How to code for the future
Most mid-level engineers make the same mistake when coding for the future: coding at all. The trick to coding for the future is to not code at all.
Why code for the future?
Taking a big step back, when we code for the future, it’s because we want to make sure our future selves don’t have more work because of bad decisions today. We’ve all accidentally made technical debt that made extra work for ourselves. But many times, we’re so worried about the future, we overcorrect. We make the mistake of trying to predict the future so correctly that we code today so that tomorrow is less work because of good decisions today. That’s way more than we need to strive for, and it’s extremely difficult. Instead, let’s just shoot for “not more work” by not making tech debt.
How to not code for the future
This means, we should write code that doesn’t box ourselves in and STO…