Matthew Lang

Jonathon Snook has been sharing a few thoughts on imposter syndrome and what he’s doing to overcome it.

It seems that every once in a while I go through this same phase of self-doubt, but it’s never been as bad as it was a couple of months ago. Giving up on freelancing and returning to a full-time job required a series of significant changes that added to this phase.

I was no longer working for myself. I would be working for an employer and therefore also working with and for other people. When you’re freelancing, there’s an element of being a lone wolf. It’s not entirely isolating, but you don’t need to worry so much about other people. You deliver what the client wants. Working for an employer is different. You have to align yourself with the companies goals and those that you are working with.

Working from home for some years means that I was fortunate enough to find my own routine that worked for me. From the comfort of my house, I could play the music I wanted, take breaks when I wanted, plan my day how I wanted. Working for an employer means being in the office at certain times, aligning your work day with others, making yourself available when others require your time.

Adding to these were some routine changes at home and facing the possibility of a frequent commute. The whole experience led me to question whether I could do the job I was applying for. Not only that, but I was examining the worth of some side-projects I was working on as well as a career change that I am considering for the future. It’s was similar to Jonathon’s stage where at the point of execution, you freeze up.

Every time I get to the point of execution on anything, I start to freeze up. I hit a wall every time I want to put myself out there.

— Uneasy by Jonathon Snook

After a few months in full-time work, however, I’m starting to find that I can do the job although given it’s a new role, there are a few weeks of finding your feet.

Not only that, but I’m also reading more, writing more, coding more outside of work. I’m doing these things as they help me build myself back up out of a period of self-doubt. I’m now at the point where I am finding myself enjoying side-projects and returning to a stage where I can see myself executing again.

One of my big downfalls, when I start work on something, is wondering if I am going in the right direction with it technically.

Web development is always changing. It is getting better though. Javascript frameworks are starting to settle down, and fall in line with the regular releases of non-Javascript frameworks like Ruby on Rails and Django.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been reading about Javascript frameworks like Vue and React and what they can offer for web applications. I’ll be honest and say that I’m still not sold on the idea of creating single-page applications with these frameworks, but I can see where they become a benefit for complex web pages.

Then there are things like CSS frameworks, deployment options, containers and a whole ream of other things to consider for the right stack for the application. It’s then that I find myself in a state of “decision limbo”.

Ideally, I would use Rails and a CSS framework and start from there, however, I’m always questioning what should be considered as an alternative.

While reading Nick Janetakis’ article on growing into microservices, I happened across this little nugget of wisdom.

You get better by writing a lot of code with absolute and total intent to replace almost everything you write with better code once you start experiencing real problems first hand.

Microservices Are Something You Grow Into, Not Begin With by Nick Janetakis

I needn’t worry about the implications of my technical decisions until I come across some real technical problems. When I do come across those problems, I should only look at the options available to me then.

In other words, just write damn code Matthew.

On a final note, Nick Janetakis’ article is an excellent guide to those starting new development projects and looking to use microservices. In a nutshell, don’t.

I’m with Kurt on this, amen brother.

In my diet plan you can have as much coffee as you like. Because in my diet, you drink coffee because it tastes so damned good.

— Blah, blah, blah by Kurt Harden