Below, I outline key principles to help you level up, drawn from real-world practices I ve admired.
Start Your Day with Intention
Great developers don’t stumble into excellence they cultivate it daily. Create a daily mantra to reinforce areas where you want to improve, such as focus, communication, or technical depth. Recite it every morning to set your mindset. Consistency turns good days into great ones.
Master Your Craft: Build, Build, Build
Technical excellence is non-negotiable. The path to mastery is simple but demanding: build a lot of things. Side projects are your playground use them to explore new technologies, experiment with ideas, and push your limits. Aim for breadth to understand various domains and depth in a few key areas.
Your goal is to ship fast while crafting simple solutions to complex problems. This balance comes from experience, so prioritize hands-on practice over theoretical learning.
Prioritize Ruthlessly
Every day, ask yourself: “Is what I’m working on important?” Priorities shift rapidly in startups, and yesterday’s critical task may not matter today. Align your efforts with the company’s top goals. If a task isn’t mission-critical, say no by default. When you do commit, be transparent about what you’re working on and avoid overpromising.
Lead Projects Like a Pro
Leading a project requires focus and discipline. Here’s how to do it right:
Keep Scope Tight
Avoid the temptation to build sprawling features. Focus on the minimum viable product (MVP) that delivers value to users. Ship early, gather feedback, and iterate. Smaller scopes accelerate learning and reduce wasted effort.
Overcommunicate Progress
Transparency builds trust. Overcommunicate project status to stakeholders. Before starting, clarify what you’re building and why it’s a priority. Provide regular updates to keep everyone aligned. Tools like Linear are ideal for centralizing updates, ensuring all stakeholders can track progress in one place.
Centralize Communication
Maintain a single source of truth for project details whether it’s a Linear board, Notion page, or shared doc. This eliminates confusion and keeps everyone on the same page.
Be a Proactive Driver
Cracked developers don’t wait for permission. If you spot a bug or an opportunity for improvement, take ownership. Create a pull request (PR) and ship the fix. If it’s outside your expertise, raise awareness and ensure it gets addressed. Better yet, learn how to fix it yourself by consulting experts. This builds your skills and reduces future bottlenecks.
Resolve Discussions with Action
Disagreements are inevitable, but endless debates waste time. When discussions stall, ask: “What’s the fastest way to get data?” Prototypes, experiments, or small-scale tests often resolve arguments faster than words. Step back, question why your idea matters, and focus on team alignment over winning arguments. The goal is to ship and learn.
Talk to Users Daily
Great developers stay close to their users. Talk to them every day understand their pain points, preferences, and how they use your product. This direct connection grounds your work in reality and sparks ideas for improvements. Shockingly, many developers skip this step, leading to disconnected products.
Dogfood Your Product
Use your product as your users do. This isn’t just about testing it’s about living the user experience. You’ll uncover bugs, spot friction, and generate ideas for enhancements. When you find issues, ship fixes fast. Allocate time for dogfooding; it’s a high-ROI activity that sharpens your intuition.
Think Like a Founder
The hallmark of a cracked developer is thinking like a founder. Treat the company and product as your own. Ask: “What will make this successful?” This mindset drives you to go above and beyond, whether it’s optimizing performance, improving UX, or rallying the team around a shared goal.
Even if you’re not naturally motivated to act like an owner, frame it as preparation for your future ventures. Every challenge is a chance to hone skills for when you launch your own startup.
Putting It All Together
Being a cracked developer isn’t about raw talent it’s about disciplined habits, user obsession, and a bias for action. Build relentlessly, prioritize ruthlessly, communicate clearly, and think like a founder. These principles, drawn from the best developers I’ve worked with, will guide you toward excellence.
Start small: pick one area to improve this week, whether it’s talking to users or shipping a small fix. Over time, these habits compound, transforming you into the developer others admire.
Norman Fwamba is a software engineer and systems thinker who believes in using technology to solve real-world challenges. He writes on performance testing, infrastructure, and sustainable innovation.
Written by Norman Fwamba
Software Engineer • Load Testing Evangelist • Systems Thinker
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