Handling Impostor Syndrome
Have you ever scowered StackOverFlow and wondered “what am I doing here?” For thousands of aspiring software developers, and even employed software developers, feeling like you don’t belong can be a very real situation. First, what is impostor syndrome?Imposter syndrome describes feelings of severe inadequacy and self-doubt that can leave people fearing that they will be exposed as a “fraud”, usually in their work lives. Here are some tips to get over this hurdle so you can do what you do best, LEARN!
Stay positive. It’s important to keep in perspective how far you’ve come in such a short amount of time. You have the skills to be a Full Stack Developer whether you can admit it right now or not. Remember that everyone has to start somewhere. Play up your successes, and think about your failures, and how you can learn from them. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall — what ultimately defines you as a developer is that you continue to get back up, and recognize that there will always be moments of uncertainty and discomfort.
Get Comfortable With Not Knowing Everything. I’ve had to figure out how to be OK with (excited, even!) to not know everything — it’s an opportunity to learn new things and refine my current skills. If you’re a new developer like me, it’s fine to acknowledge the long path ahead of you. But know that you owe it to yourself to enjoy the process of learning along the way, you’re just going to make it much more daunting than it already is if you don’t enjoy the learning process at least. Accept the fact that you will never know everything there is to know about programming, and that is fine. It should be about shared experiences and delayed gratification. Take pride in new skills, incremental returns, and be excited for the programmer you’ll become.
And lastly, take it SLOW. The future can seem very daunting and scary. It is full of unknowns, and there are bound to be detours thrown here and there. It’s very easy to convince yourself that you are a tiny fragment of what you really are. Despite the dark storm clouds of negativity or belittlement that may gather in your mind, believe in yourself. Temper your lofty expectations. Adapt. Empower. Share. A huge part of adventure and life -is slowing down and accepting the unKNOWN. This is how you get to KNOW –yourself.
