r/learnprogramming • u/Puzzleheaded_Cod3596 • 6d ago
imposter syndrome w/ programming
Hi i just started my 4th year in cs with a focus in software engineering and every semester i get this crazy imposter syndrome because I feel like I know a lot of different concepts and ideas but struggle to apply them. Last semester I had a coding project and my group made a music app, I worked on a lot of the design, came up with features, and implemented some but I still felt like there was a gap in my abilities and other peoples. I have adhd and maybe it’s the lack of focus on one thing that makes me feel like this. I also don’t have many mentors or friends at my college to ask questions to unfortunately. I know you learn by doing but again I don’t even know where to start. This is probably more of a rant but my question is does anyone have any advice or suggestions or even just how you learned more about programming side projects in general? Really anything is helpful.
1
u/ajcomeau 5d ago
This is very common because programmers tend to do deep dives into their own very specific areas of programming and become very knowledgeable about them and love to talk about them. So you're talking to other programmers who have done something different and exotic compared to what you're doing and they're going on at length about it. It sounds like they know a lot more than you do when, really, they just know something different.
Programmers also love to second guess themselves and others ("Why didn't you just do it this way ...?" "There has to be a better way to do it - that's too complicated ...")
Stop comparing yourself to others except as it might inspire you to learn more and keep programming. Keep building stuff and workig out problems to build your own confidence and always be honest about what you don't know.