1/ Random thread on coding and confidence

My code is affected by my confidence, the more confident I am, the more careful I am, because I believe I’m moving in the right direction.

2/ If I feel lost and scared I start being less methodical and more “throwing things at the wall to see what sticks”.

3/ Because of this, I am very aware of my confidence level. If I see it slipping I need to take steps to fix it.

4/ This usually means taking a step back to figure out where I’m unsure and then to figure out how to become more confident in that area.

Are there things I can check, test, review, research, practice?

5/ I see this in the code too.
“Not confident” code is inconsistent, messy, verbose, chatty.
“Confident” code is neat, clear, simple.

6/ Programming is luckily an iterative process and confidence levels change, so once you’ve become more confident you can rewrite and clarify.

7/ The most important part for me is to recognize when I’m flailing and stop. Take a break. And then think.

Usually I’m intimidated by something, but instead of looking into it, I’m skirting the edges of it and working myself into a nervous fit.

8/ This is when my brain says rubbish like “It’s too hard! I’m not smart enough! This is a terrible idea!”
My brain is a bit of an ass sometimes.

9/ That’s when going over the idea, the alternatives, the tricky bits, maybe rubber ducking it with someone, can really help to find my footing again.