Sophomore here. For a long time this has been bugging me. I'm very skeptical about what I'm learning and what I plan to learn. Just doubting myself and feeling like a loser. So today i wanna ask, what was the road you took to be where you are now? I wanna know details
Did u exceed ur expectations and do u think if u knew what u know now, u cud've done a lot better and taken a diff route?

I'm asking this cuz i wanna set a baseline of skills to attain by the time i graduate. Been researching and the amount of things u can learn is very intimidating to me

When I did did vocational webdevelopment I barely talked to the people around me (because of I have issues) and I always felt like I was far behind and that people made fun of my code.

That turned out not really to be the case even though it felt like it. And it still feels like everything I do is bad and I'm far behind (despite a lot of contrary evidence)

The reason I'm saying this is because you're not alone in those thoughts. They're stupid, irrational, and should just sit in a corner wearing a dunce hat.

There are certainly things I could have done better back then, the problem is that I didn't know since I was just starting out. I think the best thing I could have done was to start earlier, but I'd still be a bad beginner.

Don't panic.

Imposter syndrome needs to be kicked in the fruit composed of an inedible hard shell and a seed, which is generally edible

Try to define what you want, it will lead you to what you should do. If you want to develop your skills to work, try to understand what is required and work on it. If you want to learn for yourself, then just go with whatever you like.

You'll learn alot if you work on personnal projects that you love. Don't be too afraid about the technology, the framework, etc... In the end, the important thing is that you train your brain to learn and think.

Personnaly, I'm finishing an engineering school in embbeded electronics and computing and honestly, I've learned far more from my personnal projects... Don't neglect that !

I started putting myself out there for jobs that I didn't know how to do. I was knowledgeable enough to be convincing, but I wanted the experience. It was a huge driver to learn what I needed to learn to complete the job.

If you don't have small job opportunities to grab, pick an idea of something you want to do that exceeds your current knowledge. Then in your free time, learn what you need to do it, and then do it. It's how you stretch yourself.

Another important thing is to establish and maintain contact with other software engineers like you are doing now on devRant. Alone you might wander aimlessly, unsure what to do, but with all of us here you'll start to recognize directions that speak to you.

Similar to what @inaba said, I'd add to not feel bad for thinking those negative thoughts. For some reason they tend to be natural and we all experience them. Thoughts are like a river, let them come and go. If some are negative, don't fight them, acknowledge them as they go by. I find that directly fighting them makes you obsess and then it just spirals down, making it worse. They will be replaced by positive ones if you give it time.

I think codewars exercises are good way of assessing yourself and eventually becoming better than others. Try to do one kata there everyday and compare your solutions to "best solutions" section. If you rank up to even level 5 there you are still pretty great

I’m actually a junior and I have faced the same things. I literally spent a year trying things for a few days and then quitting. Made me feel like a failure.

I then realized that that was the best thing I could have done Exploring all different things in the tech and non tech area showed what I liked and didn’t.

I now know that I enjoy making music, game development, embedded systems, and graphic design.

None are related but that may be a good thing🤔

oh. Actually i feel kinda superior to my classmates (they're fkin incompetent). Maybe im having d imposter syndrome cuz i have no one to compare myself irl @inaba

Thanks ill remember that. Personal projects although only few, have taught me more Dan d tutorials and books I've read @MrEliptik

Yes that was mainly why i joined devrant. I remember stalking everyone's skills on d first day. Okay normally i get comfortable in a topic before jumping all in but ill try what u said too thanks. @duckWit

Thanks i haven't done competitive in some time, and yes i loved the part where u can compare answers @wateringdisease

Great to hear. Even i think like that. Recently I've been seeing articles saying "get expert at one thing, not mediocre in all things" and that really kinda hurt. Thoughts? @Loading

Thanks that is something u don't hear everyday. Do u think jumping in so many diff things(web dev, android dev and lil data science stuff as of now) wud prove beneficial? @S-Homles-MD

Also i think ur right. I do panic a lil when some days I'm not productive, like yesterday when i asked dis ques. It even took me 2 months to post this question here @inaba