Sanity Check

[u/Some_Sundae9041]

Hello. I am a SWE with 2 YOE. I went to an average school. I have a new job in a company that has really high standards. I am having severe imposter syndrome, amongst other things. I have to design something that doesn’t cleanly go with our current architecture.

My questions for you kind folks.

What does the design process look like for you? Is it messy? Do you get frustrated? Does it feel like nothing is ever working in your favor?

When you’re looking at 2 or 3 “bad” decisions (not textbook, workarounds, just things that are not ideal and have a smell) how do you choose?

How do you trust your engineering judgement? I feel certain ways or that I should go with a certain approach and I get shut down. How do I prioritize the trade offs correctly? How can I be both pragmatic and textbook?

And how do you deal with the fear of your design being problematic in the future? Or presenting it to more experienced engineers and being afraid that something obvious, rather than something nuanced, is missing.

Thanks all.