I’ve been thinking a lot about confidence in tech lately. A couple of years ago I switched careers and moved into a junior data role. On paper I had the skills, but in meetings I’d suddenly feel like I didn’t belong there. Once, during a sprint review, I had a solid idea about improving our model, but I stayed quiet and someone else suggested almost the same thing later. That stung. So I’m curious — how do you actually build real confidence in the tech sphere? Is it just experience, or are there specific things that help?
When I started, I had the same feeling. I also jumped into tutorials too quickly and thought I was “doing ML” just because the notebook ran without errors. What helped me was slowing down and learning basic Python for data analysis first — simple things like working with pandas and visualizing data. Then I began reading more structured advice, especially practical tips from women already in tech. This article was surprisingly helpful for mindset and direction https://www.womentech.net/breaking-ai-ml-tips-tech-savvy-women-2020. It’s not super technical, but it talks about confidence, community, and building skills step by step. For me, small projects like predicting house prices or analyzing movie ratings made everything click. You don’t need to master all the math at once — just build gradually.
This is such a relatable topic. I don’t work directly in tech, but I collaborate with developers a lot, and I’ve noticed that confidence often grows when people feel heard. In my team, the turning point was when we created space for everyone to speak during retros. Even the quietest person started sharing ideas once they saw they wouldn’t be judged. I think sometimes it’s less about skills and more about environment. If the culture is supportive, confidence tends to follow naturally.
