Embrace the Impostor
I’ve built some pretty cool things with code. I’ve written a lot of lines of code. Here’s what I’ve learned from all my time in front of the computer. I’m still not great at writing code.
I disagree, that this is self-deprecating. I fully recognize that I have learned and know a lot about development, and I also know that I have a lot of room to grow as a developer. I work everyday at becoming better.
I research and build something, and then scrap that build, then build it again, just to realize there are better ways to build that build. Then I take a nap. When I wake up, I have some coffee and build that thing again. Never quit, never give up!
Coding is exhausting and exhilarating. You get to create fully functional apps with lines of code. You get to imagine something and sit down at your computer and build it. Its an amazing career path that we are on. But we are all bad at it, and I think that is spectacular!
Impostor syndrome is an affliction we all have as developers. Not one of us thinks we are the best at development. I think that is something we need to embrace, not “shake off”. We need to get to our computers each day and realize that we need to keep learning. This industry moves too quick to rest on your laurels. The moment you do, the game has changed. We are always playing catch up to the newest shiny thing, but if you stop chasing, its time to consider retirement, or a career change. Don’t consider this a bad thing. This should excite you and make you realize that impostor syndrome is a strength, not a weakness. If you never feel like the best, you’ll always have something to strive towards.
Who’s the best golfer out there right now? Seriously, I’m asking. I don’t follow golf, but I do know this. No golfer is perfect at hitting that ball into the hole. That doesn’t mean they quit. Instead, they keep striving to become better each day, and hope to be the best version of themselves today, only to hit the road tomorrow with the goal of being a little better than yesterday. This is the logic we all need to use with coding.
Never in the past, present or future will someone be the perfect coder. It just won’t happen. There will always be new, more efficient ways to build something and we’ll always be playing catch up.
Now what? Do we give up, and ride off into the sunset?
Hell NO!
You walk yourself to your computer and, keep coding. Continue learning. We keep building, and every single day we work to be better than yesterday. There is no perfection to code. If you think you are the best developer out there, guess what. You’re not.
Today, when you’re finished reading this, build something. Just something. Its better if its something that makes you smile from the inside out, but just build something. Keep your knowledge base expanding. Keep finding better ways to do something you thought you already had a handle on. Find new libraries learn and incorporate new ideas into existing projects.
When you go to bed tonight, ask yourself if you are better than you were yesterday. It doesn’t have to be a huge change, but work to be better and sooner or later, you will be great.
Except that you will still have a long way to go.
