The Power of Automation - Useful Tools For Automating

As developers, we’re often tasked with repetitive, time-consuming activities that can sap creativity and productivity. The good news? Many of these tasks can be automated, freeing up your time to focus on solving real problems and building innovative solutions.

Automation is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity in modern software development. Here are 10 tasks every developer should consider automating today:


1. Running Tests and Deployments with CI/CD Pipelines

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) tools like GitHub Actions, Jenkins, and CircleCI ensure your code is always tested and ready to ship.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Catch bugs early and deploy faster without manual intervention.


2. Code Formatting and Linting

Inconsistent formatting can lead to wasted time during code reviews. Tools like Prettier, ESLint, Black, or clang-format can automatically format your code and catch style violations.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Keeps your codebase clean and consistent without debates over tabs vs. spaces.


3. Generating Documentation

Documentation is essential but often neglected. Automation tools can generate and update documentation directly from your code.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Keeps documentation up to date without extra effort.


4. Managing Dependencies

Keeping dependencies up to date manually can be tedious and error-prone. Tools like Dependabot, Renovate, or poetry lock files make this process seamless.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Ensures your project is secure and avoids technical debt from outdated libraries.


5. Handling Code Reviews

Code reviews are vital but time-consuming. Tools like Reviewable or Gerrit can streamline the process, while automation can handle the mundane parts.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Focuses reviewer time on logic and architecture, not style or formatting.


6. Generating Mock Data

Manually creating mock data for testing can slow you down. Tools like Faker library (JavaScript, Java, Python), generators in CodeMenu macOS app and Mockaroo website (can also create a fake API when you haven’t created a backend yet) can handle this. You can also use AI like ChatGPT or Claude.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Speeds up testing and helps simulate real-world conditions.


7. Monitoring Application Performance

Manually monitoring app performance and server health is inefficient. Tools like Prometheus, Grafana, and New Relic automate performance tracking.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Proactively catches issues before users are affected.


8. Handling Repetitive File or Data Operations

Tasks like renaming files, transforming datasets, or migrating data can be automated using scripts or tools.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Eliminates repetitive tasks and reduces human error.


9. Generating Boilerplate Code

Starting a new project or feature often involves writing boilerplate code. Tools like Yeoman, Plop, or cookiecutter can automate this process. You can use a snippets manager like Pieces, Snippety or CodeMenu to store and access them easier.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Saves time and ensures consistency across projects.


10. Security Audits and Code Scanning

Security and code quality should never be an afterthought. Tools like SonarQube, Snyk, or GitHub’s code scanning features can identify issues early.

Automate:

Why It’s Useful:
Prevents vulnerabilities from slipping into production.


Getting Started with Automation

To begin automating, start small. Identify repetitive tasks that slow you down and explore tools that can handle them. Use scripting languages like Python, Bash, or PowerShell for custom tasks, and integrate specialized tools into your workflow. Use AI to write scripts and speed up this process.