Fear of Incompleteness
I believe I have self-diagnosed an illness that perfectionist autodidacts are prone for. It is the thought that “you aren’t ready”, or “your knowledge is incomplete”.
Maybe I should read some unschooling books to overcome this fear, but I am perpetually afraid of asserting my knowledge in any domain because I feel I have gaps in my knowledge that can only be filled by attending a traditional college course on the same domain.
To be specific, my problem is in calling myself a programmer. I write code. But I haven’t learned microprocessors (yet). And I don’t know a lot of C (or Java). Can I call myself a programmer? Sure I can and I do. But can I apply for a programming job? Can I teach someone programming (while getting paid for it)? Can I speak at a tech event? I become unsure.
Maybe I should fake it till I make it.
Maybe I should just get started. Work as a programmer. Teach someone programming. Speak at a tech conference.