karlta05

I really agree with your point on certifications. We are similar to welders in my mind as well.

In my country, our software industry holds certifications higher that degrees. Certifications require to be updated and redone every so often. Even though a degree will teach you fundamentals, I do believe you will learn those in the job and with the certification but a certification really is that.... its to certify that you are adequate in a certain technology.

All of my job interviews have required me to show them my abilities with whatever tech they require.

Another point I would like to make is that I work with people with degrees and I have certifications. Their degrees are more than 10 - 20 years for some. How much has technology changed in that time? I have to keep redoing my certification every 2 years (microsoft for example). And to me 2 years is a long time in the software industry.

awesome post. Thank you.

Totally agree with you on this.

I feel that the problem is comparing yourself to others the "to be the best you must beat them" attitude.

I tend to feel that you should compete with who you were yesterday and get assistance from others i.e. learning from them.

I'm not normally one to comment here but this is just an awesome topic.

I have about 8 years experience in the industry. In the beginner of my career I did feel a bit of the impostor syndrome. Quite frankly, it was because I had this ideal of what a programmer ( or whatever buzz word title) should be. As I got on with my career I slowly realized no-body gives a shit. Its just HR that give those titles.

I also found that I accepted the fact that I will just not know everything. I will never tick all the boxes of what a job may require...

So moving forward to now. I don't care at all for titles. I just want to code and I want to TRY write some good code. I compare myself to nobody else and just talk and learn from everybody. I have learned equally from a juniors as I have from a senior developers.

I continue to chug along with the mindset that I am a crappy developer. Therefore always interested in learning and always open to whatever somebody else has to add. I will never be the smartest programmer or the best programmer. That's ok because I will learn more from the programmers that are.

I'm just enjoying the ride.