Imposter syndrome is extremely common among developers. Everyone is afraid of not coding “properly”.
Here’s a secret: no one truly knows what they’re doing.
I’ve been coding and building applications for over 10 years, and so I love to put myself out there and debunk a lot of myths around what experienced developers truly do.
One of those things that I still do is use console.log (aka print debugging) to debug my code. I’m familiar with more advanced methods such as breakpoints, but I always tend to fallback to just sticking console.log statements throughout my code.
Since this week’s #DevDiscuss topic was debugging, I decided to share this. As with most unpopular opinions though, it was quite popular:
A big thing that surprised me is the number of positive responses. Of course the topic of breakpoints came up, but most did not have an issue with console.log being used to debug, especially with them using it quite often themselves.
Even notable developers in the industry like Ryan Florence pitched in, but in a more joking way 😂
If you’re still suffering from imposter syndrome though, just read through this entire thread of programmers sharing their debugging stories. Tons of industry professionals that could not figure out what ended up being simple solutions.
So no matter what level of expertise you’re at right now, make sure that you stay humble.
🗂 Tab Dump
- Paul Armstrong Interview by Jared Palmer at @ReactEurope 2019
- Peacock for Visual Studio Code
- Customize Media Notifications and Handle Playlists
- CodeCareer.io Blog
📅 Updates
- New podcast episode: 71: Annoyance as a marketing strategy
- New blog article: Demystifying “const” variables in JavaScript
- I am publishing more content on Instagram
- Still planning on streaming on Twitch more
See you next Sunday, same inbox? 👋