Am I an Imposter?
I spent the last 4.5 years of my career feeling like I didn’t belong. The talent that was coming in, other devs posting inspiring photos of their side projects, struggling to even want to go into work, the list goes on. I’m pleased to say that I don’t feel this way anymore and wanted to share some insights I have gained along the way. A quick disclaimer, what works for me might not work for you, but even if only one person relates with this, that’s a success to me.
The first thing I had to do was stop coding professionally. I started applying for internal positions and landed something good for me. This has allowed me to step back and evaluate who I want to be as a developer; what kind of “stuff” do I want to create?
A little back story, I took the first job out of college, excited that someone would hire me at all. This was great in the beginning, I was finishing projects in record time and advancing quickly. This advancement came to a screeching halt and the burnout started to kick in, what I was doing was unsustainable. Couple that with the realization I didn’t enjoy WHAT I was developing, which led to a bit of an existential crisis…what am I even doing here?!? After I started my new role, I began to take a deep look within to figure out what I am passionate about, from a coding standpoint. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I found an online program, researched the company, and pulled the trigger. I am now well on my way to become a full-stack web developer and I couldn’t be happier, I have found my “Why”.
The second thing I had to do was put my ego aside. I had to admit to myself that I didn’t know everything, nor will I ever; I have to get comfortable with failure. I have started the habit of spending at least 2 hours each day reading about new tech or working on code projects. This is a habit I think every aspiring developer should have. It doesn’t have to look exactly like what I am doing, but it needs to be something and it needs to be consistent. Find a project or product that exists in the wild and try to re-create it on your own, or work through small coding projects on something like leetcode.
The last thing I did was build a list of accomplishments I had during my tenure as a developer. Having a list I can easily return to reminds me that I DO have the ability to be successful as a developer. I might not be as fast as some or have as fancy of a solution, but I can solve any problem that is thrown at me.