Recently, I got to thinking: I’ve actually been programming on and off for about 42 years! I started when I was 13 back in the early 80s, and I was lucky enough to live through that golden age of the 8-bit micro and the 16-bit home micros into PCs and all that other stuff.
This lengthy career got me wondering: If I could travel back in time 42 years and offer my younger self some crucial advice to set me up for my career in the software industry, what would I say? What would be the most important things? I wanted to share some of those thoughts with you today, in case you are a new programmer, a young programmer, or even someone just getting into the business or thinking of entering software development.
I’ve done my best to condense 42 years of programming into just three key points.
1. Remember: Software is Difficult
The first thing I’d stress is simple: Software is difficult. Programming is difficult; software development is a difficult thing to do, and it truly pays to remember that as you go through your career.
When you start off, it will feel very difficult; there will be so much to learn and a lot of different things to pick up. But here’s the thing: Even if you get good at it, and you feel very comfortable and familiar with what you are doing, the nature of the problems that we solve as programmers is inherently difficult.
If you ever find yourself feeling out of your depth, or you feel like maybe you’ve chosen the wrong career because everything seems a bit tricky, remember: It’s supposed to be. You are a software developer; things are supposed to be difficult. Understanding that fundamental truth will truly help you along your way.
2. Imposter Syndrome is Real and Natural
The difficulty of the trade leads me directly to the second thing I want to talk about: Imposter Syndrome.
If you’re not familiar with it, imposter syndrome is basically where you feel out of your depth in your job or you don’t feel worthy of your job. Because software is so difficult, it has a tendency to make you feel like you don’t really know what you are doing.
Honestly, even now, with 42 years of programming experience, there are plenty of times where I don’t know what I’m doing! Imposter syndrome is very real, and it is very natural because we are in a complicated trade.
The good news is that it’s all “up here,” in your head. As long as you still have your job and your boss hasn’t given you the sack, you’re not an imposter. Be aware of it, and when you have those moments of self-doubt, remember that it’s just all in the mind.
3. Always Ask Questions
I think the third piece of advice I’d give myself as a young coder would be to always ask questions. Don’t ever pretend you know everything.
In the fast-paced, high-stakes world of software development, it is very tempting to feel like you should know the answer to every single question and that you should understand something the moment someone explains it to you.
The truth is, it’s okay to not know something. Probably the worst thing you can do as a young software developer is to pretend you do know things when you don’t. If you genuinely don’t understand something, say so. Don’t be afraid that people will think any less of you for not knowing something.
It’s far better that you simply say, “Yeah sorry, I didn’t understand that, can you rephrase it?”. Or, as I like to say to people: “Look, explain it to me like I’m 6 years old“.
It is far better for the people around you and the people in your team to know that you don’t understand something rather than having you soldier on, try to bluff your way through it, and end up creating a huge sitcom for yourself. Always remember: it’s always okay not to know something.
——————————————————————————–
So there you go—those would be three pieces of advice I’d give my young self if I could travel back in time. I hope you found these thoughts useful, and until next time, thanks for reading!
