[chris_va]

I imagine you'll get comments here like "have good code hygiene" and "aim for good test coverage", which are not wrong. However, for me, what really stuck was learning directly from senior developers.

Anecdotally, having at least one senior developer on a team dramatically changes the long-term prospects of a project, even if they are not the ones actually leading the project. I would be curious to hear other's experiences, to see if that generalizes.

(with the caveat that not all senior devs had good habits)

[wst_]

Unfortunately being senior is not a good indicator of someone's ability to design and write good code. Yes, it should be. No, it not always is, as my experience shows.

Now, if you are senior yourself, probably, you can see that. But when you're junior developer it's very easily to misguide yourself by looking at the senior staff without questioning anything.

So, I'd add to your advice this. Yes, learn from senior developers by observing what they do and then read more about the topic to see if they are doing right thing. Also, try to find out what are the other approaches and opinions. Even if you don't agree with them it's good to diversify your knowledge.

[marcosdumay]

> aim for good test coverage

From the beginning? Not. That's completely counterproductive.

The first thing you have to do is be sure that you are testing the correct thing. Only after it you write your tests down.

Specs come before tests, and on most problems you will need to write a lot of code before your get the specs down.

[andy_ppp]

Is the correct thing that doesn’t work correctly under some conditions always the correct thing. Users are polite and will not tell you about the annoying whack a mole bugs that keep cropping up...