The first law to having a long and healthy career in software development is to embrace your imposter.
We like to complain in the industry all the time about imposter syndrome. And it is a real psychological thing that some people have.
But I think we often claim that we are experiencing an imposter syndrome and we are not. We are just programmers!
Let me give you an example. Myself, after over 10 software projects, every project I joined, and this includes the project I worked on last year.
For the first three months of that project, I’m swimming in frameworks I have never seen, patterns that are maybe somewhat new, weird aspects to the business that I have never encountered.
And yet everybody on the team wants to pretend that they are so experienced, that they know exactly what is going on.
But, if you are actually really intelligent, and you have any sense of self awareness, you will know that I don’t know everything that is going on in the project.
And I think if you can become comfortable with that, and just accept that that is part of the job, you are going to have a long career in software.
Now, if you don’t like that, you are probably in the wrong position.
Happy Coding!
Karl
P.S. I’m thinking of building a new course that will simplify concepts for new programmers to make you ready for any tech job. Fill this form if you would be interested in that course.
