This article was originally posted to my personal blog on 04/16/2020.
If you’ve been writing code for any length of time, you’re probably not unfamiliar with Imposter Syndrome. Wikipedia defines Imposter Syndrome as;
**…**a psychological pattern in which one doubts one’s accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud”.
A big part of why most developers (especially newbies) experience this is because our industry is uniquely deep. In the sense that the more you learn, the more you realize you don’t know, and the more you fear that you should know it and that others will view you as somewhat inferior to them. Most folks are terrified by this. I’m going to present a different twist and encourage you to embrace it.Imposter Syndrome as a Good Thing
It might sound crazy, but hear me out. If you are worrying about not knowing enough, that means that you care enough to want to grow. Whether that’s to impress others or yourself. Desired to grow in any positive area of your life is never a bad thing! I’d encourage you to acknowledge that the reason you’re scared at all is because you KNOW there is something you don’t fully understand.
Learn to acknowledge these cues and do something about it. Try to identify what exactly it is about a specific topic that’s causing it, and do what you need to do in order to understand the topic fully. Then try and engage in intelligent conversations with others in the field. If you’re worried about speaking with the ones you work with, there is no shortage of people on the internet who would be willing to chat about these things.
Side note: I host a Discord community & we would love to chat with you about any and all things coding 😉. – fullstack.chat
Putting this concept into practice will do wonders for both your knowledge and confidence as a developer.
And as always, happy coding! 😁 💻
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