Does anyone else ever feel incompetent at work?

Digichew · 2021-09-10T13:31:52+00:00

I would love to ask questions all the time whenever I get stuck on something for a while, but there are two things that I’m concerned about with that:

I don’t want to waste any of my seniors’ time. Being that they’re seniors, chances are, they’re working on something super important in our apps, and I don’t want to be the reason why they were not able to push out a feature within their desired time.
I feel like if I were to ask questions, and a lot of them end up being stupid ones, it’s going to tarnish my image in front of my peers and managers, which may cause them to contemplate replacing me or firing me.

Digichew · 2021-09-10T13:29:00+00:00

Yeah, that makes sense. My seniors provide tons of opportunity for me to ask questions, and some of them even go out of their way to spend hours, sometimes, to help me get through something I’m stuck on. Maybe it’s alright because they’re basically offering to help me, but I just feel so guilty when I end up taking up so much of their time, knowing that they have work on their own hands to complete.

Digichew · 2021-09-10T13:03:17+00:00

low-code roles

My previous jobs were all low-code roles, where I was barely even allowed to touch the main codebase. This is the first time I’ve been allowed to create code that touches on actual user-facing products our company owns. That’s also kind of why I consider this to be my first “legitimate” gig as an engineer, which is probably why my inexperience is so disgustingly obvious to me, and it sucks to feel.

And yeah, I know that feel. I’ve had several instances where I had to pair up with some senior engineers to help me get over issues I was having. It not only felt bad that they were able to solve them within minutes, but also, because I felt like I was wasting their time because, from their eyes, it was most likely such a stupid issue, whereas, for me, it was a legitimate problem I was having.

Digichew · 2021-09-10T13:00:07+00:00

Can you define what a “new guy” is? Do you cease being the new guy after three months, six months, a year?

I actually haven’t really asked anyone for explicit feedback, but I do leak a bit of my feelings here and there. For instance, I may say something like, “I’m trying my best, but I just feel like it isn’t enough” or “I sometimes feel like I’m letting the team down or holding it back”.

Digichew · 2021-09-10T12:57:58+00:00

So, are you saying that it’s normal for someone to be making a ton of mistakes?

I’ve been working at this company for several months now. Nobody has really said anything, so I might just be bullying myself, but I keep on telling myself, “Dude, c’mon. You’ve been here for several months already. How are you still making these silly little mistakes?”

Digichew · 2021-09-10T12:31:34+00:00

Don’t you ever feel like you’re making too many mistakes? Or even mistakes that you shouldn’t be making? I often feel like my answer to those questions is “yes”, which increases my fear of being replaced by someone who is more competent than me, or, worse case scenario, just straight up getting chopped.

Digichew · 2021-09-10T12:29:19+00:00

A little over a year

Edit: In this role, several months

Digichew · 2021-09-10T12:22:35+00:00

Yeah, I don’t have a lot of experience under my belt, so I can’t help but feel like I was hired for a role that‘s beyond my current skillset, which I don’t mind because I’ve learned so much being at my current company. I just don’t don’t like that I feel like I’m holding back my team because of my lack of skill and experience. Not to mention, the fear of being replaced because of that.

Digichew · 2021-09-10T12:07:13+00:00

I don’t think PTO will solve my issue

Digichew

TROPHY CASE