I don't have any actionable advice, but I do recommend you get it sorted out if at all possible. I'm a former programmer who now works as a janitor, and I have no plans on ever returning to tech.
Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
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Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#42You are battling. Good! You are alive! Even better- you have and are conscious of your strategy for the fight. You are already 90% of the way to superhero.
As pointed out elsewhere, this is a long game. You may not be happy with your current scoring capacity, but you have plenty of time to improve your techniques, alter your strategies. Perhaps "avoid solving hard coding problems" is not the best approach (though it may be, every one is different and perhaps your confidence builds by successfully tackling a large number of easier problems). Your self consciousness can morph into self awareness.
Does making syntax errors help you? If not, try a different approach. Look, making errors MIGHT help you. You learn exactly where you need to sharpen and improve your thinking. Valuable feedback.
One more thing: mind and body are one. Get to a gym 3x week, and do squats. Two sets, 20 reps per set. First day do it with an empty bar. Each time you are in the gym, up the weight by 4 lbs. Six months from now your mental toughness will be through the roof. People will look at you differently.
Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#43My advice is to code more. You will get more accustomed to the thought process that goes into writing code, more accustomed to your editor, and more comfortable with coding overall. One thing that I did that helped me code more was challenge myself to code every day. Using GitHub helps because you can check your streak. My friend and I did this for about 2 months and we felt very productive. This is his blog post abo…
I agree with this. Write more code and your confidence will improve. Syntax is usually solved by the compiler and IDE anyway. Anything particularly complex should be designed before you get to writing the code anyway.
Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#44I agree with other posters who say that everyone makes syntax errors, and that relying on documentation is fine (consulting documentation, and not just banging out something that seems to work, is a mark of a good developer)
With that said:
Coding fluency is something that can be improved with practice. Google Code Jam has all the previous rounds available, and there are other similar sites. Do a round once a week, and hold yourself to the time limit. It will be unpleasant, and you might not think you do well, but no one will be watching. That context trains you to write correct code quickly, and you will improve with practice. You'll find that the coding fluency you gain helps your programming more generally.
Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#45It's called Imposter Syndrome, and you are certainly not the only one.
My advice?
Read this: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ImAPhonyAreYou.aspx
Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIJdFxYlEKE
Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#46Lots of great advice already.
There will always be people smarter and better than you. All you can do is do your best.
It's hard to be a programmer in a world where 99% of every article about programming is some sort of epic tale of mindblowing success. What those stories don't tell you is the road it took to get there. Most success stories are results of the team banging their heads against the wall for months or years until they found what works.
The life of a programmer is a neverending series of fixing your own, or if you're unlucky other people's, mistakes. There is no such thing as a perfect computer program. Occasionally you get to see the results of your work have positive impact on something or someone. Savor those moments, they don't come often for most of us.
Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#47heh, relying on documentation means literally nothing for programming. I have multiple tabs of documentation open and the IDE is the only thing that keeps me from checking in broken code on a regular basis(still happens though). But... to my manager and my co-workers, I'm a god of programming cause I do shit that they didn't even think was possible.
Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#48heh, relying on documentation means literally nothing for programming. I have multiple tabs of documentation open and the IDE is the only thing that keeps me from checking in broken code on a regular basis(still happens though). But... to my manager and my co-workers, I'm a god of programming cause I do shit that they didn't even think was possible.
There's a joke that the job of Dev Support is looking up documentation for people too distracted, too stressed, or too stupid to look it up themselves.
Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#49When comparing yourself to the rest of the world, always remember that you only know how "great" other people are because they told everyone that they are. Then remember this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Re: Ask HN: Self-doubt, inferiority complex is killing me. How do I fix that?
#50heh, relying on documentation means literally nothing for programming. I have multiple tabs of documentation open and the IDE is the only thing that keeps me from checking in broken code on a regular basis(still happens though). But... to my manager and my co-workers, I'm a god of programming cause I do shit that they didn't even think was possible.
There's a joke that the job of Dev Support is looking up documentation for people too distracted, too stressed, or too stupid to look it up themselves.
Man, I would love to just have someone with perfect recall sitting next to me full time. "What's the arguments to this function?" "Where's the class that handles blah?". Intellisense and go to definition and such only help so much, and only in certain languages.