When I first ventured into building an Expert Advisor (EA) with a collaborator, I thought the hardest part would be the coding. In reality, the biggest lessons came from the process of working together. Here are the takeaways that shaped my perspective:
1. Alignment Matters More Than Speed
We rushed into writing functions before fully agreeing on the trading logic. That led to rewrites and confusion. I learned that spending extra time upfront to align on strategy saves countless hours later.
2. Communication Is the Real Debugger
Bugs weren’t just in the code—they were in assumptions. A simple misinterpretation of “risk per trade” caused cascading errors. Clear documentation and regular check-ins became as important as unit tests.
3. Version Control Is Non-Negotiable
Early on, we shared files manually, which quickly became chaotic. Once we moved to Git, collaboration felt smoother, and mistakes were easier to trace. It reinforced that proper tooling is part of the craft.
4. Respect Each Other’s Strengths
My collaborator excelled at market analysis, while I thrived in structuring the codebase. Recognizing and leaning into those strengths made the project more balanced and enjoyable.
5. Collaboration Is a Skill
Working on an EA together wasn’t just about trading logic—it was about patience, compromise, and learning to explain technical decisions in plain language. That skill will carry into every future project.
Closing Thought
The first collaboration taught me that building an EA is as much about people as it is about algorithms. If the team isn’t aligned, no amount of clever code will make the system profitable.