Feeling burnt out with a healthy dosage of imposter syndrome. I need some advice, suggestions to get over this

So I’ve been professionally coding less than two years but I was lucky enough to join a large company this year that has helped my wife and I buy our first home. The problem is I find myself often struggling and lately it’s starting to make me feel rather depressed and basically question my ability to be a developer. Now I know everyday isn’t going to be a walk in the park and I’m trying to improve my JS along side but I just can’t feel myself improving. Is there any suggestions you can give or general advice that would improve my mindset and JS skills?

Sorry for the slight rambling on about my woes because I am grateful for job and everything, it’s just I wish I could feel more confident about myself as a coder.

I think, were you to walk into a room PACKED with web developers, and ask for an honest show of hands as to who in the room feels like an impostor, it would look like a forest of hands. At the same time, if you were to ask about various topics related to javascript, we’d all know our stuff. Ask about APIs or back-end, yup. And on and on. We know the stuff, we just don’t have the confidence to STRUT our stuff.

If you have been doing this for some time, they clearly see some value in you that you might not see in yourself. If you feel your skills could use some polish, perhaps it may make sense to try an exercise:

  1. write a short list, the top five areas you feel, as a developer, you could improve. Maybe canvas interactions via JS. Maybe D3. Maybe design patterns. I don’t know. Your top five.
  2. look around at projects on github, or start a project, specifically to push your knowledge of number one on that list. If it’s the fact that you use your mad coder skillz solely for the betterment of your employer, get involved with an open-source project. First, it’ll make you feel better, and many employers look very favorably on employees assisting in open-source development.
  3. get involved here, or on stackOverflow, or on one of the related meeting-places (the unofficial FCC discord, the slack groups, wherever). Actively assist others with questions, or code reviews. Helping another succeed can help you to realize how far you’ve come.

Now, all that said, your job should be your secondary concern. You indicate that this job has helped you and your wife into a home. Congratulations, and very well done! When you start feeling burned out, stop coding. Step away from the keyboard. Go out in the yard with your wife, and plant a flower or three. If this house and this lady is why you code, then get out and enjoy those things. They may recharge you, and help you refresh your motivation.

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Thanks a lot for the reply it definitely means a lot and its definitely something I needed to hear. I’ve been told many times I’m far too hard on myself so I’m trying to take a step back and enjoy life more. I guess for me I really hate it when I’m horrendously stuck on a problem and then thats when the panic/second guessing starts creeping in.
I’ll follow your advice and try to do the odd project here and there to help strengthen my weak areas but most importantly not to stress over the job itself.
Plus thanks for the congrats!