What does a typical working day for a Java developer look like?
My workday starts at 9 a.m., when I arrive at the office. We have the option to work from home,
but I prefer working at the office because we have better working conditions there than I could
ever achieve at home.
First, I review what information has been exchanged in Slack or by email and whether there are any
important messages for me, then I check the status of my ongoing tasks. These are tasks that have been
assigned to me, or that I have chosen myself from the available jobs. And these can be at multiple
stages in the development process. First, a job will be ‘in progress’, then ‘in code review’, then ‘in
testing’, and only after testing is completed will the work be finished for the developer.
For me, the activities that are of the highest priority are ones that I can move from one status to
another. For example, if my code is in review and someone has made proposals for improvements regarding
the code, I will check these first thing in the morning and make the necessary corrections so that the
reviewer could accept the changes and send the code into testing.
Other priorities include jobs where a solution I have developed is in testing and where errors have been
found or additions are needed. Then I will fix the code as soon as possible and send it back to the
tester. These are the things I always handle first so that I wouldn’t become a bottleneck for the team.
If everything is in order, I usually continue developing my current project where I left off the
previous day. Sometimes questions will have been left the day before for the analyst, sometimes
for the architect, and sometimes for our internal users. In that case, I try to communicate with
them as soon as possible. Other times I start with a complex technical problem that I got stuck
on the previous day, which I try to find a solution for by communicating with my colleagues or
conducting research, and sometimes all it takes to concentrate properly is a clear head in the
morning.
For a developer, no working day is the same as the one before. Each day brings new tasks or
technical problems, which often requires improving your knowledge and learning new things. It
keeps your mind fresh and frees you from the burden of routine.