Jeffrey Kunkel talks about "Oh my GAD (General Anxiety Disorder)" in this episode of ColdFusion Alive podcast with host Michaela Light.
By our nature web developers are prone to anxiety. Web development takes a monumental dedication to continuing education, networking, and being an expert source for many of your coworkers. Learning to manage stress early can be one of the most indispensable skills for a long healthy career in web development. Be it FOMO, Impostor Syndrome, Analysis Paralysis, or just generally feeling overwhelmed, developers of all levels can benefit from learning to take a step back and allow themselves to relax and be productive.
I will focus on my perspective of being a web developer with anxiety in today's web development world. I'll talk about using "Fake it 'till you make it" philosophy to help combat the anxiety of keeping up with the ever evolving web. I also plan to delve into "Impostor Syndrome," and more specifically how to foster self confidence in your ability without cultivating an ego. By the end of my talk I'd like people to leave with the stress management skills and frame of mind to increase their productivity and overall job satisfaction.
This talk is ideal for developers feeling the weight of career and having stress and anxiety productivity issues.QB
Show notes
- Why this matters to all CF Developers
- 20% of general population
- 60% of CFers sometimes have Anxiety Disorder
- Introverts
- Stressful profession
- Anxiety
- Stress → bad for health and happiness
- Can follow you home
- Can lead to suicide
- Bad for productivity
- FOMO
- Impostor Syndrome
- Late to Git
- Fear of being accused of being a fake, not knowing the topic
- Just start learning it
- Ok to admit you don't know something and learn it
- Stackoverflow
- CF slack channel
- Google
- Ask
- Impossible to know everything about everything in full stack development
- Self confidence in your ability without cultivating an ego
- Remember what it was like to be new to this
- Analysis Paralysis
- Overwhelm
- Too many tasks to do
- Lack of priorities
- Planning up front save time in the end
- Lots of tabs → more anxiety and distractions
- Turn of speakers - so chat notification don't interrupt my train of thought
- Perfectionism
- Adding bells and whistles to code
- Ok to come back to less important issues later (add to todo list)
- Limited perfection to top priority issue
- Is anxiety all bad
- Advantage of double checking
- OCD = Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Interruptions → anxiety spikes
- Save where you where
- Todoist note
- Git Stash
- Self medication
- Alcohol
- Food
- Caffeine
- Can be bad for your health
- Negative feedback loop
- Conferences
- Stress management skills
- Take a break
- Deep, slow breathing
- Yoga
- Reach out to developer friends and CF Community
- Getting Things Done method
- Music while I work
- Turn off sound notifications on computer and phone
- Mindsets
- "Fake it 'till you make it" philosophy
- You never learn if you panic before you start
- CF Community
- Standing desk
- Exercise
- Sleep
- Naps
- Earlier to bed vs later getting up
- Less Caffeine
- Family time
- Female CFers more anxiety
- Talk about your anxiety
- Why are you proud to use CF?
- WWIT for you to make CF more alive this year?
- What are you looking forward to at Into The Box?
Mentioned in this episode
Bio
effrey Kunkel
Jeffrey Kunkel is an in house web developer for www.lightingnewyork.com. He has been developing for six years, and is excited to start contributing to the ColdFusion community at large.
Jeff has been living with anxiety, depression, and OCD for his entire career. He wants to take the lessons he's learned working around and with these conditions to better the workflow and productivity of his colleagues.
Links
https://twitter.com/@nerdtastic91686
