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The guy who told me to "fake it til you make it" was dead wrong
Met this senior dev at a meetup in Austin about 2 years ago. He was all about bluffing your way through interviews and jobs. Said he'd been doing it for a decade. I tried his advice for 3 months at my first real coding job. Got caught twice on stuff I didn't know and my boss pulled me aside. Said he respected honesty way more than pretending. Lost a chance at a promotion because word got around I was faking things. Has anyone else seen this backfire for people?
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marywells18h ago
Oh man, I used to totally buy into that "fake it til you make it" stuff too. I thought that's what confident people did, you know? But then I saw it blow up for a friend who tried it in a coding bootcamp and it made me rethink everything. Honestly, your story is making me glad I never went that route, because getting caught like that sounds absolutely brutal. Feels like being honest from the start saves you way more trouble in the long run.
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kevin_wells4615h ago
Dude SAME. I tried that fake it approach at my first real job out of high school, this warehouse gig where I had to run a forklift. I told them I was a pro. First day I nearly tipped a whole pallet of canned goods into the break room. The manager just stared at me like I was nuts. I felt like the biggest idiot in the world. Honestly, being upfront about what you don't know builds way more trust with people. Nobody expects you to know EVERYTHING, they just expect you not to lie about it.
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