The Curse of Look-Over-the-Shoulder Syndrome

There are few cases of “developer luck” around. 

Developer luck is the bug that mysteriously vanishes when you add print logging, and it’s the luck that means someone strolls past your desk at the exact moment you’ve reduced your code to a laughably simple code snippet.

In the latter case, you can feel your reputation shrinking as they glance over your shoulder, see your if statement and assume that is the pinnacle of your coding prowess.

I call this phenomenon “Look Over the Shoulder Syndrome”.

My Experience

One of the best things about working alone is that I get quiet time. I can solve problems with the click of a finger, I squash bugs that make lesser coders weep. 

When I’ve got a problem, I stare at it like a 90’s magic eye picture until the solution appears.

Ok, it’s not quite like that. Sometimes I stare for a while thinking “Who wrote this” before realizing the messy code was authored by…me.

Yet most of the time I’m able to make good progress on the features that I’m working on and come up with some good solutions to challenging problems.

Yet when I go into the office, I’m unable to get breakpoints to work correctly. I’m sure that my fellow software developers are laughing behind my back, and this time it isn’t just about my dress sense.

The Reputation Hit

It’s like luck has it out for us. The worse the code, the more likely it is someone will see it. When you’re crafting something so clever that even you can’t believe you thought of it, you’re inevitably going to be in a solo bubble invisible to the world.

Let’s be honest. It would be good for our reputation to be caught doing something impressive. I think half the reason I write code in the first place is that deep down I hope someone will notice that I’m clever.

This explains why when someone notices my if 1==1 in my temporary code I feel a hit to my status and reputation. I can feel upset for a couple of days, and the gut punch to the stomach is worse than the feeling of imposter syndrome.

Of course, it all might be reality slapping me in the face. I might be spending more time than I like to admit doing the programming equivalent of doodling in a coloring book. In which case I should just be more careful.

Advice

Lean into the Look-Over-the-Shoulder Syndrome. Next time someone sidles up to your screen, don’t fight it — write the most banal code you can muster. And then, once they walk away thinking “Oh, that’s all he does?”, you can get back to your regularly scheduled genius.

You’ll know that you’re still the smartest person in the room, right?

Conclusion

Luck may dictate when others see our work, but it’s up to us to show them we have skills beyond the remedial.

The best time to do that will be in a well-crafted PR. Don’t you think?