Happy New Year!
2021 was a year full of change and learning to adapt. Part of that change was enrolling in my SWE bootcamp cohort in September.
I have three months left of my cohort. Three months and I will be a certified software engineer. I've been working on this for five years and it's finally here! ๐ช ๐
With this said, I've been struggling a lot with the fact that I'm starting to apply for dev jobs. I keep telling myself I'm not ready because there is still so much I don't know.
I get a little frustrated with myself if I can't immediately remember how to write a for loop that I learned in unit 1. Or if I struggle with explaining what problem I'm trying to solve, it can feel so embarrassing. So then I think that maybe I'm in the wrong field.
This week, I thought about what it is that is keeping me from being vulnerable or accepting when I don't know something.
This is my first time building applications and learning programming languages in depth rather than the small exposure I got when I was self-learning. All the work experience I've ever had was in retail, administration, and restaurant and I don't have a CS degree.
In every job I've ever had before the game was usually the same. Be friendly and know how to solve problems like "What do you do if a guest is upset that we put cheese on her burger and she is lactose intolerant?". I've always learned the ropes pretty quickly. Now I feel the complete opposite.
There is not one solution for every problem and there are changes and updates so frequently that I will always be learning. I'll get better of course, but I need to remove the pedestal I've put myself on and allow myself to be wrong sometimes if I want to.
So for 2022, I'm going to take this epiphany I had and really put it to use. To go easy on myself, put in the practice, and everything else will fall into place. A year to unlearn a potentially toxic mindset.
Thanks for allowing me to share some of my story, if you can relate I hope you are kind to yourself this year as well.
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