Someday you will look back and wonder why you were even worried.

Ann Adaya

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Oct 7 · 6 min read

Just because you haven’t got it all figured out does not mean you never will — someday you will look back and wonder why you were even worried.

Would be the things I would want to say to myself 4 years ago.

Not choosing which path to take right away

Have you heard this saying, if you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.

I jump into Web Development without having any real plans for a month, or a year I don’t have any plans at all and all I know is that I want this, I’m gonna make it happen, I’ll give everything that I can and just hope for the best.

I convinced myself that this is my ticket to a better life and I instantly decided to embrace it.

At first, I didn’t spend any, I settle down for every free resource I can find — I don’t have any more to spare after I bought a secondhand windows laptop. I was working on a full-time non-tech job at that time so even my time resources were very limited.

But it didn’t stop me, however, because of this I wasn’t sure where I was headed because at that time every free resource was all generic, it will just give you enough overview and there was no one I can ask about it, no one to answer any of my questions, and besides I wasn’t even sure if I have been asking the right questions.

If I didn’t get lucky for getting my first developer job after 6 months, It would probably take me a while to be able to find my way.

If I had to do it all over again, I’ll first research my local area, your focus should be becoming someone the hiring manager needs and not about what you want because when you are starting you have no right to demand much — because you will have everything to gain while they are gambling.

If you are still confused, do your research, find what technologies the majority are looking for then choose 1–3 for your initial stack — and forget everything else.

Not joining dev communities

Find your tribe.

Strangely, the strangers will be the one rooting for you.

Here’s a funny thing, I have never felt the warmest support in my entire career from the people close to me, and yet the stranger I’ve just met a few minutes ago filled me with words that touch my heart on the right spot.

This journey will never come easy that’s for sure, so you need to have a support group, people who understand you, don’t get me wrong, we love our people, our family our friends, but most of the time they don’t understand our work, they won’t understand how it feels, it’s not because they don’t care, it’s just that people are different.

Except for people who have partners that are working in the same field — jackpot.

The point is, it is nice to have a tribe who will help you, who can answer your questions, who can relate to how your day is, who can get dev humor, who can feel the pain of debugging and knowing that others are walking on the same shoes as you — and you will be surprised of how they are rooting for you.

I didn’t have my own until more than a year ago, I did survive though but I was sad, and it wasn’t ideal, learn from my mistake, we can survive anything on our own that’s for sure, but we don’t have to — you don’t have to be alone.

I forgot about sleep

For more than 4 years of working tirelessly, I have never learned the value of taking things slowly until I got sick last year.

I was working with 2 full-time jobs, it was crazy, it was chaotic.

I was pushing my limits, I’ve always been stubborn, my mom hated me when I was a kid because I was wild and free and full of bruises from playing. Now being an adult, I still have this strong desire of pushing our limits — besides we wouldn’t know how far we can go if we don’t try.

And yes, last year I got sick for almost a month, I was exhausted not just about my 2 full-time jobs but because I lost my mom that same year, I lost my business, my savings all the same year, it was a wreck.

Everyone hates 2020, and here I am numb because of everything that had happened last 2019 — I have recovered though, and I felt way way way better.

I’ve realized that everything starts on the inside, what we are in the inside is what we become on the outside. If we are a wreck it will show no matter how much we hide if you don’t take enough rest your body will show it, and all of our dreams will never come true if we are sick.

We will never enjoy the fruit of our hard work if we don’t make sure that we are taking good care of ourselves, take care of your well being, your brain, your body — a happy developer is a good developer, please remember that.

Saying yes all the time

YES.

One of the best things I’ve done in my life is letting go of the idea that we need to be accepted.

We don’t have to, saying yes to all the favors will not make you a good human being, but a stupid one.

Keep your circle small and you will be free.

If you want to succeed as a developer then you have to set some boundaries, you have to set limitations, there’s always time for everything, and if you can’t keep yourself away from all the distractions then you will never succeed, or it will take you a while.

Deep learning is the way to go to truly understand any programming language and to do that you have to declutter yourself from everything that is slowing you down.

If your colleague is asking for a favor, take your time, you don’t have to answer him or her right away, make an assessment then decide, if you can’t then say it nicely if they are a good person they will understand, if not then it’s their problem.

Always be mindful of every decision you make because if you don’t take control of your life others will.

You get to decide on everything about your life, don’t forget that.

I was always running

I’ve learned this the hard way, and sometimes I still get lost in here.

Not giving myself enough time to learn a technology had caused more damage than good, I was jumping from one to another trying to finish projects, modules, tickets, without actually understanding what I was doing.

Trying to reinvent the wheel, trying to fix things, trying to control a lot of things because I was afraid of failures.

Always running — could mean a lot of things depending on our perspective and beliefs.

Our generations are full of young people hustling, moving, dreaming, working, startups, new careers, businesses, and many more.

But it all comes down to one thought, we are all just trying to make sense in this world. We are all craving for success, whether we are doing it for ourselves, for others, we are a generation full of dreamers and doers.

There is nothing wrong with it, the only problem is that we are not giving ourselves enough time to succeed in that certain field, and that is where the problem starts.

Just because we can’t see any results right away doesn’t mean we won’t succeed, just because you haven’t got it all figured out does not mean you never will — someday you will look back and wonder why you were even worried.

Whatever it is that you choose to pursue in life, a career, a hobby, give it some time, stick a little longer, stick a little more, and if you are stubborn enough to fight for what you want, eventually the world will make way.

Thank you very much for reading! Follow For Self-taught developers publication for more writings and inspiration, you can also find me on Instagram, see you there!