just a normal dev
Throughout my life and career I have often thought about how the really good engineers do what they do. What makes them different. How do they so confidently go into work and arrive at answers so easily.
What I have come to notice — through both growth in myself as well as talking with many of the wizards that I have had the pleasure to work with — that it is often not a simple snap of the finger. Oftentimes these people don’t just arrive at the solutions they present without lots of work, experience, and many other factors. The number of times I hear things like “double check me because I very well could be wrong” or “I question every little thing that I do”. These kinds of comments from people that I respect immensely got me thinking about what it means to be normal and how I have battled with imposter syndrome quite a lot throughout my career.
I have always been somebody who is very careful with my planning, strategizing, and approaches to things. How will this affect things if I do this? How will others feel about this approach? And then after I get that thing done, I go home and worry about it far more than I feel that I should.
What I think is surprising is actually how many people feel this and deal with this kind of thing. Even those that have been doing it for many more years than I have.
This introspection and feeling led me to the name of this blog — Just a Normal Dev. Part of it a play on my name but the other part is a reference to that feeling of just being “normal”. I grew up in a tiny town on a small farm where the school mascot is the Lumberjax. With a lot of luck, privilege, and hard work, I have come quite a long way. I am happy with my progress and see many ways to continue. But it is interesting to think about because that kid cleaning up the cow corral would not have guessed this for himself.
So to close, cheers to everybody out there working hard. May luck aid your hard work to help you achieve all of the goals you have.