These 5 Habits Separate The Best Programmers From The Rest:
1. They automate as much as possible
A lot of time can be saved by automating frequently executed tasks.
Software engineers that are always looking for activities that can be automated make a huge impact to the team's productivity and the company as a whole.
2. They explore the problem in-depth before solving it
Problem-solving is a big part of being a programmer but you can't create an effective solution if you don't know all the details of the problem.
That includes the requirements, user cases, performance metrics, & more.