Good devs care about code
Theories abound regarding what makes a good dev. These theories generally revolve around one or more particular skills (both "hard" and "soft"), and levels of proficiency in said skills, that are "must-have" in order for a person to be a good dev. I disagree with said theories. I think that there's only one thing that makes a good dev, and it's not a skill at all. It's an attitude. A good dev cares about code.
There are many aspects of code that you can care about. Formatting. Modularity. Meaningful naming. Performance. Security. Test coverage. And many more. Even if you care about just one of these, then: (a) I salute you, for you are a good dev; and (b) that means that you're passionate about code, which in turn means that you'll care about more aspects of code as you grow and mature, which in turn means that you'll develop more of them there skills, as a natural side effect. The fact that you care, however, is the foundation of it all.
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If you care about code, then code isn't just a means to an end: it's an end unto itself. If you truly don't care about code at all, but only what it accomplishes, then not only are you not a good dev, you're not really a dev at all. Which is OK, not everyone has to be a dev. If what you actually care about is that the "Unfranked Income YTD" value is accurate, then you're probably a (good) accountant. If it's that the sidebar is teal, then you're probably a (good) graphic designer. If it's that national parks are distinguishable from state forests at most zoom levels, then you're probably a (good) cartographer. However, if you copy-pasted and cobbled together snippets of code to reach your goal, without properly reading or understanding or caring about the content, then I'm sorry, but you're not a (good) dev.
Of course, a good dev needs at least some "hard" skills too. But, as anyone who has ever interviewed or worked with a dev knows, those skills – listed so prominently on CVs and in JDs – are pretty worthless if there's no quality included. Great, 10 years of C++ experience! And you've always given all variables one-character names? Great, you know Postgres! But you never add an index until lots of users complain that a page is slow? Great, a Python ninja! What's that, you just write one test per piece of functionality, and it's a Selenium test? Call me harsh, but those sound to me like devs who just don't care.
"Soft" skills are even easier to rattle off on CVs and in JDs, and are worth even less if accompanied by the wrong attitude. Conversely, if a dev has the right attitude, then these skills flourish pretty much automatically. If you care about the code you write, then you'll care about documentation in wiki pages, blog posts, and elsewhere. You'll care about taking the initiative in efforts such as refactoring. You'll care about collaborating with your teammates more. You'll care enough to communicate with your teammates more. "Caring" is the biggest and the most important soft skill of them all!
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Formal education in programming (from a university or elsewhere) certainly helps with developing your skills, and it can also start you on your journey of caring about code. But you can find it in yourself to care, and you can learn all the tools of the trade, without any formal education. Many successful and famous programmers are proof of that. Conversely, it's possible to have a top-notch formal education up your sleeve, and to still not actually care about code.
It's frustrating when I encounter code that the author clearly didn't care about, at least not in the same ways that I care. For example, say I run into a thousand-line function. Argh, why didn't they break it up?! It might bother me first and foremost because I'm the poor sod who has to modify that code, 5 years later; that is, now it's my problem. But it would also sadden me, because I (2021 me, at least!) would have cared enough to break it up (or at least I'd like to think so), whereas that dev at that point in time didn't care enough to make the effort. (Maybe that dev was me 5 years ago, in which case I'd be doubly disappointed, although wryly happy that present-day me has a higher care factor).
Some aspects of code are easy to start caring about. For example, meaningful naming. You can start doing it right now, no skills required, except common sense. You can, and should, make this New Year's resolution: "I will not name any variable, function, class, file, or anything else x, I will instead name it num_bananas_in_tummy"! Then follow through on that, and the world will be a better place. Amen.
Others are more challenging. For example, test coverage. You need to first learn how to write and run tests in one or more programming languages. That has gotten much easier over the past few decades, depending on the language, but it's still a learning curve. You also need to learn the patterns of writing good tests (which can be a whole specialised career in itself). Plus, you need to understand why tests (particularly unit tests), and test coverage, are important at all. Only then can you start caring. I personally didn't start writing or caring about tests until relatively recently, so I empathise with those of you who haven't yet got there. I hope to see you soon on the other side.
I suspect that this theory of mine applies in much the same way, to virtually all other professions in the world. Particularly professions that involve craftsmanship, but other professions too. Good pharmacists actually care about chemical compounds. Good chefs actually care about fresh produce. Good tailors actually care about fabrics. Good builders actually care about bricks. It's not enough to just care about the customers. It's not enough to just care about the end product. And it's certainly not enough to just care about the money. In order to truly excel at your craft, you've got to actually care about the raw material.
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I'm not writing this as an attack on anyone that I know, or that I've worked with, or whose code I've seen. In fact, I've been fortunate in that almost all fellow devs with whom I have crossed paths, are folks who have demonstrated that they care, and who are therefore, in my humble opinion, good devs. And I'm not trying to make myself out to be the patron saint of caring about code, either. Sorry if I sound patronising in this article. I'm not perfect any more than anyone else is. Plenty of people care more than I do. And different people care about different things. And we're all on a journey: I cared about less aspects of code 10 years ago, than I do now; and I hope to care about more aspects of code than I do today, 10 years in the future.