a game of courage
I never felt ready to write this email. In fact, when this morning I sit at my desk and asked myself in despair: What the heck am I going to talk to you about? I waited for inspiration. It never…
Mar 7, 2023 · 3 MIN READ
I never felt ready to write this email.
In fact, when this morning I sit at my desk and asked myself in despair: What the heck am I going to talk to you about?
I waited for inspiration. It never came.
I opened some of the books on my desk. Got nothing out of them.
Then I did the thing that I was most afraid of... I started typing.
At first, it was some random mambo jumbo about how in an industry where everyone pretends to be smart… It pays off to stay stupid.
But I couldn’t flesh that idea clearly enough, so you are going to have to wait until my next email to find it out…
Moving on.
Today we will talk about fear.
That invisible state of mind which leads to anxiety, paralysis, and procrastination. And it is everywhere, it is inside you, and it is outside you.
Some years ago, I read this quote about how what we should fear is actually fear itself. Today I can tell you that is entirely true.
I see many developers getting laid off these days.
No big deal, right? Just go to the market, apply for jobs, and get another position.
Well, instead of doing that, most give in to panic.
They start thinking about bills to pay, about the last time they interviewed, and the experience was traumatic. They start thinking about everything they should know, but they don’t.
About all the negative feedback they got in the last code review. And about how this might be a sign they are not even cut for the job, even if they’ve got a few years of experience already.
You know what’s the problem with fear?
It takes you out of the present moment. It takes mental energy from the tasks you are supposed to execute and to get out of trouble in the first place.
A lot of military training is based on this acutally. Soldiers are the last people you want to give into fear when things go sideways. They focus on taking action instead.
So how can you escape that state of fear and get back on track?
Simple. Get lost in the present moment. Whatever it is that you have in front of you.
Get lost in writing that piece of code, that end-to-end test (which I hope you do write), or navigating that page of documentation.
Action will not only get you out of your head. With time it will also generate the results you want.
Being a developer today is not a game of intellect.
It is a game of courage.
Take care, Dragos
P.S. The devs we work with secure positions up to 3x times faster than the average (I am talking weeks instead of months), without any kind of pay cut and the tech stacks they love. Why? Because when you focus on the right things, and you are surrounded by a community with expert mentors to help you out, you outperform the developers that are just out there with only an Udemy account or leetcoding for days, hoping things will click. Interested? Let's talk! Apply here now! <https://www.theseniordev.com/apply>
