won't you come with me fall in love
i've been a soccer developer professionally for about four years now seems like forever
i'm just kidding and there are so many things i wish i knew when i first started
and then i continued to discover along my way even being almost half a decade in and i really want to
talk about them today to you especially for people who are self-taught and i know the definition of
self-talk can really vary person to person is self-taught someone who has completely had no
help from anyone is self-taught someone who has had a mentor but hasn't gone to a boot camp or
does it include going to a boot camp for me i did go to a coding bootcamp but i still consider
myself self-taught i didn't go the computer science row and get a computer science degree
okay i had to go and grab a coffee or in this case matcha uh to continue this conversation
but i really wanted to sit down and have a very candid conversation with you today about
being a self-taught programmer and what that really
some challenges i guess that that can really bring up and i think i get so many messages
every day from people saying i want to learn how to code i want to be a developer i want to
be a programmer which is amazing but there are so many things that are put in your way to stop
you from actually achieving that and i really want to break down some of those and i'm going to sit
down with you today later on in this video and talk about some as well but one of the main ones
being for me anyways even four years into this job is so many days i feel like i don't belong and i'm
not saying that because anyone else is making me feel that way it's just thoughts in my head where
i feel like oh maybe you aren't skilled enough or maybe you don't deserve to be in this room maybe
you don't have the knowledge or background that these people do and and almost everyone i work
with is not a soft doesn't come from a self-taught background which is fine it's totally amazing
a lot of companies there are tons and tons of people who come from a self-talk background it's
just different circumstances but it just sometimes makes me feel so alone in the process and i just
had this like realization the other day of there is absolutely no reason i should feel that way
and why i say that is because you know i'm doing the work i'm getting promoted i'm growing my
skills are there so why am i having these thoughts why am i having this massive imposter syndrome
and there are so many different and this is just another roadblock that we're not roadblocked but
different thing that is put in front of me that i need to overcome and i think one thing about
self-taught programmers is we have to overcome so so much which really makes you stronger
and more resilient and in the end i think makes you almost a better person because not better
than anyone else but just better for yourself because there are so many different challenges
you will need to face along the way so many times where you will feel self-doubt where
you will question your decision and you process and wonder if this was the right decision and
just know that that is normal and that is okay to feel that way you're not alone
and i think uh it'd be weird if you didn't feel that way coffee break
is done uh anyways let's go back home let's sit down and let's dive deeper into this
aside from those conversations around not feeling good enough or not feeling as though we are what's
the word that there's something that's missing or yeah just not feeling good enough there are a lot
of other things that pop into your mind especially when you are deciding uh what path to should i do
front-end should i do back-end do i specialize in blockchain do i specialize in a.i can i specialize
in these things and these are all thoughts that i really had to when i was first starting but not
just for starting thoughts that i still have did i choose the right path to go down what if this
this technology becomes obsolete is my job going to become obsolete these are all questions i have
quite frequently and i just want to break down for you how i navigate them when it comes to as far as
choosing front end or back end i'm going to share with you my story of how i chose which one
right now i do front end but i also am very proficient in back end it just depends what
project i'm working on and what it requires when i first started as a developer i thought backend was
the way to go and honestly the reason i thought that was because i thought it must pay more it
must be harder it's more of a cooler sexier job this is not the case at all front-end work can be
as difficult it can be as complex and it can pay just as much and i really wanted to highlight that
because i think a lot of people feel so back-end is superior to front-end and i really don't
believe that i just think it's different different people for different roles for me when i started
out i thought back and back and back in but i couldn't grasp a lot of the main backend concepts
right off the bat so i finally gave in and decided to go to front end because that was an area where
i was excelling in and i'm so glad i didn't let my stubbornness get in the way or my ego get in the
way of thinking i needed to do back end because once i started to do more front end and get get
those skills and get more comfortable with coding in general i was able to in my first job actually
transition into back-end development quite easily so whatever path you pick whether it be front-end
back-end or specializing in a specific kind of cloud or blockchain anything like that
you do not need to stay in that path forever and i really wanted to highlight that because
we put so much pressure on ourselves to have our whole career figured out from day one
another thing i really want to highlight and talk about here is the importance of mentorship and
networking and i can't stress this enough getting into tech getting into this industry and being in
this industry it can be overwhelming whether you are on year one or year 20 and having mentorship
or people to look up to is in my opinion essential in succeeding having someone that you can talk to
and pick their brain about their career path or what they would do or steps they have taken will
really really help you in navigating your career and getting to the next step doing anything in
life alone typically isn't that fun and the same comes with your career your job and whether you're
starting out or currently in the industry having others to support you along the way is essential
now there are so many ways to find a mentor and i think the first thing is just just go
out there and get one and i know that sounds kind of obvious and maybe a silly statement to make but
i get asked so much about how to find this perfect mentor where do i find one and at some point you
just need to take initiative and go get one go on linkedin go on mentorship websites reach out
i did for a while there i reached out on websites that you could hire tutors and i just hired a
tutor like you know if you're not in a place where you can afford a tutor that's fine there are so
many different free resources out there you just need to google that's all you need to do google or
go on linkedin and start reaching out to people yes it's uncomfortable and yes it sucks putting
yourself out there but you will see the benefits of it when you start doing it this whole path of
self-taught programmers it's not an easy one and when you get in the industry it gets
easier to a degree but you face new challenges different challenges and you will see over time
looking back just how far you've come and that you're able to conquer one challenge after another
and it gets more enjoyable to conquer these challenges but i really just wanted to be honest
and candid about these challenges you will face at really any stage in your career because it's not
all perfect it's not all glamorous and i know tech right now is an industry is really glamorized as
a money-making industry where you can make a lot of money quickly and grow quickly and
yeah that is all amazing aspects to it but there are also the negatives and the not so
glamorous sides to it that i really wanted to just be transparent about at the end of the day your
future is in your hands and i know it sounds kind of cheesy but it's so true uh you're just gonna
have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations with growing and continue to remind yourself that
you're there for a reason you deserve to be there just as much as anyone else does and
that's what really helped me i would say is just sometimes you just i know some people
don't agree with this statement but sometimes you really do need to fake it until you make
it because you're not actually faking it you just feel like you are so even carrying that slogan on
for a while it really helped me get through tough times and then looking back i realized i wasn't
faking it but in my mind i was just keep on pushing forward until you get to where you
need to be okay thank you all for watching this video i hope you found it valuable and
insightful i just wanted to share my perspective and my experience as a self-taught programmer
it's not always glamorous and even if you aren't a self-taught programmer it's not always glamorous
but having these tips or this insight i hope it will prepare you for your career journey and
some of the more tougher things you will face thanks for watching this video if
you found it valuable or helpful make sure to give it a like also hit that subscribe button
for more tech encoding related videos and i'm gonna go get some lunch now see you everyone
she can make