The inception: what triggered my need for career development as an engineer

I have been working as a Software Engineer for the past 4 years in which I have transitioned from a Junior to a Senior Engineer gaining 3 promotions. Initially, as a woman, it had been hard to establish my credibility mostly owing to my lack of self-confidence and imposter syndrome.

I remember 2 months into the job my manager had a 1:1 with me where he was concerned about my performance, he was concerned that I asked too many questions and was not progressing enough on my work. I was in shock, as I had been an overachiever most of my life. I finished my Computer Science degree with a 3.8 and had A’s in most of my CS classes.

This was my first job out of college and because I didn’t do a legit summer internship while in school I severely lacked confidence, knowledge, and wits to navigate the career world.

Taking my manager’s feedback I doubled down on my work, I worked hard, and learned concepts I didn’t know. Luckily, I came across “The Missing Semester” on YT which bridged the technical gap between doing college assignments and real-world development. Still, something was lacking as I was still being touted for asking for too much help, or not doing the work. I was in dismay because I was working hard but little did I realize two things were working against me…