How Collaboration Boosts Confidence: Trusting the Process and Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

As a freelancer, it can be especially tough when you feel like you're walking that very fine line between what you know and what you know you don’t know. 

Sit on that for a moment... It's where I live right now; my eyes have been opened to so much in the last few months. I *know* there is so much still to learn. 

One of my tutors said something that stuck so hard and made so much sense. "We're problem solvers. If you've got a passenger in the taxi you're driving, and he wants to go to a city... Break it down into manageable chunks; Just by knowing that you're not too far from London, you know the problem can be solved. You don't need to know the exact route, the problem becomes easier just by knowing London exists..."

It’s like the difference between traveling with a GPS today and navigating with an old-school map a few years ago. Back then, I’d plot my route using key cities and junctions to guide me. I never needed to know every street name - I just needed to trust that the path was there and I’d get where I needed to go.

Development feels a lot like that. You don’t need to have the full solution mapped out; you just need to know that a solution exists. It’s like trying to solve a puzzle - you don’t always see the entire picture, but you know the pieces are there.

So when you hit a roadblock, you’re not standing there lost. It’s more like knowing you have the right tools in your kit - you might not know exactly how they fit together, but you know they’ll get you where you need to go. It’s all about using what you have to keep moving forward, even if the path isn’t fully clear yet.

There's always the worry - will clients trust me with their projects if they sense my inexperience?

That feeling has lingered for me, but today was a reminder that the gaps in experience can be bridged with passion, persistence, and a willingness to learn.

This journey of building my website has been proof of that.

I didn’t just grab a template and call it a day.

I sat down, worked out exactly what I wanted this site to do, and learned how to bring all the parts together. Along the way, I’ve cried into my coffee, worked late into the night, had a fair few 3am starts, and regularly questioned whether I could pull it off.

Yet, here I am, standing on the brink of something I’m truly proud of.

What makes today significant is that I hit a wall with my project’s formatting. The comments section wasn’t behaving as it should, and for way too long I was scratching my head just willing things to work! After way too long trying to figure it out alone, I threw it out there and asked for help.

Old Laura might have stewed in silence forever, and maybe got distracted by something more shiny and exciting to focus on, but I'm focused on getting goals properly ticked off now, and sometimes you need to try something different. So I asked for help.

Trusting the Process

This is a key part of being a developer. Not having all the answers immediately doesn’t mean I’m not capable. When I reached out for help, not only was the problem fixed swiftly, but my confidence got a boost too. Often the solution really isn’t far off, and getting confirmation or guidance from someone else can be the difference between never ending frustration and instant clarity.

Collaborating with someone who understands the problem brought me out of my head and back into flow. Things started to click again, and that’s when I realised - asking for help isn’t a weakness. It’s part of growing, part of getting so much better, faster.

Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

Impostor syndrome is something I wrestle with constantly. As a freelancer, there’s always that fear that I’ll be seen as someone who doesn’t know enough. But today, I recognised that asking for help and collaborating isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of learning and growth.

Perfection is a tricky thing. Let's be honest, we all want it, but it takes time. Development is about figuring things out, and sometimes the best progress comes from learning on the go. I’m embracing the fact that I don’t have to know everything right away. But I’m eager to learn, to figure things out myself, and to ask for help when it gets beyond me: just keep pushing forward.

This project - my website - is a symbol of that. It’s not just a site I built from scratch (with so much help from tutorials, mentors, and a lot of coffee-fuelled nights); it’s a reflection of how far I’ve come. Ten weeks ago, I didn’t even know what a “back end” was, and now I’m like the wizard behind the curtain, making all the magic happen.

For those of you checking every line of my code, I see you. What I may lack in experience, I make up for with sheer determination, a passion for learning, and an unwavering commitment to evolving.

Always believe something wonderful is about to happen—because this is just the beginning.