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MailingDelgadoMedina
MailingDelgadoMedina

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My Personal Opinion Of What Triggers Imposter Syndrome And What You Should Know When Starting To Code

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I think the impostor syndrome happens to every programmer on a daily basis. Much more to recent graduates, that think when they graduate they feel ready to start working ASAP and it is not that easy. We realize that when we begin to prepare small projects we see that most of what we learned is forgotten and when looking for references in the information obtained from classes we think that with a copy and paste it is solved. This is where we fall into the hell of tutorials thanks to the fact that universities do not teach us the 1000's way to code and that everything is a puzzle. You have to put together more than 6 different pieces of code to make it run! We spend thousands of dollars on degrees and in the end, we learn more in boot camps than in universities. The most interesting thing I have seen and heard that most of the boot camps out there promise people and guarantees a job and when you go to present a resume to a potential employer if you do not have a degree you do not get that job, but if you have the degree you are not 100% prepared to start to work. I personally have my baccalaureate and I have also attended boot camp and I can say that the boot camp has been a reinforcement and a continuous education. This is what needs to be told to people that are beginners and don't have an idea what a "Hello World" is. They only tell them "with this boot camp you are going to learn, you are going to program in days, weeks at least 6 months" when it is not true. When they go out to look for a job they bump to the reality that when the employer asks for a degree which they do not have or for how many years of experience they have, the person is forced to go to college to get a degree. Bootcamps are not bad they are good for a continuing education and maybe pivot you to the right path if you want to be a Full-Stack Dev.

They must be more transparent and be clear with people and tell them "This is continuing education, not a degree we cannot guarantee you a job in a company, but as a freelancer absolutely yes. I urge those who are starting and think that with a 1-month online course they will land in a Software Developer Job and are not be prepared for a job interview when the employer asks for a whiteboard test. First, you have to go to college, have a coding discipline, and at least code 20 hrs a week. You have to dedicate time and years to study and be passionate about the code. This is like going to the gym if you stop exercising you lose your stamina and you have to start from scratch. At least 5 out of 7 days you have to code and keep reading and soaking up more information since the technology evolutions daily you never stop learning. Believe me, you will feel that no matter how much you know you feel that you don't know anything at all. This happens a lot when your code doesn't run and you don't find the bug. Here is when the imposter syndrome comes to attack. You feel that you don't know anything and you fall into tutorial hell. To avoid this, it is best to step away from the code for at least 10 to 15 min do a different activity walk, something that is not related to code. Free yourself from the technology for that time and then go back to the code until you solve it. You can use the pomodoro technique by working 20 mins on the code take 5 - 10 min of break, go back 20 mins to code and repeat this for at least 3 times. When you take your 4th break will be longer for at least 20 min and when comming back to the code do 35 - 45 min straight. Find resources such as developer communities like Frontend Mentor, #PAPAfam, pages like StackOverflow, GitHub, read and know how to ask questions in google search and the most important know how to read and understand the errors in the console this will help you to know what is happening and why is not running.

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