No.
I love improving, no matter what it is. I was never an optimist, but I generally never try to put myself down. When I have a dream or desire, I seek it, but I feel that at times my dreams are so extravagant, that I am unable to obtain my smaller goals. Programming has always been a joy to me, whether it is the actual sitting down and typing out the code, or crunching concepts in my head as to what could possibly be highly effective.
My skills are my pride and my joy, so when I feel like someone is demeaning towards me or does not believe in them, I often get a bit discouraged and "shut down". It happens almost every time. Sometimes, I won't even look at things that I've made because I become ashamed of them. And I think, "Why? What for? What am I afraid of? Is it the opinion of others?" Time heals a lot, even with people who might bring up things that you did in the past reoccurringly, you can move on without them. It's like when you are walking down a path in a lazy race, and others will stop and laugh at your stumbling, but in that time that they stopped, you not only dusted yourself off, but you kept moving.
But I'm human, can anyone name a time where they were insulted in some way, or they met a disagreement with someone else and they hadn't felt uncomfortable? I wish I could. But instead of worrying about pipe dreams, the best thing to do, whether that's in the software world or not, is to not worry so much about what people say and to focus on what you feel you can do.
And then improve on it.
Just recently, I made a personal discovery about how, through starting small, I can get big ideas to expand upon my skill set. I am not unlike some people, I've let small setbacks become greater than they needed to be, and failed to go the extra mile, but here I am, taking the time to say
I have a problem and I want to improve.How can I do that? It isn't by sitting around and talking about it. Instead of letting yourself "vegge out", or let your "comfort" set in, try getting out of your comfort zone. I like the motto; "Just do it". It has a nice feel to it.
Here's a nice and easy thing, pretty generic so you can apply it to just about anything.
Set a goal, it must be completed within the next three days. And do this for the next month. Chart/note everything you start, everything you complete, everything that you quit or just stop doing and everything that you are still working on.
Reward yourself.
Profit.
