The Silent Struggle: Anxiety in Software Development
16 points by Caio
16 points by Caio
No disrespect, but this is a weird essay.
Kind of a strange passive voice throughout. Whole lot of "your" and "our", no "my". Only a single "I". Comes off a bit, I don't know... generic, kinda self-helpy? And, look, I'm not neurotypical, I've had my fair share of battles. Anxiety has largely missed me but I've got other shit going on.
Ordinarily I would just let this go, but something really doesn't sit right with me about such an impersonal treatment of such a personal issue. There's a distinct lack of connection here.
anxiety isn’t just a fleeting feeling of nervousness before a big presentation; it’s a chronic barrier that actively holds us back.
Mm.
[...] isn’t just [...]; it’s a [...].
Mm.
Listen, Caio, I don't mean for this to come off as unkind, but I would like you to be honest. Did you write this essay? Yourself? Based on your own personal experiences?
I did. This is something I've struggled with for years now. Sorry if my article comes off as weird. English isn't my first language and I've been trying to write things out to the public as a form of coping mechanism.
My advice to fellow non-native speakers is to completely avoid "X isn't just bla it's Y." Completely. Variations are banned as well like "It's not X but Y".
I liked your article. In addition to seeking therapy, I recommend finding good in-person meetups. Those help your sanity a ton!
Thank you. I'll try avoiding those next time around.
And absolutely, I used to participate in a lot of groups in the hey days of meetup[dot]com, but those communities seem to have mostly disbanded since the pandemic days. :(
Many went "underground" because meetup[dot]com became too massive and we all know what that means.
Try niche ones like mine. If that's not your topic of interest, perhaps visit various coffee shops or community centers. They very often have pamphlets and bulletin boards announcing tech meetups!
Imposter syndrome is a bitch. I’ve struggled with that my entire career. (Over 23 years.) I’ve been through 9 redundancies and only lost my job once: all the way back in 2007, when everyone in the company was laid off—and I was one of the employee elected representatives. You’d think that would go some way to reduce the feeling, but imposter syndrome is not rational.
It's completely irrational. And the funny thing is that people who are actually impostors don't seem to suffer from that condition.