But I’m Scared
Explore how facing fear and embracing mistakes in public can accelerate your growth as a software engineer. Understand how to separate ego from your work, turn critics into teachers, and recover quickly from errors to enhance learning and career progress.
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Do your best and don’t worry about the rest
Try your best to be right, but don’t worry when you’re wrong. Keep shipping before it’s perfect. If you feel uncomfortable or like an impostor, good. That means you’re pushing yourself.
Don’t assume you know everything. Try your best anyway and let the Internet correct you when you are inevitably wrong. Wear your numbness on your sleeve. Nobody can blame you for not knowing everything.
Turn your critics into teacher
People think you suck? Good. You agree. Ask them to explain, in detail, why you suck. Do you want to feel good, or do you want to be good? If you keep your identity small and separate your pride from your work, you start turning your biggest critics into your biggest teachers. It’s up to you to prove them wrong. Of course, if they get abusive, block them.
Ego is enemy
You can learn so much on the Internet, for the low, low price of your ego. In fact, the concept of egoless programming extends as far back as 1971’s The Psychology of Computer Programming. The first of its Ten Commandments is to understand and accept that you will make mistakes. There are plenty of other timeless takes on this idea, from Ego is a Distraction to Ego is the Enemy.
Recover from your mistakes
Don’t try to never be wrong in public. This will only slow your learning pace and output. A much better strategy is getting really good at recovering from being wrong. This allows you to accelerate the learning process because you no longer fear the downside!