Mental Health Rant for New Software Engineers (+ A Few Tips)
I was making good progress on a project today until I hit a wall. I got an error that I couldn’t figure out and have never seen before, and it was too late in the work day to get help. Realizing that I’d have to wait until tomorrow to continue working on it made me feel guilty instantly because it meant I’d be inadvertently taking a night off. There I was, feeling down because I couldn’t figure out how to accurately communicate with a computer.
I had to check myself and sit down to journal, because feeling guilty for not working at night shows that I’ve been centering too much of my life around programming. It shows that it’s time for me to do a mental health reset and recalibrate my priorities.
Whenever I feel like my life is out of whack because of too much coding and not enough living, I take these steps to find my happiness again and remember why I pursued this career in the first place:
I have a list of Things That Make Me Happy in a note on my phone. I like to pick an activity at random. Enriching my life outside of programming allows me to see it for what it is, a career, not an identity. So when I “fail” at meeting my deadline, I don’t see myself as a failure overall. I’m still a successful, intelligent, whole human being despite the inevitable mistakes that I’ll make as a beginner in this field.
Feed my spirit with affirming and uplifting messages.
Some low-cost affirmation sources:
Audio:
Spotify playlist of positive affirmations: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0HA1e0BDlmv64zu7MsuvNi?si=28ddbc4b53614a14.
Youtube affirmations: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=affirmations+for+positive+thinking
I totally expected the process of switching from my previous career into software engineering to be intellectually challenging. I knew I’d be “drinking from the water hose” almost every day trying to absorb new concepts while maintaining a grasp on things I’d already been introduced to. I knew I’d be overwhelmed with tutorials, books, articles, and blogs. I don’t think I was as prepared for how this process can be emotionally destabilizing as well.
8 months into my programming journey, I’ve found myself sometimes neglecting a few of my friendships and important relationships. Those daily essential habits that help my brain and body function at optimal capacity -- clean diet, regular exercise, a full night’s rest -- can sometimes become an afterthought as I replace them with a new metric for success and happiness: how much progress I have made with my coding. This mindset has been so dangerous, especially because hours poured into projects and studying may not correlate into any tangible outcome. You can spend hours debugging and then have to call it a night without feeling any closer to the solution. In most cases, you are better off taking the time you need to pour energy into your life outside of the computer.
Sending you love. We can do this, and most importantly, we can be great software engineers while remaining whole. Take some time to reset soon! <3