Neither You nor Your Work Has to be Perfect

Let’s face it: nothing you make will ever be absolutely perfect. Some people may not like the final product. Maybe you could remove a paragraph or two from your blog post or reword a few sentences. Your code could probably be refactored in a few different places. That drawing might look cleaner if you erase a couple of smudges.

We all know what happens to projects once we start falling down these rabbit holes. “I’ll just spend a couple of minutes fixing this little thing,” can turn into a few hours or longer if you’re not careful. In my experience with code, it could take even longer because you might accidentally break something totally different while trying to clean up a few functions.

Obviously, there’s a time and a place for everything. Projects put you through various phases of pressure. Sometimes, you don’t have the chance to make the code as beautiful as you want. Functionality is almost always more important because your client probably won’t ever see your code. All they care about is that their product works well. So, when it comes time to punch, try not to worry too much about making the code perfect.

Rather, make some quick notes about where the code needs some help and what you might to do make it better. Hopefully, you can go back later and make the improvements, but if that isn’t the case, you can either pass those notes along to the next person or use them to explain what you learned about the project experience. People expect you to learn more than anything. They will value the experience you have to share.