It happens when you've got an established group of people all eyeing their next position in the hierarchy and then suddenly a person with experience and accolades walks in. The whole succession plan is cast into doubt. I've seen people visibly seethe when the new manager was hired from outside instead of promoted from within. It's a super villain origin story.
The programmer is right. It's not on you, it's on him. Imposter syndrome is extremely prevalent in every creative field and programming especially. It's a personal battle most people have to go through on their own. A common false solution a lot of people have for it is padding their resume, but I call it false precisely because there's always going to be someone "better" that'll tear that false confidence away by their mere existence. You have to come to terms with and accept your own abilities yourself. You're exactly right. Self-worth starts with yourself. No one else can give it to you. I call what you're dealing with Canadian Syndrome. A partner of mine I work with has a bad case of it too. XD When he gets in that super selfless pocket I tell him he's being too Canadian and to stop it.
Huh, it's weird, because my exposure with other programmers is the opposite - they were all egoists, and butting heads was our way of working through things. It was a lot of fun, and in a way, a kind of competition to see who was right, which method was best, etc.
@SyndicateOperative Sounds like your "exposure" was predominantly in school, which is where you'll see that attitude mostly. A lot of people lose that once faced with actual seniority and experienced contemporaries.
The best bit of advice I've been given is to not compare yourself to others but rather to compare yourself to who you were yesterday, and work to being better tomorrow than you are today. As long as you're making progress and doing better, you know you're going down the right path!
Understanding "X is something they need to overcome themselves" is an invaluable trait in good leaders. There was once a very senior engineer that responded to their manager's request to onboard more people onto "their" feature with "this is MY code. I can do what I want with MY code" & then gave the manager a low score on upwards feedback for "does not appreciate the value of my work". Other leaders were concerned that the manager could have handled the situation better with how badly the engineer blew up, but just like the insecurity you talked about, reactions are subjective and up to the person reacting. You can make sure they were given a fair shake, but just because someone reacts poorly doesn't mean the other person did anything wrong. When organizations try to mediate towards reactions (e.g. not put you on a project that needs you because it will make the other engineer insecure or let the diva engineer have his way with "his" code vs constructively working together with the team), work culture is disproportionately dominated by a few people with the most extreme (and irrational) reactions.
I mean. It is extremely disrespectful, though? Managers love the idea that more employees = better, and it's often wrong. If your code was working, and you're told that they're getting more people in, there's no reason you wouldn't believe they're implying that what you've made just isn't sufficient. Code isn't hamburgers - adding in more cooks does not speed up the output.
@@SyndicateOperative If this was an isolated feature that isn't getting much work put into it outside of its ship&dump cycle and suddenly someone is added last minute for no reason, sure. In this case, it was long-lived, involved architecture that most teams in the company requested support for & so it was necessary to have more domain experts both to have more people available for support and so that there isn't a bus factor of 1 that brings the org to a screeching halt when they leave the company (avg tenure is only 3ish years). You don't want mission critical infrastructure which the entire company depends on to be bottlenecked on one engineer (and in the words of his manager: "you would like to go on vacation at some point, right?").
I used to have the same feeling of insecurity in the presence of people better than me, to the point of shutting those people out of my life. Over time I realised it's far better to do the complete opposite; bring those people into my life more, because I can learn from them.
I just don't think any good comes from thinking along the lines of who's objectively better/smarter/more talented/etc than anyone else. Bc for anyone to win someone else has to lose and why should anyone have to lose? As long people are doing everything they can to be the best person they can be they're alright in my book. 😄
@@TheBlackRose3 Losing is part of the path to winning. No one starts at the finish line - it takes, time, effort, and capitalizing on talent. To deny loss is to deny the eventual success that comes later. But, yes, I completely agree with the OP. I like to imagine myself as a sponge when I'm around skilled people - there's so much to gain from them. Even if you're better than them, if they're skilled enough, they'll know more than you about other specific things, and sometimes entire general things. It's always worth it to be open minded regarding technical skills. ...You still have to be wary of gossip-spreaders and bluffers, though!
This. There are jobs where folks constantly receive validation - think sales, for example. Sales has a big quarter, and the entire company is pulled into an all-hands meeting where management pats them on the back and expects everyone to congratulate them. They often get commissions or bonuses in addition to that. All of which serves as validation. When IT or programming has a good quarter...well, keep plugging away. Been working in those fields for 30 years, and I've never seen a company have an all-hands to contratulate technical employees on a job well done. (But woe be it to any IT employee if something fails even once...)
> It usually takes more than you think because our world is often structured in invalidating ways Largely rooted in the culturally-induced love for competition. Competition is inherently destructive.
Empathy is both a feature and a bug. It allows you to be a more effective communicator and leader, but it burdens you with the effect your decisions have.
I also think I have imposter syndrome, no matter how much effort you put in your work, you always have doubts about how good it really is. Having senior/ more experience bosses helps you learn a lot from them, but also makes you feel insecure about your work and making mistakes, as they already know almost everything you know and more, so I think I understand how you coworker feels. I think it's just matter of time and get more experience, so you feel less insecure about the work you do 😁 It's in our hands to work on it and overcome it! Thanks for the video Tim, I always learn something from them 🥳!
Randomly this unassuming video came up in my feed, and by the Gods was I rewarded! Thanks TC for your many many vids I've been watching too much of, about gaming and life lessons!
I think you make a good leader, and being "too passionate" about things is not a problem. My previous boss was incompetent and extremely fragile (almost nobody was even allowed to speak with him; nobody was allowed to even question him even when he was ordering something bad). One time I wrote him that his idea to do X was bad, and I made a list of recommendations as alternatives. 2 weeks after he was publicly furious about my private e-mail, he changed his mind, and told me to do Y instead. I'm personally quite passionate about things, quite confident when I am certain, but I am also quite open minded and flexible. For example I like when there are certain pillars and limits to adhere to, they make the creative process more challenging. I'd really would have liked to have conversations and debates about game design and art, throw around ideas, refine them, pick up new ones - but sadly I'll have to do it with myself. It works, but oh well. Anyway, "insecurity" is not even remotely a problem for me.
My Lord, this is a phenomenal video. Your unrestricted passion will make others feel uncomfortable, and it's been a pain point for me as well. In order to get along with everyone and make them feel comfortable, you have to diminish yourself. But I refuse to do that. I gain so much joy from being in the same room with developers that know way more than me. Yet that type of mentality is definitely not the standard. Great video
A while back I got to be the least informed/educated etc guy in the room. I'm an agricultural history nerd (Someone has to be) and a farmer and I got to be part of discussion in a room with six other people, the room had six doctorates, two knights (or equivalents) and the former high commissioner to the UK who was also the former minister of education. It was awesome hanging around people with that much knowledge and experience on tap. But it did take a little while to get in the right mental gear to appreciate it.
I recall you mentioning that you weren't supposed to interact with the art department, and when you did, they were surprised by your kindness and how others had misjudged you. People are often too quick to judge others without knowing the full story.
It's positive to wonder what you could have done differently in the past, but at the same time finishing the game (or movie, or album, or website, etc.) only happens when you do it -- totally ready or not.
Something closely related to this topic is how impactful and influent charisma is, on anything that involves interpersonal communication. The level and frequency to which people get more or less attention, consideration, regard, valued, etc solely based on charisma is just massive, it's arguably the highest success factor on anything social provided the bare minimum of every other necessity. Some people have a lot of difficulty getting around low charisma, having to improve it or lean on things that depend less on it. I know this first hand. What I think people can do about it, especially good leaders and managers, is to be as aware and alert of how this may be impacting other people's ability to contribute as possible, and making sure that they get the minimum of opportunity, benefit of doubt and consideration that everyone deserves. It's not about forcing outcomes to try and balance everyone - this is definitely a terrible idea. It's about opportunity and objective merit. If a person with very bad charisma offers a perspective or idea and people quickly dismiss it, make sure that it's because of the idea itself isn't good rather than just human chimps being human chimps. Give the benefit of the doubt, give the person the opportunity for the idea/suggestion to be evaluated objectively, as divorced from the person's image and charisma as possible. It's what good people who cares about being professional, effective and considerate should strive to do. Obviously most people will not try to do any of that, and we simply have to deal with it the best way we can without expecting such treatment, but that doesn't mean we should just be completely cynical and never consider basic moral standards.
The programmer was likely pushed (internally or externally) to excel and be first at everything growing up. And then he entered a space where the chance of meeting smarter people is incredibly high, and where people already have a history of success behind them. What one needs to do is accept that reality and get comfortable with it.
Creativity between people is a complex and a nuanced thing. Not everyone can Jam the same way. Some people find it easier to Jam alone as much as possible. If only such lessons could be reached easily, feel they are generally a couple of decades in the making.
Honestly Tim, it's a no win situation. Just be you. I've received the same feedback "you bring out my insecurities". And if I say OK, I'll tone it down, I get: "Well, then you wouldn't be as passionate about the project and I need someone to carry that for the group." Sigh...
I'm a dev but not in gaming. Even before you talked about that dev that threw a fit for being asked to make a quick change, I could tell how some devs would be rubbed the wrong way with how (well) you communicated. With most devs, it's not easy to express issues with the software, as there are always caveats. Especially if you're being asked to look at 4 issues at once before a certain period (like, say, before Xmas vacation), I used to be that type of dev that's always this close to throwing a fit. I still feel the pressure, but so much anymore. Watching videos like yours has put things into perspective a bit for me. Or maybe it's just age.
Ooof. This old chestnut. I started my IT career at Dell almost 20 years ago with the technical acumen of a video game-obsessed kid that knew how to google stuff. Then I left that company with experience in hardware repair both for the consumer and the enterprise sector. I got a different job at an MSP thinking, ok, I'm going to the hardware side...nope, they sent me to the database team. I had 0% knowledge of databases. They really, really needed a hand with the work so I got the database for dummies intro and jumped right in. A year or two later, I'm handling backups as well. I have changed workplaces a few times and I always feel as useless as a leotard on a fish when I first start. I've met the opposite of the impostor syndrome, the dunning-krugers. The guys who know 1% and believe they are a combination of the characters of Halt and Catch Fire. Impostor syndrome is usually a hallmark of overthinking and indicates a basic level of Aristotelian honesty.
That's a great comment. I also felt a little insecure every time I went to a new company (even my own), because I knew there were things I didn't know well and I wasn't sure if the new company would need those skills. Of course, I am now imagining "a leotard on a fish". Thanks for that. :)
For me, impostor syndrome is about comparing yourself with others. It is not always fair game since the other people already have "advantages". Their past led them to what they are now and forged their skills, giving them those "advantages". I understand entirely the dev in the story. It is not up to other people we compare with to minimize who they are; the person with the insecurity is the one who needs introspection to learn from others so they can grow and move forward
The strange part about insecurity is that people feeling it project it as if the source is someone else. *You* don't make people feel insecure by merely existing. *They* make themselves feel insecure. And that was probably their parents' fault, but who's counting :P
I think wondering if you’ve handled things in the past right or wrong itself is the basis for one’s morality and as infuriating and tiresome it is, it’s important for us to reflect. I also think accepting that there’s no “right answer” is very load relieving. Take care of yourselves everyone, I’m sure you’re not as bad as you think you are. We’re all doing our best.
Hey Uncle Tim What's your thoughts on Games getting cancelled by the Studio. I pre ordered prey 2, back in the day. Went to go pick it up and surprise that game doesn't exist. Got the pre order money back. Or is the "Cancelled Fallout Van Buren and me" video work for the question?
If you do things out of passion is never going to feel wrong. There are many times that I have no idea what I am doing but I have a lot of fun doing what I do and I eventually figure it out. I get some help here and there and slowly my ideas take form. Is a process. You gotta have fun! Too many people are focused on the destination instead of focusing on the journey.
I came into this expecting some introspective reflection, and maybe that's what this is, but it being about "sorry you feel little compared to me" even though that can also be a genuine feeling, probably isn't very relatable to the majority of people who find themselves on one of the sides of this particular coin.
I have eventually overcome my imposter syndrome, I think. 11 years into my career im finally at a place and level of experience where I feel confident in the role as a consultant and a subject matter expert. When was new, maybe 2 years after getting my master's degree, I felt really uncomfortable earning as much as my dad late in his career. Now I just have to learn to delegate and become a better project lead. It never ends, does it? 😅
Hi Tim, I have a highly technical question, sorry I didn't watch this video so it's not related in that sense. I am faced with the dillema of a game with 2D art and supporting multiple screen resolutions at the same time. The problem is torny and the resources I found on the internet regarding this haven't helped me. Pixel art, vector art, bands of static stuff on the margin of the screen, upscaling, downscaling, art with higher resolution, virtual pixels, rendering to a big offscreen buffer and then using camera logic to fit something to screen, it's all confusing. Mabe you can bring some clarity to this issues by making a video on 2D art and multiple screen resolutions. Thanks for reading, have a nice day.
Learn matrices from math to do scaling. Everything is just vertices in screen and those are scaled, rotated, moved and so on. Resolution is simple. Just use platform native resolution and scale. Instead focus on aspect ratio because it is different on different displays, and content has also aspect ratio so you need to think what you crop and where to put black bars or UI. What is visible in screen also affects game play so it is important to think that carefully. It may help to design UI and what is visible, using some grid system. Other thing is screen size and viewing distance to keep text and UI for optimal size for reading but understand that it matters to gameplay how much "map" is visible in screen.
As someone with severe insecurities like what Tim describes here, to me the worst that people have said was "but that's not my fault, that's for you to fix". It might have been true but such lack of compassion and this immediate deflection of any potential blaming felt so coldhearted. What helped me were simple gestures of "that's okay" or "I understand".
You giving people 'imposter' syndrome means you're good at what you do and there is not much you can do about it besides doing things worse. If they're open to it, you could coach them, but if they're not willing or not able, it's their own problem to solve ...
Hey Uncle Tim Have you ever encountered a programer that gets top scores on all the metrics, but doesn't enjoy playing the video game that the person worked on? Like actors don't enjoy watching the movie they have been in?
Oh yeah. I have worked with some programmers (and some game devs in general) that don't like to play the game after it ships. Sometimes because they are exhausted having played it a lot, others are just ready to move on, and some just see too many things they wish were different.
you didn't make him feel imposter syndrome the programmer brought that upon himself. At least that's what I'd like to think but maybe I'm being narcissistic.
Linus Tech Tips is a director of the conpany and he made a video few months ago why workers feel comfortable being open and criticize him. (If i find a that video, I'll edit the link into this comment, hopefully UA-cam is not going to shadow ban it as suspicious or something)
Searched for it, couldn't find it. The only thing i could remember is: 1) instead of making a decision, he asks for feedback first. 2) when he explains an idea, or a plan, at the end he says "or am I an idiot?"/"or am i just stupid?". Because of this people are more likely to ask questions if they don't understand something. Moreover, by being openly vulnerable, they return that vulnerability by sharing ideas, instead of just going "yes boss" and doing what they're told. 3) also workers make fun of/tease/troll Linus all the time, and he takes it fine, which takes him down from untouchable unreachable pedestal.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
It happens when you've got an established group of people all eyeing their next position in the hierarchy and then suddenly a person with experience and accolades walks in. The whole succession plan is cast into doubt. I've seen people visibly seethe when the new manager was hired from outside instead of promoted from within. It's a super villain origin story.
The programmer is right. It's not on you, it's on him. Imposter syndrome is extremely prevalent in every creative field and programming especially. It's a personal battle most people have to go through on their own.
A common false solution a lot of people have for it is padding their resume, but I call it false precisely because there's always going to be someone "better" that'll tear that false confidence away by their mere existence. You have to come to terms with and accept your own abilities yourself.
You're exactly right. Self-worth starts with yourself. No one else can give it to you.
I call what you're dealing with Canadian Syndrome. A partner of mine I work with has a bad case of it too. XD When he gets in that super selfless pocket I tell him he's being too Canadian and to stop it.
Huh, it's weird, because my exposure with other programmers is the opposite - they were all egoists, and butting heads was our way of working through things. It was a lot of fun, and in a way, a kind of competition to see who was right, which method was best, etc.
@SyndicateOperative Sounds like your "exposure" was predominantly in school, which is where you'll see that attitude mostly.
A lot of people lose that once faced with actual seniority and experienced contemporaries.
The best bit of advice I've been given is to not compare yourself to others but rather to compare yourself to who you were yesterday, and work to being better tomorrow than you are today. As long as you're making progress and doing better, you know you're going down the right path!
Understanding "X is something they need to overcome themselves" is an invaluable trait in good leaders. There was once a very senior engineer that responded to their manager's request to onboard more people onto "their" feature with "this is MY code. I can do what I want with MY code" & then gave the manager a low score on upwards feedback for "does not appreciate the value of my work". Other leaders were concerned that the manager could have handled the situation better with how badly the engineer blew up, but just like the insecurity you talked about, reactions are subjective and up to the person reacting. You can make sure they were given a fair shake, but just because someone reacts poorly doesn't mean the other person did anything wrong. When organizations try to mediate towards reactions (e.g. not put you on a project that needs you because it will make the other engineer insecure or let the diva engineer have his way with "his" code vs constructively working together with the team), work culture is disproportionately dominated by a few people with the most extreme (and irrational) reactions.
Great post.
Lol, someone was trying to boost that job security there.
I mean. It is extremely disrespectful, though? Managers love the idea that more employees = better, and it's often wrong. If your code was working, and you're told that they're getting more people in, there's no reason you wouldn't believe they're implying that what you've made just isn't sufficient.
Code isn't hamburgers - adding in more cooks does not speed up the output.
@@SyndicateOperative If this was an isolated feature that isn't getting much work put into it outside of its ship&dump cycle and suddenly someone is added last minute for no reason, sure. In this case, it was long-lived, involved architecture that most teams in the company requested support for & so it was necessary to have more domain experts both to have more people available for support and so that there isn't a bus factor of 1 that brings the org to a screeching halt when they leave the company (avg tenure is only 3ish years). You don't want mission critical infrastructure which the entire company depends on to be bottlenecked on one engineer (and in the words of his manager: "you would like to go on vacation at some point, right?").
I used to have the same feeling of insecurity in the presence of people better than me, to the point of shutting those people out of my life. Over time I realised it's far better to do the complete opposite; bring those people into my life more, because I can learn from them.
I just don't think any good comes from thinking along the lines of who's objectively better/smarter/more talented/etc than anyone else. Bc for anyone to win someone else has to lose and why should anyone have to lose? As long people are doing everything they can to be the best person they can be they're alright in my book. 😄
oh hey, haven't heard from you in a long time.
@@TheBlackRose3 Losing is part of the path to winning. No one starts at the finish line - it takes, time, effort, and capitalizing on talent. To deny loss is to deny the eventual success that comes later.
But, yes, I completely agree with the OP. I like to imagine myself as a sponge when I'm around skilled people - there's so much to gain from them. Even if you're better than them, if they're skilled enough, they'll know more than you about other specific things, and sometimes entire general things. It's always worth it to be open minded regarding technical skills.
...You still have to be wary of gossip-spreaders and bluffers, though!
The remidy for imposter syndrome is validation. It usually takes more than you think because our world is often structured in invalidating ways
This. There are jobs where folks constantly receive validation - think sales, for example. Sales has a big quarter, and the entire company is pulled into an all-hands meeting where management pats them on the back and expects everyone to congratulate them. They often get commissions or bonuses in addition to that. All of which serves as validation. When IT or programming has a good quarter...well, keep plugging away. Been working in those fields for 30 years, and I've never seen a company have an all-hands to contratulate technical employees on a job well done. (But woe be it to any IT employee if something fails even once...)
> It usually takes more than you think because our world is often structured in invalidating ways
Largely rooted in the culturally-induced love for competition. Competition is inherently destructive.
Empathy is both a feature and a bug. It allows you to be a more effective communicator and leader, but it burdens you with the effect your decisions have.
I also think I have imposter syndrome, no matter how much effort you put in your work, you always have doubts about how good it really is. Having senior/ more experience bosses helps you learn a lot from them, but also makes you feel insecure about your work and making mistakes, as they already know almost everything you know and more, so I think I understand how you coworker feels. I think it's just matter of time and get more experience, so you feel less insecure about the work you do 😁 It's in our hands to work on it and overcome it! Thanks for the video Tim, I always learn something from them 🥳!
Randomly this unassuming video came up in my feed, and by the Gods was I rewarded! Thanks TC for your many many vids I've been watching too much of, about gaming and life lessons!
I think you make a good leader, and being "too passionate" about things is not a problem. My previous boss was incompetent and extremely fragile (almost nobody was even allowed to speak with him; nobody was allowed to even question him even when he was ordering something bad). One time I wrote him that his idea to do X was bad, and I made a list of recommendations as alternatives. 2 weeks after he was publicly furious about my private e-mail, he changed his mind, and told me to do Y instead.
I'm personally quite passionate about things, quite confident when I am certain, but I am also quite open minded and flexible. For example I like when there are certain pillars and limits to adhere to, they make the creative process more challenging. I'd really would have liked to have conversations and debates about game design and art, throw around ideas, refine them, pick up new ones - but sadly I'll have to do it with myself. It works, but oh well.
Anyway, "insecurity" is not even remotely a problem for me.
Building self-confidence is ultimately a personal, internal process, but it’s certainly possible for others to help (or hinder) that process.
I believe being passionate is super important when making games. It may be the thing that separate good game from bad game.
Hm, maybe that is how we make the hard decisions to excel instead of something good enough
My Lord, this is a phenomenal video. Your unrestricted passion will make others feel uncomfortable, and it's been a pain point for me as well. In order to get along with everyone and make them feel comfortable, you have to diminish yourself. But I refuse to do that.
I gain so much joy from being in the same room with developers that know way more than me. Yet that type of mentality is definitely not the standard.
Great video
A while back I got to be the least informed/educated etc guy in the room. I'm an agricultural history nerd (Someone has to be) and a farmer and I got to be part of discussion in a room with six other people, the room had six doctorates, two knights (or equivalents) and the former high commissioner to the UK who was also the former minister of education. It was awesome hanging around people with that much knowledge and experience on tap. But it did take a little while to get in the right mental gear to appreciate it.
I recall you mentioning that you weren't supposed to interact with the art department, and when you did, they were surprised by your kindness and how others had misjudged you. People are often too quick to judge others without knowing the full story.
It's easier to take comfort in your own assumptions than face reality.
I think more people need to seek discomfort in those kinds of situations.
Snoring doggo.
I'm not insecure! You're insecure! I'm the least insecure person that has ever lived and it's crucial for me that everyone knows that.
It's positive to wonder what you could have done differently in the past, but at the same time finishing the game (or movie, or album, or website, etc.) only happens when you do it -- totally ready or not.
I'm glad you didn't hold it up against him for feeling insecure, lotta people did that and it never made things any better
Something closely related to this topic is how impactful and influent charisma is, on anything that involves interpersonal communication.
The level and frequency to which people get more or less attention, consideration, regard, valued, etc solely based on charisma is just massive, it's arguably the highest success factor on anything social provided the bare minimum of every other necessity.
Some people have a lot of difficulty getting around low charisma, having to improve it or lean on things that depend less on it. I know this first hand.
What I think people can do about it, especially good leaders and managers, is to be as aware and alert of how this may be impacting other people's ability to contribute as possible, and making sure that they get the minimum of opportunity, benefit of doubt and consideration that everyone deserves. It's not about forcing outcomes to try and balance everyone - this is definitely a terrible idea. It's about opportunity and objective merit.
If a person with very bad charisma offers a perspective or idea and people quickly dismiss it, make sure that it's because of the idea itself isn't good rather than just human chimps being human chimps. Give the benefit of the doubt, give the person the opportunity for the idea/suggestion to be evaluated objectively, as divorced from the person's image and charisma as possible.
It's what good people who cares about being professional, effective and considerate should strive to do. Obviously most people will not try to do any of that, and we simply have to deal with it the best way we can without expecting such treatment, but that doesn't mean we should just be completely cynical and never consider basic moral standards.
The programmer was likely pushed (internally or externally) to excel and be first at everything growing up. And then he entered a space where the chance of meeting smarter people is incredibly high, and where people already have a history of success behind them. What one needs to do is accept that reality and get comfortable with it.
Creativity between people is a complex and a nuanced thing.
Not everyone can Jam the same way.
Some people find it easier to Jam alone as much as possible.
If only such lessons could be reached easily, feel they are generally a couple of decades in the making.
You did what was in your power. Embrace despair
Honestly Tim, it's a no win situation. Just be you.
I've received the same feedback "you bring out my insecurities". And if I say OK, I'll tone it down, I get:
"Well, then you wouldn't be as passionate about the project and I need someone to carry that for the group."
Sigh...
Hmmmm who is snoring? The dog? 😂 Great video, Tim!
The Dog
ua-cam.com/video/-ZhiIyheHcc/v-deo.html
I'm a dev but not in gaming. Even before you talked about that dev that threw a fit for being asked to make a quick change, I could tell how some devs would be rubbed the wrong way with how (well) you communicated. With most devs, it's not easy to express issues with the software, as there are always caveats. Especially if you're being asked to look at 4 issues at once before a certain period (like, say, before Xmas vacation), I used to be that type of dev that's always this close to throwing a fit. I still feel the pressure, but so much anymore. Watching videos like yours has put things into perspective a bit for me. Or maybe it's just age.
Imagine not liking working with Tim 😂
Ooof. This old chestnut. I started my IT career at Dell almost 20 years ago with the technical acumen of a video game-obsessed kid that knew how to google stuff.
Then I left that company with experience in hardware repair both for the consumer and the enterprise sector. I got a different job at an MSP thinking, ok, I'm going to the hardware side...nope, they sent me to the database team. I had 0% knowledge of databases. They really, really needed a hand with the work so I got the database for dummies intro and jumped right in. A year or two later, I'm handling backups as well.
I have changed workplaces a few times and I always feel as useless as a leotard on a fish when I first start. I've met the opposite of the impostor syndrome, the dunning-krugers. The guys who know 1% and believe they are a combination of the characters of Halt and Catch Fire.
Impostor syndrome is usually a hallmark of overthinking and indicates a basic level of Aristotelian honesty.
That's a great comment. I also felt a little insecure every time I went to a new company (even my own), because I knew there were things I didn't know well and I wasn't sure if the new company would need those skills.
Of course, I am now imagining "a leotard on a fish". Thanks for that. :)
You must be the best supervisor/manager. Would love to work for you.
So considerate.
great video, thank you
This was an insightful video. Thanks for sharing.
For me, impostor syndrome is about comparing yourself with others. It is not always fair game since the other people already have "advantages". Their past led them to what they are now and forged their skills, giving them those "advantages". I understand entirely the dev in the story. It is not up to other people we compare with to minimize who they are; the person with the insecurity is the one who needs introspection to learn from others so they can grow and move forward
Managing peoples' egos sucks 😒. People need to take accountability for their own mental health not take their struggles out on others.
People already do this.
The strange part about insecurity is that people feeling it project it as if the source is someone else.
*You* don't make people feel insecure by merely existing.
*They* make themselves feel insecure. And that was probably their parents' fault, but who's counting :P
I think wondering if you’ve handled things in the past right or wrong itself is the basis for one’s morality and as infuriating and tiresome it is, it’s important for us to reflect. I also think accepting that there’s no “right answer” is very load relieving. Take care of yourselves everyone, I’m sure you’re not as bad as you think you are. We’re all doing our best.
Great video as always Tim, thanks for making these
Hey Uncle Tim
What's your thoughts on Games getting cancelled by the Studio.
I pre ordered prey 2, back in the day.
Went to go pick it up and surprise that game doesn't exist.
Got the pre order money back.
Or is the "Cancelled Fallout Van Buren and me" video work for the question?
If you do things out of passion is never going to feel wrong. There are many times that I have no idea what I am doing but I have a lot of fun doing what I do and I eventually figure it out. I get some help here and there and slowly my ideas take form. Is a process. You gotta have fun! Too many people are focused on the destination instead of focusing on the journey.
I came into this expecting some introspective reflection, and maybe that's what this is, but it being about "sorry you feel little compared to me" even though that can also be a genuine feeling, probably isn't very relatable to the majority of people who find themselves on one of the sides of this particular coin.
Like and subscribe, you all know the drill. This is Tim, we owe him those at the least.
I have eventually overcome my imposter syndrome, I think. 11 years into my career im finally at a place and level of experience where I feel confident in the role as a consultant and a subject matter expert.
When was new, maybe 2 years after getting my master's degree, I felt really uncomfortable earning as much as my dad late in his career.
Now I just have to learn to delegate and become a better project lead. It never ends, does it? 😅
Am I imagining things or is someone snoring the background? 😄
The Dog
ua-cam.com/video/-ZhiIyheHcc/v-deo.html
Don't you see Tim is his pijamas? 😂
Hi Tim, I have a highly technical question, sorry I didn't watch this video so it's not related in that sense. I am faced with the dillema of a game with 2D art and supporting multiple screen resolutions at the same time. The problem is torny and the resources I found on the internet regarding this haven't helped me. Pixel art, vector art, bands of static stuff on the margin of the screen, upscaling, downscaling, art with higher resolution, virtual pixels, rendering to a big offscreen buffer and then using camera logic to fit something to screen, it's all confusing. Mabe you can bring some clarity to this issues by making a video on 2D art and multiple screen resolutions.
Thanks for reading, have a nice day.
Learn matrices from math to do scaling. Everything is just vertices in screen and those are scaled, rotated, moved and so on.
Resolution is simple. Just use platform native resolution and scale. Instead focus on aspect ratio because it is different on different displays, and content has also aspect ratio so you need to think what you crop and where to put black bars or UI. What is visible in screen also affects game play so it is important to think that carefully. It may help to design UI and what is visible, using some grid system.
Other thing is screen size and viewing distance to keep text and UI for optimal size for reading but understand that it matters to gameplay how much "map" is visible in screen.
As someone with severe insecurities like what Tim describes here, to me the worst that people have said was "but that's not my fault, that's for you to fix".
It might have been true but such lack of compassion and this immediate deflection of any potential blaming felt so coldhearted. What helped me were simple gestures of "that's okay" or "I understand".
You giving people 'imposter' syndrome means you're good at what you do and there is not much you can do about it besides doing things worse. If they're open to it, you could coach them, but if they're not willing or not able, it's their own problem to solve ...
Hey Uncle Tim
Have you ever encountered a programer that gets top scores on all the metrics, but doesn't enjoy playing the video game that the person worked on?
Like actors don't enjoy watching the movie they have been in?
Oh yeah. I have worked with some programmers (and some game devs in general) that don't like to play the game after it ships. Sometimes because they are exhausted having played it a lot, others are just ready to move on, and some just see too many things they wish were different.
This is the type of guy vetting hires as well? No wonder they went belly up.
you didn't make him feel imposter syndrome the programmer brought that upon himself. At least that's what I'd like to think but maybe I'm being narcissistic.
Not even a single mention of Brian Fargo and trying to throw him under the bus covertly. Disappointed Timothy, deeply.
Sounds like it's their problem, not yours. Comparing yourself others doesn't help at all, it's the thief of joy.
As a younger sibling, they sound like younger siblings who don’t want to live in their older sibling’s shadow.
P ≠ NP that is People ≠ Non-Peaple. Programmer brain cannot comprehend that people are not immeadiately solvable 😝.
Charlie Manson knew how to size people up immediately and play on their fears
@@Pangloss6413 Probably not the best person to draw inspiration from.
It's not really imposter syndrome. It's the sin of pride. Some people aren't satisfied that they are one of the best.
Linus Tech Tips is a director of the conpany and he made a video few months ago why workers feel comfortable being open and criticize him.
(If i find a that video, I'll edit the link into this comment, hopefully UA-cam is not going to shadow ban it as suspicious or something)
Searched for it, couldn't find it.
The only thing i could remember is:
1) instead of making a decision, he asks for feedback first.
2) when he explains an idea, or a plan, at the end he says "or am I an idiot?"/"or am i just stupid?".
Because of this people are more likely to ask questions if they don't understand something. Moreover, by being openly vulnerable, they return that vulnerability by sharing ideas, instead of just going "yes boss" and doing what they're told.
3) also workers make fun of/tease/troll Linus all the time, and he takes it fine, which takes him down from untouchable unreachable pedestal.
This guy really loves the sound of his own voice
Seek the wisdom of Uncle Tim.
He's giving you an inside look at stuff.
I enjoy my coffee break, with Uncle Tim