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Here's the dirty secret: You'll always feel that way. I'm in this for 30+ years now. (Yikes!). My resume is somewhat nice. I've got a deep store of knowledge a
by groby_b 9y ago
Here's the dirty secret: You'll always feel that way.
I'm in this for 30+ years now. (Yikes!). My resume is somewhat nice. I've got a deep store of knowledge and experiences. A large group of people considers me somebody you ask for advice.
And yet, every day, I still learn something new.
Sometimes because it's a new paper cycling about. Sometimes an HN article. Sometimes because some other senior person shares from their wealth of experience. And quite often because a junior does something in an unexpected way - knowledge comes from every corner.
I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. I'll probably feel that way for the rest of my life. All my colleagues do.
So, don't worry. There's always somebody who's better than you, and that's great, because you can learn from them.
- alexashka 9y agoImagine you are going for surgery and the doctor tells you 'yeah, I have no idea what I'm doing, really'. You'd be very interested in knowing whether it's 'I just graduated from med school, I'm barely competent', or 'I've been doing this 30 years, the more you know, the more you realize how much you don't know'. Those are not the same. Insecurity is there for a reason - to let you know you should tread carefully and learn more. The feeling of insecurity will go away when you're competent. The feeling of wonder and curiosity hopefully remains until you die - the author's problem is not the feeling of wonder that the parent is referring to :)
- dek0de 9y agoI know you used surgery/medicine as a parable, but I would argue that competency is probably a little easier to objectively gauge in those fields than in Computer Science, for instance.
- i336_ 9y agoObjectively, yes, but in practice, doctors sometimes work 12 to 30 hour shifts, all while the medical establishment actively tries to educate that tired driving is worse than drink driving...
- h1d 9y agoThis attitude, is what makes you the next person to let a young one feel overwhelmed. Be humble and keep trying and life will feel easier in the end.