When I started my journey as a software engineer two decades ago, I couldn't have imagined the incredible evolution our field would have. The IT industry has continuously progressed in different directions, from the rise of agile methodologies to the boom of cloud computing, from monolithic applications to microservices architectures, and back.

Yet, with this constant change, I've discovered that certain fundamental principles remained. These lessons have stood the test of time and become even more relevant in our increasingly complex world of software engineering.

In this post, I'll share ten critical lessons I've learned over my 20-year career. These principles have helped me navigate many projects, lead teams, and continuously grow professionally.

The lessons are:

1. Don't do premature optimization

2. Think twice before writing code

3. Learn good practices

4. Make things simple and even simpler than that

5. Name things properly

6. Always test your code

7. Keep your time wisely. It is the most expensive thing you have.

8. Communicate, communicate, communicate

9. Don't just learn, do

10. Have a culture of documentation