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How I Manage Impostor Syndrome, Fear of Failure, and Other Common Programmer Problems

Vitor Paladini on October 23, 2020

Sometimes your own bugs are much harder to fix. One thing that I noticed after all those years in the industry is that mastering the tech is only ...
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Lois Harris

Comparing yourself to other people's progress is the one for me. It can be silly to do it but it's helped me to stop being so critical. There was a colleague who was wicked smart, everyone said it and knew it. He made mistakes like wiping all our customers data. Lucky we recovered it and nothing was lost. That moment (and others) made me realize that no matter how good, knowledgeable, and clever I am, I'm still bound by human error. I'm not perfect and I have be proud that I'm smart enough to figure it out

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Vitor Paladini

Exactly. Sometimes we put people on pedestals, especially during our junior years.

I'm not perfect and I have be proud that I'm smart enough to figure it out

Also loved that take :)

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Vitaly Rtishchev

Everybody seems to get crazy with Impostor syndrome but if you look at different angle you will see that it is actually a good thing. From my experience, it pushes you towards learning new stuff and makes you more prepared to deal with everchanging industry where it's "learn or leave". So if you are trying to avoid this hard feeling – don't, it will fo away eventually and leave you with good knowledge base.

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Vitor Paladini

Yeah, I agree that that is a positive aspect to it.

However, I think it is more a matter of finding balance than welcoming it with open arms. It is good to be humble and be aware of all the thing that you don't know, but worrying too much about being an impostor can be a massive source of anxiety.

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leob • Edited

Is it weird that I've never ever had any of these doubts? Guess I'm just a more matter-of-fact and "it is what it is" person, I just do what I need to do in the best way possible and don't give it a lot of thought.

Which is not to say that I'm not aware that there's a thousand times more things that I DON'T know than things that I DO know - I simply tend to look more at the bright side, looking at the things I'm good at instead of the things I suck at.

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Vitor Paladini • Edited

I don't think that's weird. I'd say that it is uncommon but in a good way. I make an effort to stay pragmatic but sometimes those kinds of thoughts just pop in.

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Julia Pinheiro

Loved the article! :)
I can share that the "help people" tip has been an eye-opener for me. People frequently advise about getting mentors and sponsors, but having a mentee is as important. At first, every time a coworker asked me a technical question, I was flooded with insecurities about my answers. But since they kept asking for my inputs, eventually, I realized that I might know what I'm doing after all!
In the end, we shouldn't be so hard on ourselves. Overcoming the Impostor Syndrome is an everyday process!

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Vitor Paladini

Thanks, Julia! It is a daily process indeed.

People say that you've only truly learned something when you are able to teach it well, and there is no better test this assumption than with a mentee. 🙂

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Vitaly Rtishchev

About failure – can you provide some of your failure examples? I'm interested where Frontend engineer can fail nowadays. Your points are more likely related to business/startup as there is no such thing as failure at code – it can require more polishing or bug fixing.

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Vitor Paladini • Edited

Great question, here are my favorite failures:

  • Not being hired by booking.com in 2017 after getting to the 3rd of 4 steps
  • Failing to properly manage my team during my first quarter at that big payment company I mentioned in the article
  • All the "I'll blog consistently this time" moments I had for years before finally achieving consistency

So, yeah, those failures are not really code related. I guess that frontend engineer fails whenever an expected outcome isn't reached, maybe it is a new job, success in a side-project, or mastering a certain tool.

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Vitor Paladini

Thanks, Jordan! Comparing myself with others is what I struggle the most with as well. I agree that there is a strong link to ambition and wanting more from all the hard work we do every day.

If you are in your position because you weaseled your way in, you're an impostor.
Everyone else should shed any feelings of the sort!

That's a great way to approach the problem. Being insecure might make it a little harder to think like that but I like the straightforwardness!

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Hrefna Helgadóttir (Habbi)

I love "help people" as a way to keep imposter syndrome at bay. Thanks for sharing.

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Vitor Paladini

Glad I could help 😄

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Tomek Pryjma

What a brilliant article this is! Thanks for taking the time to write it.
I will definitely find myself coming back to it.

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Vitor Paladini

Thanks for the feedback, Tomek! 😄

It warms my heart to know that some of my experience is useful to other people. That's what keeps me going.

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Christian Kaisermann

Paladini, you're like a mirror. So relatable.

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Vitor Paladini

👁👄👁

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Olivia Vahsen 🥑 🦄

Love the focus on learning how to learn and finding how you learn best, as a starting point. This is super insightful and reads like an empowering conversation. Great job!

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Vitor Paladini

reads like an empowering conversation.

That's the tone I try to follow! Thanks for noticing, your feedback made me really happy 😄😄😄