Impostor Syndrome

Programming has been one of the best choices of my life. That's how I ended the last post before all the salutations and whatnot. Know why I did that? Because I firmly believe in what I wrote, of course. Why else.

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Today we're going to briefly talk about something that's been bothering me so much since I first came to know it had a name. I always felt it, somehow, you know, that weird little feeling of mental agony that whistles inside your head and hums the dumbest words ever:

"you can't do it, you are too stupid, you will fail"

Today we are here to say fuck that. Yeah, that's it. Fuck that.

Impostor Syndrome is not only a programmer's or a techy's thing, and it pretty much lies everywhere there are things to be learnt, changes in life to be made, choices in life to be taken.

Impostor Syndrome is that little vengeful enemy that you have been carrying around since you were a child. It was born from you. How, you ask? Pretty simple.

It could have been anything. Your first low grade at school, your not-so-much-friends from when you were younger, picking on you. It could have been your parents attitude, a teacher's, a classmate, anyone really. Anything really.

Does that make all the people around us the shittiest people ever? No, it doesn't.

So why am I telling you this? Also fairly simple once you get the hang of it:

It doesn't matter

You spent years being your worst enemy, years avoiding confrontation with yourself, fearing your own judgement. But why? Aren't you the person who is supposed to love you the most? Spoiler alert: you are.

We don't know each other but let me tell you this. You gotta be good to yourself and respect yourself.

I'm writing this blog to an audience of probable Software Engineers or people in the tech field, so I'll be specific. If it takes you more hours than other people to study a library, a language, a framework, it doesn't matter and it doesn't mean anything. Take your time, hone your skills, go where you want to see yourself in the time you need.

There are no rules, this is not a game but you can have fun as if it was. That's the beauty of it.

People have been in this field for decades and even the top scientists feel like newbies from time to time.

Accept that you don't know and you will have the power to know everything.

That's it, that's my rant for you. Feel good? I hope so. Feel weird? Why. Feel bad about yourself? Never, give yourself a hug!

image courtesy of Giphy

The goodbye

Hopefully you enjoyed this article and are now more than willing to jumpstart your career in software development by putting in the hours and learning.

As I said, there are many people willing to mentor newcomers and listen to their worries. I am one of them, so, if you want to reach out and get a free 30 minutes call over Zoom or Meet, feel free to reach out and follow me on Twitter where you can DM and ask for that slot!

Happy hacking!

I hope you found this article useful and to your liking and if you have any requests, drop a message on one of my social media accounts or open an issue/start a discussion on github, on this repository!