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Imposter Syndrome is kicking in already...

Chantae P. on March 31, 2022

Time for me to vent... I'm just 3 months into my coding journey, and already I'm starting to think if this is for me. It is a lot and I mean a lot ...
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Cody Seibert

You’re not an imposter, you’re just inexperienced. The longer you work as a developer the more experience you’ll obtain. soon writing JavaScript and logical problems solving will become second nature if you keep practicing.

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Chantae P.

I'll definitely keep practicing.

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Camco • Edited

I cannot tell you how much I dislike this constant talk of "imposter syndrome".

The idea that us as individuals need to constantly be judging ourselves as it relates to how we perceive others is a road to self deprecation and a life of uncertainty.

This is not good for personal growth. Like many things talking about "imposter syndrome" has become more of a "fad" or thing to do because others are, but if I'm being honest, it is nothing but determental.

Unless you are saying "hi my name is Mark Zuckerberg and I was involved in the creation of what is now know as Facebook(meta)"....

THEN YOU ARE NOT AN IMPOSTER.

You are you. We all are who we are unless we tell others we're someONE else.

When you were a baby and had to be spoon fed, were you a impostering a toddler?

When you were in grade school, were you impostering an adult working a full-time job in their career of choice?

Always remember that just because everyone is jumping on the bandwagon, doesn't mean the wagon isn't going off a cliff.

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Luiz Henrique

thank you, your text was very important to me because of this week. God bless you

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CuriousDev

Thanks for mentioning this, I also read "Imposter Syndrome" a lot and think this is some kind of trend.

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marelons1337

I feel you, I've just had a job interview and I already work as a dev for 7 months now, I failed it miserably both on theory and live coding assessment and questioned myself whether I really learned anything at all during these months of work and study for even longer than that. On the same day I just realized I need to go back to basics.
I rushed many things and didn't pay enough attention to those basics.
Failing and feeling down gives you a good perspective since you can stop and look back to realize that you already know something. It's not like all this practice is going nowhere, it just takes time.
I learned programming for like a year before applying for a job, so be patient.

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Chantae P.

Right. I have been coding on and off for about 2 years but started learning consistently since January. And I totally agree with you about rushing to learn the basics. That was my problem and also jumping form one programming language to the next without real understanding the fundamentals. But now I finally figured out a better way for me to learn JavaScript and I actually learn better by building projects.

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marelons1337

Wow, that's pretty much 100% my story, I've been learning like this for almost 2 years now, but I only consider what I've done in the last year a real learning, because I actually started building something. I had some ups and downs when I just stopped or change direction completely, it's good to know that there is someone who is on the same path, don't worry it will pay off!

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Ben Honeywill

The first step on the journey to becoming good at a skill is to be bad in that skill.

Keep at it and try to enjoy it, don't put pressure on yourself. It's much easier to be motivated when you are having a good time. If you are not having a good time then take a step back and come back to it when your head is clear.

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Giovane Pereira

It's completely normal what you are feeling, learning a programming language take time and is harder then HTML and CSS. If you study everyday without rushing it or comparing with other experienced devs you will be better and better. You have to be patient and take you time.

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Hannah

I can't tell you how many times, at the beginning, learning JavaScript, I thought "I will never understand this". Then one day you realise you are solving problems and you won't even be able to pinpoint when you got it.

Keep going, don't think too much. I also transitioned from Retail, so you can do it too!

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Chantae P.

Oh wow! Glad to know there's someone else transitioning careers from retail to tech.

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Sergio Gracia

Yeah... I know those feelings...

But, just keep going. Practice is the key. There will be a magic moment in wich this form validation will just appear almost automatically like magic. And it feels great.

And I can assure you that this happened all the time, and all of us in our first steps coding.

Just relax. You're in The right Path ;)

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Chantae P.

Thank you so much! I needed to hear this and also, I actually completed the project and figured how how to use form validation after all. But honestly CSS is my weakest point.

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Irfan

Whatever you are feeling, even the programmers who have been writing code for last 10 years also feel that sometimes.
My suggestion is to stop judging yourself and go walk on the path of learning. You will find everything you need.
Hope that helps :)

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hacker4world

Don't worry i i had impostor sindrome when i first started but i kept learning until now i am getting ready to get a job.

The point is don't give up on coding and surely you will overcome it

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Chantae P.

Oh no I won't give up even though its a tough journey. But I know once I start applying and get my first tech job, it will be sooooo worth it.

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M. Akbar Nugroho • Edited

This is a phase when you learning (almost anything). You learn, gain confident, see people better than you, you down, you realize to need practice more, you be huble and get a new job.

It's normal and everyone experienced the same. And pls, no more "impostor syndrom" before you talk to your psychology.

Have a great day.

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CuriousDev

Usually companies are not expecting you to be an expert, especially because they would know that you are still on your journey to learn more and get experience (think of titles/roles like Junior Developer and a Senior Developer, which lead to different expectations).
Do you enjoy in general what you are doing, when you are working with JS etc.? Do you think, this is what you want to keep doing? If yes, then do not worry, even with a huge load of experience it can feel like there is still so much you do not know or understand.

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Chantae P.

I actually do enjoy programming and building web pages. The learning part is fun for me as well. I guess the most frustrating part about JavaScript is that I'm not picking it up as quickly as I thought I would. I just need to keep practicing and be patient with myself.

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Jon Randy 🎖️

A lot of form validation can be done just using HTML - with no JavaScript whatsoever

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Chantae P. • Edited

That is true. But using JavaScript allows you to customize the messages and so forth.