Common Developer Mistakes That Shaped Me

Every developer talks about tools, frameworks, and new features.
Very few talk honestly about mistakes.

But most real learning comes from things going wrong.

This blog is about the common mistakes I made as a developer and what they taught me.

Treating “Working Code” as Good Code

Early on, if something worked, I moved on.

I didn’t think about:

Later, when features changed or bugs appeared, the same code became painful to work with.

I learned that code quality is not about today — it’s about tomorrow.

I spent a lot of time learning frameworks without fully understanding:

Frameworks made things easier, but debugging became harder.

Once I went back to fundamentals, everything started making more sense.

React felt simple until it didn’t.

Small mistakes in state or effects caused:

I learned that React hooks are powerful, but they demand precision and discipline.

At one point, I thought backend work was only about returning data.

I ignored:

As apps grew, backend issues started affecting everything.

That’s when I realized backend decisions shape the entire product.

For a long time, error handling felt optional.

In production, it isn’t.

Without proper logs:

I learned that logs are not noise — they are signals.

Trying to design the “perfect system” from day one slowed me down.

I added complexity before it was needed.

Later, I understood that:

Every experienced developer has a list of mistakes behind them.

What matters is not avoiding mistakes completely, but learning from them and not repeating them blindly.

Growth in development is less about speed and more about awareness.