Be a lazy programmer , do not jump to write code.

Be a lazy programer and do not jump in to code immediately. Looks odd, right but true. I would like to share an story.
Long back one of  client asked me to write a function that can transfer files from one location to other with some fail safe way with built in fall back and retry mechanism. code was supposed to used in some client side tool.
After burning two days when I delivered my perfect solution (with more that 150 lines of code) for review and they scrapped with comment "You could have used Robocopy , why reinventing the wheel again". Then I embedded Robocopy in solution and it just turns to be a 10 lines of code.

Moral of the story : Do not reinvent the wheel again. If you are facing some problem today somebody else has already faced it yesterday. All you need to find it out. Use solution developed and maintained by others who are expert in their  areas.

Must TODO list for a Good Developer.

1. Subscribe to popular newsletters not only from  your areas but also your allied discipline. For example a software engineer must be aware of  changing trends in technology in areas like networking  and infrastructure.
2. Whats out the industry standard technology videos. In less time you will gain more.
3. Keep watching pattern and practices being used in the industry.
4. And last do not shy away of books. I have seen people with justification that Internet is good enough and I do not need books any more. But believe me  book are only source to build organize and systematic knowledge without which you can not be a good innovator of troubleshooter.
5. Keep an eye on industry top guns way they are doing

Useful References.

Here some of very useful links for those who are working in Microsoft technology.

1. Channel 9 Microsoft : Tons of technology led videos from industry experts.
2. AppFabric.tv (Earlier Endpoint.tv):  Lot of technology videos for expert developers.
3. pluralsight Time to time it offer free videos currently available for MVC3 
4. MSDN Flash : Hyperlinks to latest development in industry.
5. MSDN Flash Developer Newsletter