#29 Actionable ways for tech professionals to regain confidence in their writing
Let's borrow from how professional writers deal with imposter syndrome to inspire techies with their writing.
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash
In the last 4 weeks, I've been dedicating half of my work hours to running semi-structured interviews with tech professionals (mostly in UX, but some are in product and engineering). One thing that keeps coming up is building or rebuilding confidence.
Here's an incomplete list of folks who have an opportunity to build their confidence:
Junior tech professionals who are not getting many opportunities
Seniors who took a career break (e.g., for childcare, health problems, or burnout)
Individuals who have just transitioned to a new field where they don't yet have a proven track record
There's a detail that I keep hearing from the people I talk to: The lack of confidence in their abilities shows itself in their writing. I hear examples such as:
They take a long time to write a simple email and procrastinate.
They keep rethinking what they should write. They delete, type again, and delete. They excessively self-edit.
A deep anxiety accompanies them as they hit the send button. They self-critique.
Granted, there's so much that can be said and done regarding building confidence in career-related things. But it seems like a lack of confidence at work shows itself in our writing. And seeing ourselves struggle through writing at work can further amplify our self-perception that we're not good at what we do.
With this in mind, I'm borrowing from how professional writers deal with imposter syndrome to inspire tech professionals with their writing.
Celebrate small writing victories
If you review your progress (and you should!), you'll realize that you've come a long way. Whatever your seniority level, the places where you've worked, and your technical abilities, it's likely that you know more today than you did 5 years ago.
To feel good about yourself when you write, you need to have a healthy "self-talk." This doesn't mean that you won't beat yourself up at all or internalize some of the negative feedback you get. Rather, it means you can "talk back" at your self-critique by bringing in real examples to form balanced opinions.
In that sense, small victories in writing count. They keep us grounded. They show us that not everything is going badly and that we have a shot at success, however, we understand it.
Give yourself permission not to always write perfectly
Does everything we write have to be the best?
Or can we sometimes, for things that are not top priority, be okay with just "good enough"?
What are we sacrificing when we ask ourselves to draft perfect emails, messages, reports, and more? How else can that mental energy be used otherwise?
Keep going
Self-doubt is real and applies to many of us. And if we let it stop us from writing, it can get harder and harder to get back to writing. So even when our imposter syndrome hits hardest, we can push ourselves to write not despite but because of it.
That’s it for now. I hope this post inspires you to celebrate small writing victories, avoid seeking perfection, and keep on going.
What are your thoughts? Ping me, I would love to hear your perspective.
👋🏽 I’m Mel…
I use UX Research methods to provide actionable career insights to tech professionals. Whether you're looking to switch careers, advance in your current role, or gain a deeper understanding of your strengths and improvement areas, I'm here to help.
🙇🏻♀️ DM me to book your free discovery call for career coaching
✍🏽 Check out my writing on Medium and Substack for practical advice and inspiration
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