From the outside, it may seem like the person on the stage has something special that inherently makes them suited to speaking. They don't. The most interesting technical talks, blogs, and videos are from the people who have found their voice through lots of practice. Their first several attempts were definitely not perfect. (Don't believe me? Check out Post Malone's early work.)
When I encourage people to share their experience via writing or talking, their response usually implies I'm more naturally suited to speaking and writing then they are. I'm not.
I barely passed my university public speaking course. Even while I was a yoga teacher, the only time I wasn't stressed about speaking in front of people was during meditation, when everyone's eyes are closed. When I first started giving technical demos, I would be shaking and sweating the whole time. I have a lot of research writing experience, but technical writing and blogging in general are very different. Before I started a tech blog during bootcamp, I had been blogging for years and generated no views. I continue to be pleasantly surprised so many people have found my blogs helpful.
It's because people find my experience helpful and a healthy dose of peer pressure from friends and colleagues that I kept trying. My demos got better. I learned what feedback to take and what feedback to let go. I started experimenting with my writing and publishing before I felt it was perfect. I gave my first technical talk in 2022. In 2023, I spoke at a in-person conference for the first time. In 2024, I've given four talks. I'm already scheduled to give five more. Slowly, I'm getting less panicked and less focused on all the little mistakes the audience didn't even notice.
It's not just me. All of the technical speakers I've talked to are not 100% confident or perfect. Most of them have shared that they are still very nervous before giving a talk. Many have shared stories of panic attacks on stage. Most are relieved to hear the audience was actually interested in their talk. The technical bloggers and video-makers are usually just happy they managed to publish something decent recently, whether or not it got views.
It's also not just about us individually. When you share your experience, you can help someone else out who is struggling with the problem you just solved, show developers with less experience that there is more than one way to approach a problem, and help someone feel less alone.
Top comments (10)
I love this, and thank you for sharing it. It’s so easy to forget that anything you write, say, demo, can and will help others.
Imposter syndrome is real. All speakers are humans just like the rest of us.
I am truly shocked to hear that you need encouragement after watching you stream. Just goes to show I have to keep telling myself the same thing. 💙
I’m glad you think that! I’m always doubting my abilities and feel like a phony 90% of the time. Imposter syndrome is real.
On my first talks before the presentation started I went into panic mode thinking that I was covering the basics, that people would notice some stuttering and laugh, or that someone would ask a question and I wouldn't know how to answer, etc. Turns out, everything went well, people came to me asking for more information and sources to study, etc. Even today the self-doubt still resides.
But honestly, in the end, it's cool to show others what you already know, to make them "click" something in their head. I stopped giving talks 10 years ago, but the feeling of accomplishment after the presentation remains.
Also, as someone wiser than me said one day, in the path of teaching, you are the one learning. You learn how to present concepts. How to better communicate what you know. And when people ask different things, you may sometimes see what you know from a new perspective.
Talk. Write. Be part of events. :)
I couldn't agree more. It really takes some time and effort, but if you try with small steps to get out of your comfort zone, you will see how much progress you have made after a few years. Everyone started as a beginner. The only difference between you and a public speaker is the amount of failures they had to go through to reach the level you now see.
I appreciate this article, very affirming.
I get imposter syndrome from posting about my work on social media (and even once got heavily for videofeedbackr, a project I worked very hard on). Still, every day I choke down those feelings and share, even if I want to go home and be alone in peace. Blessings to you!
Hi Abbey Perini,
Top, very nice !
Thanks for sharing
No. Just no. You're clearly a classic extrovert - doing a public speaking course at university; Teaching anything, even yoga. Those are things that only someone who is alrrady comfortable sharing with others in a group setting would do.
And you're in the minority. The rest of us don't give a crap about GitHub contribution charts, blogging, giving talks, or otherwise showing off to others that we know our stuff. Not because we don't know our stuff, but because we just don't have the energy, the personality, to make that work.
So don't come at us with your "oh it's just imposter syndrome" or "you just need practice" or whatever else - I know my shit, I'm not an imposter, but I choose to spend my energy bettering myself in other ways, and that's ok.
It's ok that I don't do what you do, because it doesn't work for me, and that's ok.
100% agree! Not only helping people solve their problems but also sharing is a good way to learn and memory better
nice post
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