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Discussion on: How do you handle lack of self-confidence and career-numbing doubt?

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eljayadobe profile image
Eljay-Adobe

My experience echoes what Ben Halpern said.

When I first learned programming, I had no idea as to the limits of what was possible. Everything was new and amazing.

When I had gotten a bit more experienced, I felt like I was a know-it-all hotshot. My fellow coworkers must have been saints.

After I got more experienced, working on harder, larger systems, I'd feel like a tiny boat in a hurricane. Thrown hither and yon. Anxiety, self-doubt, depression.

Now that I'm older and wiser... or at least older... I've come to realize that I know about half, and if you know about half, hopefully we can put our two halves together to get stuff done. So the important part isn't as much as knowing everything, but it is far moreso about working together and communication. And for someone like me who is terribly introverted and shy, I've had to work very hard at communicating... and it never gets easier, it's always stressful, but I've learned to try really hard to overcome my own impediment. Successfully, I think.

So even though I'm not a consultant, I think The Second Law of Consulting is very applicable: "No Matter how it looks at first, it's always a people problem."