The Insecure Developer

The post says the author feels insecure in many areas of life and especially as a developer, with imposter syndrome affecting him since he started as an iOS developer. He connects that insecurity to internship rejections, stressful coding challenges, and the way those experiences made him doubt his skills.

He argues that whiteboard-style quizzes and puzzle questions can make candidates anxious and sad, and says recruiters should explain rejections more clearly. To deal with insecurity, he recommends talking to friends and coworkers, keeping at work that he loves, and continuing to try until reaching a goal. He also says fixing a difficult bug helped him feel more confident and that insecurity can be useful when paired with effort.

Reading notes

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• The author says he is insecure in many parts of life, including as a developer, and that imposter syndrome has affected him since he started as an iOS developer.
• He describes many internship rejections and failed coding challenges as moments that made him feel sad, stupid, and unsure of himself.
• He criticizes coding challenges, whiteboard quizzes, and puzzle questions as a process that can leave developers anxious and discouraged.
• He says recruiters should give clearer explanations for rejection, such as what “not diverse enough” means.
• He recommends talking with friends and coworkers because they can help calm insecurity and reframe the problem.
• He says advice from Cat Noone and Viktor Wu helped him see that doing poorly on these challenges does not mean he is not good enough.
• He says persistence matters: after repeated rejections, he kept applying, kept working, and felt more confident after fixing a bug in an iOS app.
• He presents insecurity as something that can coexist with hard work and skill improvement, rather than as pure weakness.