We all know how to write code and make it work. Ever wanted to know what's the difference between a programmer and a good programmer is? Let's start by busting some popular myths.

Myth 1: You don't need an expensive laptop to be a good programmer.

Myth 2: You don't need to buy any course to be a good programmer. In fact, you don't even need a college degree(I am not telling you to drop out) to be a good programmer.

Myth 3: You don't need to know everything in order to be a good programmer.

Don't act like a noob

Of all the people I admire, one thing was common: no one became a programmer because they watched a course or wanted a good job. I code because I want something to exist in this real world. It is the same for the people I admire.

I don't have friends because Google is my best friend. When I am stuck I search the problem, read other people's solutions, and try to understand it and discuss it in the best tech community I am aware of which is DevV House.

"If you do it for money, you will be replaced and kicked out by someone who is ready to die for it" - I made this just now.

Practice T-shape learning

I follow a learning mindset, T shape Learning, which means knowing something about everything and everything about something.

The vertical bar on the letter “T” represents the depth of your knowledge in a specific area, and the horizontal bar represents the breadth of your knowledge across all facets of software engineering.

For example, you could build a strong vertical bar by focusing primarily on backend development in JavaScript. At the same time, you could build a wide horizontal bar by occasionally doing projects in Go, Tensorflow, functional programming, or distributed systems.

Admire good people

The best thing I can say here is if you are on Twitter and LinkedIn please unfollow everyone. The majority of them are fake and trash.
Pick up good books, ideas and admire people who are sitting there coding and building things for the people. I regret admiring the wrong people in the past but quickly realised my mistake and corrected my vision. Find those people and if you cannot find them, work your ass off and attract them with your work.

A forever learning mindset

“Once you stop learning you start dying.” - Albert Einstein.

You don’t ever stop “learning to code”. There isn’t a magic threshold that separates the “coders” from the “non-coders”. Your learning path should never truly end, but along the way, you’ll find yourself qualified for different kinds of programming jobs. Learning never stops. I have talked with senior developers doing cool stuff and even they said they don't know everything in programming, they learn new things every day.

Conclusion:

Lastly, I just want to say, if you like programming then only do it. Don't do it for a good job or for someone who influenced you.

A shortcut: If you wanna be good at programming, then do it for 20 years. Easy!