A Serious Beginner Mistake: Overcomplicating Code
Summary ⇒ New developers tend to overcomplicate things, they want to be clever and elegant without realizing the long-term implications. Simple and clear solutions are better in the long run, even if they seem basic.
When we start coding most examples are straightforward: nicely structured IFs, well-defined conditions, clear loops, and single-purpose lines. But as we get to experience bigger codebases with more complex requirements, there’s a tendency to go for “smarter” solutions, unneeded advanced features, or clever tricks to speed things up or write less code. The problem? Clever tricks need to be documented, maintained, and explained; one-liners with many elements are hard to understand or debug, and high interdependency (coupling) makes changes more difficult.
With experience, I’ve learned to value simple solutions. The real smartness is in clarity, using the right structures, and maintaining relevant and up-to-date comments. The best code is code anyone can understand and work with, without risking breaking half the app.
I saw this firsthand last year. A simple ticket to extend a class turned into two days of refactoring. “Smart” ideas to make the original code more concise had tightly coupled unrelated parts of the app. There were elements with no clear purpose or relation, but that when changed, broke everything. And, as you can expect, no one knew anymore why they were used or how they worked. As the joke goes: “When I wrote this code, only God and I understood what it did. Now, only God knows.”
Simple code might be slightly less efficient or look like it was written by a newbie, but that’s the beauty, anyone can follow it! Most apps suffer more from overengineering than from bad performance.
So, how can we improve?
On one hand, seniors and leaders can collect and share examples, books, repositories, articles, of good practices, making them available and up-to-date for everyone. On the other hand, if you’re junior or looking to improve, review your code a few hours or days after writing it, once you’re out of that flow state. Be honest: is your code still easy to follow? Are your decisions clear? This self-review helps spot unnecessary complexity. If you don’t have a mentor, look for reputable open source projects or developers whose work you find clear and easy to understand.
Prioritize simplicity, and you’ll avoid a lot of headaches.