created: 2020-11-11T02:39:58-10:00
modified: 2020-11-11T02:58:49-10:00
title: The power of context
the most powerful thing a programmer can have is Context meaning they know which files to go to and where things are kept, why code behaves a particular way, why a feature exists. It can make them 10x more productive due to how much time is wasted just trying to carefully understand the application so you can make a change to it. Making the change is almost always the easy part. This usually divides the senior programmers from the junior.
this also applies to strategy. Knowing why we should build something and what the customers are thinking is everything.
my method of writing down MOCs for the code, eg: how the feature works, helps me move faster in the end because I can't keep all those file locations in my head. The VSCode extension for bookmarks helps with this too.