Meet two backend engineers: Chris and James. Both are smart and care about building good software. But Chris sees code reviews as learning opportunities, while James takes feedback personally and rewrites the same login system three times because it’s never “good enough.”
That’s the difference. Chris builds things that work. James tries to build perfect things.
If you recognize some of James in yourself, you’re not alone. The desire to write the cleanest code and fix it “one more time” before sharing is common. But here’s what I learned the hard way: trying to be perfect actually makes you less productive.
The Hidden Cost of Perfectionism
People who try to be perfect don’t actually build more useful software. They spend days planning database schemas for features that might never exist. They research GraphQL alternatives while their frontend teammates wait for any working endpoint.
One study found that self-described “perfectionist” developers were more likely to miss deadlines, build overly complex solutions, and burn out. The fear creates a vicious cycle: you feel behind, so you try to write perfect code to catch up, which makes you slower, and this in turn makes you feel even more behind.
Worst of all, it stops you from taking growth risks. You don’t share your side project until the code is perfectly documented. You don’t push your new feature because the tests aren’t good enough yet.
That’s not productivity. That’s being stuck while pretending to have high standards.
What Good Programming Actually Looks Like
Good backend engineers focus on three things:
Clarity - Other people, including yourself, can understand your code six months later. Variable names make sense, functions do one thing well, and your system follows patterns your team knows.
Speed - You can go from idea to working code quickly without getting stuck overthinking. You build something that works, test it with real data, and improve based on what you learn.
Progress - You continue to move forward on important problems, balancing technical debt with new features that address actual business needs.
Good engineers know that “done and testable” often beats “perfect in theory but still being built.”
5 Strategies to Break the Perfectionism Trap
1. Start Messy and Clean Up Later
When I built a notification system, my perfectionist brain wanted to research message queues, design flexible templates, and create an admin dashboard. Instead, I forced myself to start simple: one database table, one API endpoint, basic email templates.
This “messy” version took two days and taught me what users actually needed - things I never would have learned from just planning. I improved it over the weeks based on real feedback, creating a better system than any upfront perfect design.
The lesson: Progress matters more than polish. The first hour of organizing your code gives huge benefits. The tenth hour debating design patterns? Minimal benefit while slowing you significantly.
2. Accept That Things Break
Things will break. Deployments fail. Third-party APIs return weird data. These aren’t signs you’re a bad engineer - they’re normal when working with complex systems.
I once spent a week building what I thought was a perfect payment API. It crashed on day one because a third-party service returned broken JSON - something I’d never seen in testing.
The real skill isn’t preventing every failure - it’s building systems that fail gracefully and recover quickly. Focus on making your systems understandable, maintainable, and resilient rather than trying to prevent every possible problem.
3. Think of Failure as Learning
Every failed deployment teaches you something valuable. Every performance bottleneck reveals assumptions. Every bug report shows edge cases that your testing missed.
A database query that timed out in production taught me about N+1 problems and indexing. A security audit that found vulnerabilities taught me about CSRF protection and common attacks. These “failures” now inform every new project I build.
If you’re not having occasional failures, you’re probably not working on challenging enough problems. The most valuable skills develop when you’re dealing with uncertainty.
4. Try Things Outside Your Comfort Zone
Write the database migration everyone fears. Volunteer for the security audit. Speak up in design meetings. Perfectionist programmers hide behind code because it feels safe, but real growth happens in uncomfortable spaces.
Give technical presentations, contribute to open source, and work with other teams. When I finally presented our microservices migration strategy, preparing for it forced me to understand the architecture more deeply than I otherwise would have.
5. Set Flexible Goals (The NICE Framework)
Rigid goals backfire in software development because of unknowns. Instead of “completely rewrite the authentication system this week,” try “find the performance problems in our current login flow and fix one meaningful issue.”
Use the NICE framework:
Near-term - What progress can I make this sprint? (2-3 weeks)
Input-based - What actions can I control? (write tests, not “eliminate all bugs”)
Controllable - Am I actually responsible for this component?
Energizing - Does this challenge motivate me?
This keeps you grounded in reality and provides regular feedback on whether your approach is effective.
The Bottom Line
I still struggle with wanting everything to be perfect. But I’ve learned that progress always beats perfection. The software that helps users and advances your career exists in production, not just in your head as a perfect theoretical system.
The most successful backend engineers aren’t the ones who write flawless code on the first try. They ship working solutions quickly, learn from real-world usage, and improve based on actual feedback.
Your value isn’t measured by how elegant your architecture is. It’s measured by your ability to solve real problems for real users in a reasonable time using maintainable systems.
The best backend engineers aren’t the ones who never make mistakes. They’re the ones who make mistakes quickly, learn from them efficiently, and use those lessons to build better systems over time.
Keep shipping. Keep learning.
Cheers friends,
Eric Roby
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Perfectionism isn’t high standards, it’s paralysis. The best code is the one that runs, gets feedback, and improves.