Why collaborate in software development
I have spent over 8 months at Microverse, a remote school for software development, and throughout this time I have worked with coding partners from different backgrounds and time zones all over the world but I needed to work alone once to realize the benefits of collaborative settings for a junior developer like me. Some of the benefits of collaboration are learning different ways of breaking down a problem into solvable pieces and completing projects faster.
One of the benefits of collaboration is learning different ways of solving a problem. Problems can be approached in different ways, hence can be solved in many ways, but this doesn’t mean they are all efficient and plausible. Time and cost play great roles in the design and development of software products, and which way we take to solve a problem and build a model around, determines the time and cost that goes into projects. Therefore, learning different ways of solving problems by collaborating with others can help us to come up with a model that is both time and cost-efficient.
The second benefit to collaborative coding is having to complete projects faster. One of the challenges of starting as a junior developer and having to learn and work from home is not keeping ground and committing scheduled time to work on projects. However, having a coding partner keeps and reminds you to be responsible for others time and effort, hence giving you a push to dedicate yourself to projects you are working together on, which in turn helps you complete projects faster.
In conclusion, you can work alone and dedicate yourself to growing as a junior developer but you can do it much faster and be able to learn even more if you do it in a collaborative environment with an added benefit of getting exposure and having worked with people from different cultures and backgrounds which makes you an attractive candidate in your next job application.