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"If you aren't the smartest person in the room, you're doing something right. And if you are the smartest person in the room, find another room." These words of advice are legendary, mate.

That Indian guy on KZfaq is the real life saver.

The biggest lesson here is that you do not have to be the smartest person in the room to be good at your job. I was terrible at school, didn't go to university and did odd jobs until i was 26. I landed my first IT job at 26 and worked really hard to understand all the different concepts and did a lot of work on certifications. I kept doing this over my career...always trying to learn new things. I was definitely not the leading expert on all technical topics but i did have a very broad knowledge of lots of different technical areas at a decent depth. Now, 10 years later, i work for one of the biggest and most successful security companies in the world. Everything Jason talks about in this video is spot on.

Dear Jason, thank you for putting this out. I feel highly encouraged. It's funny how I am nearly giving up because of how I usually feel so dumb after failing these coding challenges. I am taking this as a sign. I will try again till I succeed at my dreams. Thank you! You inspire me.

"If you aren't the smartest person in the room, you are doing something right. If you are the smartest person in the room, find a different room." Now, this hits me so much. Thanks, Jason!

Dude, you're right in so many levels. I always thought going to these giant companies was impossible. When I started studying for programming competitions back in 2018 some people told me it would help me land an interview and maybe a job in companies such as facebook and google but I didnt really believe them, it was something so distant so I stopped studying. Context: I live in a poor part of Brazil and the school I study in isn't the most prestigious school even in the city. Last year a guy from the same school I study landed an internship at Facebook and soon after that an internship at Uber. I was speechless. I realized it was possible. I thought "if someone from my school did it then maybe I could do it too, why not try?" and I got in touch with him, we happen to be good friends nowadays. This fact gave me the movitation and goals I needed. I got back to studying for ICPC in August 2021, didnt really go to the nationals but its alright, kept studying, then stopped for 2 months. I had finally started planning my future. I planned leaving the company I worked at to spend 1~2 years only studying (the company ended up flopping but its another story lol). Then in February this year this friend was at Meta and said he could referral me and some friends as an intern. I saw this opportunity and got back to studying real hard. Ended up getting rejected in the final round but didnt care, I kept studying because I could clearly see my growth and that alone is so satisfying. Today I got an offer for an internship at Google here in Brazil. I couldn't believe it. Srsly, im stvpid AF. I take hours and even days to grasp subjects other people understand in one go. Im slow at solving problems (that hurts me a lot as a competitive programmer).. this is crazy but the best advice I could give is: if you want it go for it. Whatever it is. Stop worrying, stop overthinking, stop daydreaming, stop wondering, FREAKING DO IT RIGHT NOW. Start studying and apply yourself right now. Go ahead and dont look back. Ignore your feelings and thoughts of self-doubt, they will scream that you are not capable, simply keep going, its worth it. And the best thing is after some time you get some inertia and it becomes easy to keep grinding because now you're used to it. But the hardest part ALWAYS is starting. We dont know if we have another life. STOP DREAMING AND START PLANNING AND EXECUTING YOUR PLAN. Really guys, I cant stress this enough. I've procrastined studying my whole life, I only started getting some sense of accomplishment and growth once I took the guts to actually do it. Do it too, I promise it, if its something you enjoy you're not gonna regret it. Just to get back to the point of the video: if you want to get a job at these companies do your research, take some time to focus (at least some 4 hours a day) and just do it. Its not that difficult, a lot of people dont even try but if you work your 4$$ off its only a matter of time

Awesome video, man. Super inspirational! I'm in graduate school for statistics right now planning on going into data science, and there are times when it feels incredibly overwhelming and difficult. But. I look back on things I thought were super difficult 6-12 months ago, and they're easy (or easy-ish) now. Just gotta work hard and be consistent, and things WILL pay off in time. Congrats!

I feel the same. It seems like I'm the dumbest person in the room. I'm trying. Your video is inspiring. Making me feel the worth of who I am and with consistent learning, I will be better. Thanks Jason.

This is the best KZfaq video I have ever watched in my life :) this literally explains what I am experiencing right now ! ur lessons in the video are really great and are things I will remind myself of in these tough times. tysm😊

You know what, thank you. Your video probably changed my life for the better. Sincere thanks from a student that is going through the struggles you went through.

I'm now a senior and your honesty really gives me lots of strength to keep trying in figuring out why am I so poor at coding instead of walking away from it!!!

This is the most accurate and authentic representation, of what an average software engineer's journey is really like, that I've ever seen on youtube. And I've seen a lot. I especially liked the quote: "If you're not the smartest person in the room, you're doing something right. If you are the smartest in the room, find a different room."

This took many years to learn (especially to not be an elephant), and it feels really good and validating to hear from someone who's gone on the journey to learn this too. Kudos

Awesome video! Just finished my first year at UW and its crazy how so many people can relate to all the things you said. I will keep this video in mind as I go through university :)

Awwww thanks for posting this video I'm all in tears. That's what I'm feeling right now as an old student just starting to learn about Networking and Programming. Thank you for making me feel there's always hope. 🥰

This actually motivated me because I am also thought i the dumbest among. my coursemates. I eventually got recommended by someone for an internship at Intel. Currently, I am self-teaching my self more about coding and do some mini projects. It actually kind of helpful and watching this video actually boosted my morale even more. Thanks for the video.

Man this gave me extra motivation to push myself and keep working harder. I had this thinking that I was below average and not really good at programming. Always struggling while coding. But now I feel like I can do it as well. Thank you so much...

The elephant analogy really blew my mind and helped shift my perspective about the things I am going through right now. Thank you for sharing your story. Very inspirational!

Dear Jason! Thank you for putting this out! This is the first video I have seen from you, but you defo gained a subscriber! I will start CS next year after many years without school, and my impostor syndrome is already high enough WITHOUT even being in school! All I can think about is that I will be the dumbest(maybe oldest) person in the room. But I really want to change career and life! Thank you for being so honest and share your struggles! kudos x

Thank you for being vulnerable with your stories. It's really inspiring to tell kids that I tutor that they can achieve great heights when I know there's people like you who have done it despite their disadvantages.

Thanks for the motivation! I needed this, I’m having existential crisis after hours of frustration as to why I can’t visualize the recursive methods of a tree data structure 😭 I’m so pressured to study DSA ASAP since either I pass it or not get a SWE job in the future…

As a grad student just changing major from EE to CS, your experience of imposter syndrome and the feeling of everyone better than you is so relatable. Thank you so much for sharing your story and I learnt a lot! You really cheer me up and hope I can get my dream job like you!

Great video! This was so refreshing and motivating. Happy to have content like yours in the community.

You’re a great guy. You always try to make a significant impact in every company you go to.

God damn this video hit me like a truck. I'm in CC right now and I feel like I am so behind in CS compared to some of my friends in other Universities. I feel like I barely know anything but I got into a summer Undergraduate Research Program at a Cal State. I really underestimated my work and I feel like I was truly a below average CS student. After watching this video however, I really do feel like I'm going to be ok. The "Your life isn't over" lesson really resonated with me as well. I went to a free coding BootCamp and they offered an Internship for beginner software engineering work and I did not even get offered an interview, but now I have this Research Program. You always do get another shot :)

This reminds me of my own route. I started working at a tech company in a non-dev role and only started writing my own code because I wanted to get things done without waiting for the dev team. I still work at the same company, but I'm a senior software engineer. Initiative and a can-do attitude are two of the most important skills anyone can possess. Subbed!

Thank you for making this video; I'm a incoming first-year BS ComSci student who has been under a lot of pressure to learn coding but has occasionally had trouble doing so. I'm grateful for the inspiration and pressure release this video has provided.

love this video!! Really encouraging. What a story! And you told it (and edited it) very well!!

Wow, thank you! 🖤 I actually went to UW and studied Anthro/Arts… while I was there I spent a lot of time in the comfy lounge and was obsessed with the tech being built. I wanted to minor in CS but I «knew» that wasn’t for me, I felt like it was out of my league and stuck to my skeletons and paint. I took a leap and switched careers back in 2018. I now work for a charity teaching coding and slowly building apps but I still crave full time development. This video is a reminder of the work I need to do to get there. Don’t Sulk, I needed that! 🤓

Thank you so much man for your honesty and for everything❤️!! I liked the video, I started to learn python 2 months ago, I feel lost a little bit and your video motivated me, and if you have any advice please I’ll be more than happy

Thank you for the honest journey. Very humbling and assuring to the rest of the aspiring techies.

Dude. I needed to hear what you said in this video. Good luck on your continuous journey and thank you!

2:55 that is actually the best way to learn. It helps you to understand if you really understood the topic. It also helps to build up confidence.

This video is so real and relatable to many of us. This was an amazing motivator for me, great lessons taught through your journey!

Hey man, I found your video incredibly motivating. It's well edited and has good information while still being light hearted and entertaining. Keep up the good work man!

You're so honest about the struggle with coding. Thankyou for the encouragement. 🙂

Thanks so much! Currently struggling with midterms but I feel way better now

Love this video, I actually relate to it a lot! I will definitely keep these lessons in mind ❤

I enjoyed this video! I am currently at my lowest point at university but hearing your story really encouraged me to keep going. Thank you for sharing.

I usually hate watching vlog-related coding videos (I spend enough time with damn tutorials lol) but man, am I glad I watched this one. Spot on dude, I'm in a Bootcamp right now feeling like I'm not absorbing anything fast enough but you are absolutely right. Gotta slow down and look at it differently. Congrats on your success with Microsoft!

I know the the feeling brother, I was bad at coding for the first 2-3 years. Partly because I had other commitments and secondly because well the degree I did was fast food education and didn't give us enough time to properly understand the core fundamentals of programming.

This video has so many meanings. Well done 👍 I'm a drop out and got into coding same as u, because i needed to do something. I tried it, i liked it. Still learning frontend mainly hoping for an internship to train and enhance my technological skills. Thanks for this great story.

I was searching for that content because I'm in a tech company job I got because the disability law and I got in without any experience and I'm struggling real hard to learn and I often feel too dumb or incompetent to be in the job. Your video motivated me a lot. I'm doing small things like going through a json file and validating the fields in python but now I see that that's a little step towards something bigger. I'll get there. I'll not give up. Thanks for your video, man! ♥️

I've been needing this video for so long! Thank you for sharing.I've been needing this video for so long! Thank you for sharing. To this day I still remember that feeling of being the dumbest person in the room and being behind everyone. I'm starting to learn to ignore it and just do my thing.

Personal opinion... One of the best videos I've ever seen Thanks a lot for sharing!

OMG thank you so much! This was an incredible depiction of your journey and complementing the insightful lessons with some clasic Goodison humour was fun to watch! Big fan :)

This is an excellent video. New fan here. Well structured, good mix of levity without overdoing it, good pacing, good messaging. Nailed it.

Jason, you doing such a great job!! You said so many wise words to remember! Thanks a lot!

Over twenty years in the industry and I think I still suck at coding. Although FAANG hire smart coders, the rest of the Tech companies also value innovators. I realized that I was good in prototyping, copy pasting fragments of other people's code and getting the initial code to work quickly. That's what I stuck with doing and survived. The smart people come in and make your code perfect. My advise would be find what you like about the tech industry and own it. Also the learning never stops. I still spend 2-3 hours a day learning technology.

You've singlehandedly inspired me to resume learning coding after dropping out of college for Web Dev and Programming. It's nice to hear about not only your successes, but your failures, hurdles, and lessons learned as well. You don't pretend you're perfect, or pretend everything worked perfectly in your favor. Thank you!

This video is definitely very inspiring! Many devs here on youtube glorify their job and/or skills to the point that oneself feels like a total noob compared to any developer who already has some work experience! Your story and the way you told it in this video totally motivates me because not only does it show how far you can go in a short period of time with enough effort and grit, but also shows great empathy on the big struggle it is to break into tech and to get through the first (really difficult) tech jobs. I feel so understood and this video really is a helping hand to keep on, never stop learning and believing you will eventually get there, and to not feel like a dumbass in a crowd of cracks as much!

Very inspiring! I thank you for this and the quote at the end really helped me realize that I don't always have to be perfect.

Thank you for this! I just started learning coding a few days ago for a new career change. I’m about to give up since it’s so hard but I think I’ll stick with it for a little bit more!

I really thought I am the only one going through this shit, but it doesn't seem so bad seeing many others like me. Its crazy how youtube algo works, came at the right time in my life

This is so inspirational. Now, I'm hopeful. Thanks Jason, I appreciate you telling your story.

Dude! This video was so encouraging for me. Thanks for sharing your story!

Honestly after being rejected by a lot of companies this video brought back the confidence that I lost. Thank you for this.

This is a life-changing video. I feel as though I can't learn JS, but I can sit down and write parts of it out of my head. I must be my own worst enemy sometimes. I would like to see a video from you on being hired as an older junior developer, as in one who is about to turn 60. I am determined to find my first dev job, even if I have to create my own!

Wow I needed to hear this today. Thank you so much for making this video. I was about ready to call it quits because I can't even get an interview.

Your Journey is practical motivation to my ears, Thanks for sharing was feeling down for a while.

I really needed this video. I have been having a real rough time after dropping out of college (comp sci major); suffered from agoraphobia from pandemic lockdown, anxiety, low self-esteem, undiagnosed ADHD. I recently started becoming more serious and less insecure about prospects in searching for my first job in software development (mostly because I don't want to be a loser almost-30 year old with 100k in debt and nothing to show for it). Hearing you say all of this really changed my outlook. So thank you for that. p.s. I literally JUST solved that weird zigzag problem OMG it was a ton of fun lol

Yess this is so relatable! Awesome video! 😀

thanks for this video, I really needed to hear this as someone in a similar situation as you were in

Thank you so much talking about your experiences man, this helps us a lot!

Your channel is amazing! As a UW CS student in my first coop, your content is super relatable.

Thank you for sharing 🙏 Much appreciated 🤗

I'm going into year 2 on uni now and i'm in the EXACT SAME shoes you were , glad I came across this video. Keep up the great work!

Hey Jason, I'm only 3 months into my tech journey and I have already secured a Software Engineer job at a tech company and I'm ecstatic. I came accross this video and love the tempo of the video, the value, and the tasteful use of B-Roll haha. I fully expected MANY more subscribers. I just liked, subscribed, and went to your site and submitted my email for those templates for the future when I start chasing down the big tech dream!

Unreal video Jason, you’ve given me hope (after being rejected by toast and many others). Just goes to show that determination is what gets you where you want

This is what I needed right now, thanks for this video man

Thanks Jason! Really needed this!!

thanks for the inspiring video! I just came out from a failed whiteboarding session, and this made me feel a little better. My takeaway is that I shouldn't take failure personally and that I should take that as an opportunity to see what I need to work on.! So happy I found your videos !

Impostor syndrome is really awful. I wish I was as confident as you were when you decided to go for internships in university, I was so afraid I was inferior to my classmates that I'd never get in. I basically gained all of my confidence during the pandemic because I focused on nothing but learning to cope with the lockdown. Things get better, but sometimes it takes a lot of faith in the process and reflection to see any results to your effort.

This is quite inspiring. Trying to journey into tech and just way behind….. thanks for sharing your experience

Dude, thank you for this video seriously. I needed this.

OMG this video is so much needed now! I didn't know how to code before the university(don't have so much understanding now too...) and I was even thinking about quitting, because I don't understand anything. But I've passed some programming classes with a help of god and my friends:)) I don't think that I'm even an average, because every programming class is hard af and other students don't seem to struggle as much. But your video gives me hope, that one day everything will be alright

What a refreshing take. Speaking for everybody I know (including myself) in this industry - It's easy to feel like the 'idiot' that faked your way into a position. We're all idiots. haha There's just too much to know. It's all gravy!

needed a boost of motivation. Thank you.

Thank you for this video! One of the best software engineering videos out there!

u'll probably never read this.. but this video helped me a lot right now. I am in my first year of a computer science degree in exam season right now. The imposter syndrom is real and i always feel so behind :( your insights are amazing!!

Thanks for this video, man. Congratulations too. I also have a same limiting belief that I'm not good at coding. Being an experienced professional in different domain, sometimes it is hard for me what if I fail in SW Dev jobs

This is just so inspiring, thanks for the awesome content

Best (meaningful) video I've seen in a while and absolutely relatable being in a computer science degree program currently.

It’s nice to come across someone that had almost the exact same experience front to back. Currently trying to grind out LC and man it is tough for someone like me. I literally went back to solve the zig zag problem and couldn’t (I solved it two months ago). I’ve got a long way to go.

production value, story-telling and humour on point!

THANK YOU! just thank you, for the boost of confidence, and relief even if im not the smartest in the room.

congrats! the more i watch these kinds of videos it just solidfies in my head that i'm not cut out for big tech, very insightful tho thank you

I had saved this video to my "watch later" playlist and kinda forgot about it but when I saw it today I wasn't disappointed at all! This is my first time on your channel and it felt worth subscribing :) Also, as you started speaking I started relating a lot, but as the video progressed I got to know how much hardwork you've put in.🙌 I'm currently a 4th year cs student with no internship experience and upcoming interviews and I'm very scared and I feel highly unprepared 🙂

I spent the last seven years in IT, just starting my journey coding. Your story is inspirational to me, and you made a lot of good points.

This is such a great video! Very empowering. Love this. Thank you

You are amazing. Thank you for giving me some clarity

Definitely suffer from Imposter-complex. I have intentionally not sought out possibilities at larger firms yet, thinking I need more experience. I think this video has inspired me to pull that stick out of the ground, and send that CV. Thank you.

Great video made me laugh at times. Reminded me how I struggled and still struggle to learn new things. Thank you for sharing your experiences. LOL

Great video. Academically speaking, I might be an opposite example but the fear of not being good enough still applies. I was the number 1 CS student in my high school graduating class because I did C++ AP comp sci in 1 quarter (out of a year) and spent the remaining year doing binary tree balancing and helping classmates who struggled. I never applied to Google or any FAANG companies in the past 20 years because I thought I wasn’t good enough and mainly because I don’t want to live in the bay area or seattle. But I’ve been successful where I’m at. Your inspiring story helps me realize not to be afraid to apply to bigger tech companies, so thank you.

I love this video it’s so motivating ❤thank you we all needed to hear this your giving us all hope thank you.

Jason Thank you for this video. It is like, when you get low on your exam and you think you are the only one but then there are someother people who also got low score and you become happy since you are not the only one who fails it. I was going to give up but this video just became a fuel for me. A fuel to believe in myself. And I hope that fuel will burn hot forever. No fuel can go forever nor finish but it can attract other fuels and make them burn. I had a fuel which was almost finished and now you poured some gas into it. A lot of gas, If someone see this, Unless you blow to your own fire it will never finish. All you need to heat up it again is finding a fuel. This video is just a crazy fuel which you should watch every few months. I just found it and I am happy to find it. I hope you won't fail and I won't too.

45 years old and just beginning to program. Feels like my brain isn't made for it, but your video is encouragement to keep going.

This is literally the best motivation anyone can receive. Thanks :)

Great video. Helped me gain some confidence on my journey