A note on giving back

Recently, there has been a spate of tweets about developers admitting their weaknesses. A bunch of people I know even made into the Moment created by @ThePracticalDev. And then there's this tweet:

Hi, I’m aurynn, and even though I’ve been coding for 15 years, as a woman in tech anything less than a display of perfection is a risk https://t.co/DMYMPTQh1R

— your pocket friend (@aurynn) February 26, 2017

Go ahead and read that whole thread. It's important.

Over the last months I have talked to a lot of women in tech, and one thing I realised is that I am not alone.

I'm not the only one worried about making a mistake.
I'm not the only one who preface everything she says with "You all know this already, but...".
I'm not the only one who double-, triple-, quadruple-checks every. single. thing before saying anything.
I'm not the only one who constantly worries about being seen as stupid when she asks a question.
I'm not the only one afraid to write something for fear of being called a know-it-all.

I am not alone.

There are people who will feed on your fears. I made a post about a new discovery three days ago. And true enough, I got replies like this:

Uhmmm... Okay... I'm sorry for making you see something you already know. I'll be more careful next time.

But then a few hours ago, someone left this comment in one of my posts:

And this, my friends, is why despite all our fears, we should never stop sharing.