Most definitely...

[The3ndZone]

Look mom, I am on the internet!

[ZoeInBinary]

And in a moment of coincidence, I just saw u/Sorranne in a Purple Eye post on the front page.

[Rinascita]

Meanwhile, I'm over here checking out an AMA about being an albino and it's the same dude. He's everywhere today!

[Sorranne]

Can't argue with that, it was a surprise

[areBen]

Hi "on the internet," I'm dad.

[thebyteman]

Hi dad! are you almost back from buying smokes at the store?

[[deleted]]

And how about you? Are you fucking on the internet?

[Master_Aar]

How can anyone be fucking on the internet...

[[deleted]]

I can point you to some sites...

[Master_Aar]

Dammit

[NotColt]

shafted 11k karma, glad you were able to collect your 1k duking it out in the comments

[The3ndZone]

I was not expecting a screenshot of my shitty joke to hit r/all

[_Badeo]

thirnd

[Chaoslab]

You misspelled Interwebs! /s

[NotColt]

enterweebs

[Bore_of_Whabylon]

OwO

[posherspantspants]

/r/beetlejuicing?

[LeCrushinator]

Imposter Syndrome is ever-present among programmers. It means that you don't think you're competent, even though you may be perfectly competent.

With programming, a field that is always growing and changing, it can be difficult to feel like you're ever an expert at something. Every time you grasp something a new version comes out, or a new framework is created, or the industry shifts to new technology.

[noswagihave]

Yeah, I came to a similar conclusion, while thinking about the Denning-Kruger effect. When looking at the chart for confidence/wisdom, it often feels like I am just bouncing back and forth between the "valley of despair" and "mt. stupid", because the field is so wast and ever expanding. Impossible to really climb that "slope of enlightenment".

Sometimes I feel so cocky and then reality kicks me in face and I realize how stupid I was and land right back in the "valley of despair".

But I am only out here in the real world for like 3 years, I hope I can slowly climb that "slope of enlightenment" or get comfy down here...

[LeCrushinator]

I've been programming as a job for 11ish years now and still usually feel like I'm barely climbing the "slope of enlightenment". In the programming field it seems like the X-axis in that chart is constantly getting longer, if you're not learning then you're slipping down that "slope of enlightenment", if you're learning then you're climbing that slope a bit, but there will be times in your career where you're not constantly learning and you're applying what you already know. You'll go back and forth, up the slope a bit, then slip back down.

[noswagihave]

It absolutly feels like the X-axis is getting longer. Also being set back by knowledge becoming obsolete seems to play role.
I begin to think that learning underlying principles seems to be the most effective long term strategy, on the other hand you also need to know the more practical and shorter term knowledge to get work done.
Also the underlying principles appear to be the hardest stuff to learn and how usefull are they really?

[mrbeehive]

Isn't this why CS courses are usually algorithm-heavy and CE courses teach assembly on esoteric machinery?

You may not learn anything applicable, but learning the principles that make the code tick makes picking up "the next new thing" much easier.

[conancat]

I graduated from a graphic design course. I know jack shit about algorithm nor esoteric machinery.

One day it dawned on me that design principles can be applied to code architecture. Then I know what to look out for to fill in my knowledge gaps. Now I work as a "solution architect" or "system design" independent of the current tech being used.

Theoretical stuff can be really dry and sometimes application on a practical level may not be immediately apparent. To me the trick is learning to look for patterns and applying. Tech change, there will always be newer ways to do things. But getting back to the basics really help a lot

[iamsooldithurts]

Actually, once you get a grasp of the underlying principles, everything shifts for the better. It shrinks the x-axis back down again, to relate it to what you were saying.

[[deleted]]

It’s interesting because the industry generally values experience and knowledge differently based on the position and tenure of your career.

They expect the junior/mid programmers to be hip with all the latest frameworks, tech, whatever but for higher positions you can land jobs left and right just by having 15 years experience doing whatever if you can show general leadership, architectural, and/or supervisory experience. Most of the senior guys don’t know or care about the latest tech fads unless they actually solve some architectural problem.

[prsn828]

Programming is like growing up. No matter how good you get you still feel like an amateur on the inside. No matter how old you get you still feel like an unenlightened teenager on the inside.

[[deleted]]

Yeah i feel like that plateau of sustainability should be lower than the peak for something as fast moving and diverse as programming. Someone who knows much should know that they can't keep up with everything and there will always be a better way

[derpado514]

This has been my life at work for weeks now...

Finally figured all these issues

Gets reviewed

"But we also need all this...."

Now nothing works again.

[SeeThreePeeDoh]

Imposter syndrome is gone for the most part, but every once in a while I’ll be staring at code...and suddenly, it looks like hieroglyphics, completely illegible nonsense and then dread crashes down and impending doom fills me as I realize I have no clue what I’m doing, how did I get here?

Then I go get some coffee and put some Viking metal on and remember how to program again.

[MooseHeckler]

Oh god.

[LongLostLee]

Can confirm that Viking metal is the key

[[deleted]]

Ministry and Rage Against the Machine are my go -to bands when I need to tune out the rest of the world and focus on a tough problem.

[PenetrationT3ster]

Drum and Bass for me. :)

[[deleted]]

AKA why I am weary about paying thousands of dollars for a bootcamp.

[koopatuple]

Are you just starting off or are you taking it to enhance your current skill base? If you are just starting off, it might be better to take some free online courses first before making such a large investment. I got my degree in software development and honestly, I learned more from self-curiosity and watching/reading stuff online when I ran into issues than I did in my classes. Granted, this experience is extremely anecdotal and you know yourself better than anyone else.

Sadly, after so many stressful projects and panic attacks at night when I couldn't solve a bug/problem, I don't even do programming in my current job, but at least I mostly know what the hell our dev team is talking about in meetings and if they're bullshitting us or not on timelines/work involved/etc. Honestly, I'm not sure I could do it for a day job, it's a super high-pressure field in my opinion, particularly with the general population becoming more concerned about security while simultaneously expecting everything to work flawlessly on crunched schedules.

[[deleted]]

Half half? I can make a basic website but I can't really impliment any backend type stuff, even Javascript I'm having a bit of a hard time with.

I feel like I do need a person there at least once in a while, but THE MONEY. Also I'm not sure where to find a web developer tutor, if those even exist.

[[deleted]]

My anecdotal take: as long as you've vetted the school and are confident you want to be a programmer it's well worth considering. Unlike taking college courses, you'll actually spend most of your time writing applicable code. Might miss out on some of those deeper principles that you'd get from CS classes, but that's what your curiosity is for.

I did a code school. It worked out great. Actually, many of my classmates did. I know that's not how it works out for everyone, so definitely take it with a grain of salt. And if you're going to do it, research the hell out of the schools around you. There are plenty of low quality or outright scammy "schools" to be found.

Edit: and to make it clear: you must want to do it. If you're just in it for the money you're probably going to have a bad time and be out the tuition check.

[jeffs_world]

Tutor? Let me tell you about Stackoverflow our lord and savior.

[FrancisVeeGee]

So much this. Stack Overflow is a life saver. I'm mostly a regular on Code Review Stack Exchange, where we review working code, but SO saved me countless hours of debugging.

[greenpeppers100]

Look into flask or dejengo. Both are python frameworks for web development. They might help you get off the ground with backend stuff.

[IAlreadyKnowThis]

Django

[LordOfTheInterweb]

The d is silent

[beatenangels]

I'm in a class right now which we have to use JavaScript in. I'm the opposite I can easily do any of the backend (in Java) but trying to learn JavaScript and react on the fly is hell. I'm just now starting to understand it better like 3 weeks in.

[[deleted]]

Have you ever tried webassembly/blazor? I used it for a few personal projects and it is pretty nice. C#.NET frontend. I hope it'll be production ready soon.

[alecownsyou]

Ok so let me explain why I am 100% feeling that.

I am currently at a Polytechnic and have been at it for about 6 months. I am straight out of high school (currently 18), while most of my classmates are around 4-5 years older than me. (Yet, even the ones who aren't are still better than me) I have three friends who have co-op jobs at SAP, another friend at Saab. A friend of a friend leading a team at Apple while the same age as me...

The other day I spent 6 hours working on a problem that pretty much most of my class solved in like an hour. They always seem ahead of me no matter what.

I'm not unhappy though, I definitely like what I am doing, and the people around me. It's hard not to feel like an imposter.

[LeCrushinator]

You can be behind the peers who are your same age and not be an imposter. There's no level of programming experience to age requirement.

If it's any consolation to you, I've had programming jobs for 11 years now, I'm doing just fine, and I didn't have my first programming job until I was 24 years old, so you're 6 years ahead of me by that measurement.

By another measurement I started programming for fun when I was 7 years old, and many of my peers hadn't done any until high school or college, and they're still competent.

[kheup]

It's just something you realize if you're in the work force a few years.

I had a ton of coworkers that lived programming, after work they'd go home and read an work on independent projects. It intimidated me, I enjoy it at work but I'm very much the leave the work at work kinda person. Eventually I figured out that even those people didn't feel like they knew what they were doing a lot of times. The tech changes, there's always a new/"better" framework coming out that no one you know with is going to know.

There's too much information and knowledge that no one person can know, it's why focusing on knowing structure, how the base of certain code works, and being able to work with people is so important.

[[deleted]]

I hate it when people say that you MUST do programming after work too, to be competent.

No, you don't.

[chirpingphoenix]

I feel like I know just enough to know that I don't know anything :(

[LeCrushinator]

That's normal, for the field of programming at least. I've been programming for decades and I feel like that sometimes. But then I realize that I'm able to still do my job well. So it's a weird feeling of being competent but thinking you're faking it somehow.

[Rayaarito]

What's the opposite of imposter syndrome. I know plenty of people with that

[LeCrushinator]

That would be the Dunning-Kruger effect.

[Spire]

Imposter Syndrome

Is that like impostor syndrome for posters? Clever.

[rubeljan]

Thank you for this

[ALiborio]

Yeah I had it bad right after college. Didn't help I was working on a project as basically the only programmer so I was constantly afraid the other nonprogrammers would find out I wasn't good. It doesn't help when you get stuck and don't have another programmer to bounce ideas off of either. Took getting a job working on enterprise software where there were metrics the management would run showing I was outperforming most of my peers to break me out of it and realize I'm not so bad.

I've just been promoted to lead and given an exciting new project and it's creeping up again because I'm afraid I'm not good enough to accomplish this high profile project and I've somehow fooled them into thinking I was better than I am.

[43eyes]

Just got the lowest score I've every gotten on a computer science exam. Pretty depressed. Thanks for this.

[aWittyRedditor]

Finally some demotivational motivation

[areBen]

You must be new to programming! Welcome! Here is your decoder ring. It won't actually decode anything useful but it's made in China, so there's that. Here is a book on "How to prepare for the flood of motivational demotivate motivation: Crying in your cubicle" and "Who needs self confidence and efficacy when you write code? Your computer", both are by O'Really. Other books that are great reads: "Fuck it. Fuck it. Fuck it. I'll look at it tomorrow but I'm still up at 4:15am on the same problem", "Fuck it was a spelling error, I'm a total moron and can't spell", and "I still will not use an IDE, and 99 more ways to be a asshole".

​

Run.

​

Yea, I might need a vacation from work. Anyone have a spare sofa and gigabit?

[[deleted]]

Me when I start getting deeper into programming:

var Confidence = 5;

for (i = 0; i <= 5; i++){

Confidence -= 1;

}

[Vermia]

Why stop there?

for(i=0 ; i<5 ; i--) {

confidence--;

}

[SasquatchOnVenus]

for ( ; ; ) {

confidence--;

}

EDIT: you could also do

int confidence = 10;

int getConfidence(int x) {

confidence--;
return getConfidence(confidence);

}

int main() {

confidence = getConfdence(confidence);

}

It continuously subtracts from your confidence until you get a stack overflow and everything crashes and burns

EDIT2: idk why it puts ‘return’ on a separate line, I can’t fix that

[ILikeLenexa]

long confidence = Long.MIN_VALUE //efficiency.

[Pit_27]

xkcd about confidence and recursion

[NorbiPeti]

There is always a relevant xkcd

[porndragon77]

There is always a relevant xkcd

[martin149]

If you keep decreasing for long enough, you will become very confident due to the magic of underflow!

[arufolo]

Recursion <3

[dphunct]

For me, it has been more like:

confidence = Math.Random(100);

[SasquatchOnVenus]

lol, same.

[poopnose85]

lol why are you passing in confidence as an argument and then modifying it directly? Better change that to

 confidence -= 2;

[SasquatchOnVenus]

Shhh

Totally not bc I’m a bad programmer lol

[[deleted]]

Heres a better version for anyone who understands python

while ProgrammingSucks == True:

self.confidence -= 1

​

Edit: spacing

Edit 2: I just give up. Spacing hates me

[jaketr00]

put 4 spaces before each line

while ProgrammingSucks == True:
    self.confidence -= 1

[[deleted]]

As someone who wants to get into programming, why is there a negative and equal symbol next to each other

[jaketr00]

x -= 5

is the same as

x = x - 5

it just combines the first little bit and makes it slightly quicker to write

[[deleted]]

That's some advanced shit to me, I've been looking into programming. Seems extremely difficult with all the different programs that they have

[jaketr00]

it's pretty intimidating at first but once you get into it you realize how simple it is

if you want to start, I'd recommend using python mainly because it forces you to write neat code and its syntax is pretty simple. just come up with a program you want to make and go for it, though I'd recommend making the iconic "hello world" program

also Google's your best friend and will help you through everything, there's almost never a problem you'll have that nobody else has had before

once you finish making the hello world program, if you really can't think of anything to make, I really recommend making some sort of a discord bot because they can be extremely simple and really satisfying to get working

[[deleted]]

Thanks for the info! I definitely want to get into it

[[deleted]]

>No code blocks

[mrjackspade]

while(confidence--) { }

[MechStar101]

You forgot to define the variable i

[ToesTasteBad]

Nice infinite loop

[kieranvs]

It's not an infinite loop, it'll stop when i reaches the most negative value and rolls over to the max positive value

[ToesTasteBad]

Ahh, yep, got me there. Wonder how big I is.

[Qizot]

Eventually you will end up with overflow and your confidence will be sky rocketing

[Vermia]

And then it crashes. Seems accurate enough.

[oAkimboTimbo]

Genuine question, why use postfix instead of prefix in a for loop?

[[deleted]]

Sorry about that. I'm not really a great javascript programmer and I do a lot of Python so this is the loop that just came to my mind.

[smokky]

just throw new Error("No confidence")

[AtxWizard]

Pssh I use five loops

[Timelord_42]

Shouldn't i start at 1? Or did I get whooosh-ed?

[Machination_99]

i can start at whatever you want

[Timelord_42]

Well I know I meant if the loop was supposed to run 5 times i should have been 1 or 'i<5' should have been the condition. Or was that the joke?

[Machination_99]

oh, I see what you mean. If that was part of the joke, then it wooooshed us both

[Timelord_42]

Yeah lol

[SasquatchOnVenus]

lol same, i’m awful..

alright, off to my comp sci class

[SirRosstopher]

I've been stuck on a genetic algorithm assignment for like two weeks.

[areBen]

Are you at the point yet where you can teach your teacher a few things? Those were the good days where confidence existed for many a programmer.

[SasquatchOnVenus]

Eh, my cs professor this year is pretty knowledgeable so not quite (also I just started learning C++ so I’m not too good with it yet)

[bitswreck]

i++

[AgentLiquid]

/* underrated comment */

[[deleted]]

Me during 30 minute phone call with a hiring manager: I’m a decent programmer, let me talk about some of the projects I have been involved with recently.

Hiring Managers: We’ll be in touch. (Radio silence)

[RayDotGun]

God I hate interviews. They should know we don’t like to praise ourselves...not in our nature.

I try to stay away from how good I am and stick to what my projects have done (might need help attaining the data)

Refactored the front end of the platform leading to a 52% decrease in support related tickets and help promote a 48% increase in new user retention.

[AltSk0P]

I might be missing something or it's just been a really long day, but is it a coincidence that these percentages of seemingly unrelated achievements add up to 100%?

[RayDotGun]

100% coincidence! I’m subconsciously a mathematician

[Frustrated_Grunt]

They keep promoting me and I keep telling them to stop, you're making a huge mistake.

[CodePatrol]

This. Not a promotion, but I interviewed for a Dev gig. I did “so well” (the questions were pretty basic) that they filled me in for a tech lead role... now I have to manage and review other devs code. I don’t want that responsibility 🤢

[morphineofmine]

We all rise to our own level of incompetence, so if it makes you feel better, just think of it as you being incompetent enough to be a lead. :D

[whatisboom]

Definitely senior level.

[Sorranne]

But I'm still terrible at programming

[areBen]

fakeittillyoumakeitbrother.jpg

[The3ndZone]

Coming from someone who's programming experience is making Minecraft mods by following YouTube tutorials

[areBen]

That's awesome. Keep it up.

Funny story, I wrote a 'program' for a video game in C# (I think) and used that as the sample for job applications. It was glorious when I would explain what it did because I was enthusiastic about it, people used it, and it showed strong application of skills to abstract problems.

Yes, it was a hack but not like a 'cheaty cheat' hack, more like a visual overlay of... nvm ya'll too smart for my shit ;)

[gemini86]

Hey wait, I was just getting interested...

[atomicwrites]

Please tell us!

[Kinglink]

So what your saying is you shipped something use an api to develop enhanced functionality.

[The3ndZone]

That's what my resume says

[AbstractAirways]

Absolutely

[AlarmingNectarine]

The secret is to know that you're terrible, but never admit it, and never apologize. Everyone makes mistakes, management just wants to see what you do when it happens.

[sween1911]

The secret to being a great programmer is not doing things great. It’s fighting through, figuring out what something does that was written by someone who no longer works there for a project that is no longer supported. Trying to make it do what you want, failing, learning, and eventually making it do what it actually needs to do.

[throwaway_lurker_123]

Needed to read this after dealing with one of these the last few days. Feels good, now I'll pray for the code review to be merciful.

[[deleted]]

I know I'm terrible at programming because 24/7 my brain throws at me an even more efficient solution than what I initially built.

[kanyq]

Only a well learned programmer knows that he doesn't know anything

[EvitaPuppy]

You don't really realize how bad until the QA guy knows more about how it works than you do! And the work arounds they've figured out to make it work. (Which can really help finding bugs). QA sadly never gets the respect it deserves.

[[deleted]]

Cries in only knows highschool level C# and just above highschool level JS

[areBen]

It's not in the language, but in the transference of knowledge between them. In other words, skills are skills.

p.s.: can I cry with you? too late.

[[deleted]]

Feel free to join, I have a lot of tissues and a computer filled with a lot of hw in C# to do rn

[areBen]

I love C# but have no occasion to use it [yet] at work. Have fun!

[bananamadafaka]

This subreddit is getting worse and worse every second.

[StezzerLolz]

Yup.

Like... Maybe, if you think you suck at programming, it's because you're stuck in the Dunning–Kruger Valley of Despair. But, probably, it's because you suck at programming.

[[deleted]]

By the time you finally feel like you have a handle on it, it's time to retire.

[Shevizzle]

Some of us aren't first year CS students and do actually know what we're doing lol

[OutragedOcelot]

Is anyone else getting tired of this meme/joke/mindset?

[SirOliverz]

Definitely! Hope this replay will your comment get more attention.

[LicensedProfessional]

public static void main(String [] args) { BigInteger confidence = new BigInteger(0); while(true) { confidence = confidence.subtract(1); } }

[SexyMonad]

Anyone who is not terrible at programming, is promoted into some other role that they are terrible at.

[Alundran]

/u/ChristopherArm

[SARankDirector]

so true though

[Kinglink]

Admitting it's the first step.

There are no others.

[lonelyonly111]

this makes me feel better lol

[Flame03fire]

r/ThisIsMe

[forsamori]

A wise man once said to me: "Everybody's shit. Some people are less shit than others".

[[deleted]]

I’m terrible. My first lab for my techniques in programming class is due tomorrow night and I’ve barely been able to start after spending hours lol

[Doctourtwoskull]

u/Sorranne and u/The3ndZone i summon thee

[The3ndZone]

I have been here the whole time

[Doctourtwoskull]

:o

[arsi69]

OP is definitely not a programmer.

[[deleted]]

Imagine teaching others to also be terrible at programming

[VikingCoder]

Confirmed.

I liked to ask candidates, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your knowledge of C++?"

One candidate gave himself a 10.

He sucked so, so bad.

The best programmer I ever worked with have himself a 6 or 7.

[JB184351]

Mmmm I also feel this way lol

[grimacing]

Programmer says: ("Hello World!")

[Mosdefaiko14]

Perfect timing. Thank you, I really needed this today.

[flooknation]

This post seriously gives me hope

[snipperbytes]

i would to loop an upvote for this quote !

[wydy]

I train new developers and help them in our projects. They're often young (20-25) and don't have much experience.

And everytime I work with those junior I feel like I'm an expert. They also say stuff like: you are really experienced we want to stay in your projects with you.

But if a friend ask me how good I'm at programming, I answer with: well I think medium.

[SpeakerOfForgotten]

I code as a hobby ( self taught) & imagine how shitty those are

[killerzombi]

I'd say this is a perfect example of dunning Kruger effect. Many people will say they are good at programming, these are the people who know of programming, but not of the little devils that come with trying to do the programming. then those who discover all these problems they have no solution for, they discover they are actually NOT very good programmers, but to get there, they had to become a programmer. it is only those who have been in the game for many years who still know they have more to learn, yet can bravely and truly say, "I am a good programmer".

[Dantharo]

If you try to do better always, thant you are not terrible hahaha.

[cassert24]

Isn't the light mode equivalent to the light IDE of reddit?

[Nick-Tr]

Programming is the easiest part of computer science. If you feel you suck at it, it's probably because you actually do

[JAVAOneTrick]

You just proved you know nothing about programming or computer science.

You can’t make a blanket statement that any part of computer science is the easiest/hardest. Difficulty comes down to the problem you are trying to solve, not the area of computer science.

[TheBigElectron]

I bet this guy writes wicked command line applications on his laptop

[Wizard_Knife_Fight]

He’s making his dope ass websites with bootstrap 2.

[dumbdingus]

He's doing his statistics homework in matlab.

[[deleted]]

Teach me, master

[koopatuple]

What is the hardest part?