If you're just starting out in tech, then you need to read this.
Shortly before I transitioned into tech, I always had this imposter syndrome. I didn't feel I was good enough. I thought people working for trillion-dollar companies and the like were like superhumans. To begin with, I didn't even own or know how to operate a laptop well until my final year in school. This made me think I wasn't good enough to be in tech. But one of the things that kept me going was my group of friends.
It was tough when starting out, especially for someone like me who took the path of self-learning. There were just too many resources that sometimes I felt overwhelmed. I wanted to learn everything to be at the level that I'd get into the big tech companies, I thought. The electricity situation wasn't any better. I could remember then that the power holding companies were more likely to restore power at night than at day, so I'd have to be awake mostly at night. It still helped to an extent because I could barely afford a data plan during the day to enable me to stream content on YouTube and the like, so I'd do night plans, which were relatively affordable some days thanks to the Telco anyway, but the constant battle with trading my sleep for learning was becoming tiring. Also, I had one of those laptops that would take an eternity to process a command, and it was very frustrating.
There were many reasons to give up in my head. Some days I did give up, but thanks to my friends and brothers who were in tech, they still pushed me. They were days we'd meet and they would just be talking tech and I couldn't contribute enough, so I'd feel challenged to go back and learn more. Luckily for me, it was the peak of COVID, so we were all home and I was disengaged from my place of primary assignment due to reality. All of these kept me going. They encouraged me to apply for internships and told me that I was never going to be too ready if I kept waiting. I landed my first tech internship, and from there it was another learning curve.
The essence of this post is that if you're just starting out in tech, do not underestimate the power of having a community of tech friends. Tech can be tiring and overwhelming when starting out. You'll always have that imposter syndrome that you're not good enough, so giving up will always be imminent, but if you have a good community, you'll always find a way of pushing through or coming back. Also, have a niche. Don't try to learn everything. There are too many resources out there, but pick the ones that belong to your niche. Having a mentor can help in this aspect as well. Never wait to be too ready before you start applying for jobs and internships. If you attend the interview and fail, they'd also teach you something.
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