ello, my name is Ramon, I began as a associate Front-End Software Engineer to now a Technical Lead for the Software Engineering teams at my company within a short amount of time of a year. I've worked with full-time employees, contractors varying from anywhere of 3-6 month time frames. A mix of engineers from front-end to back-end, Java to JavaScript, even AWS Cloud Engineers. I've learned much from all these individuals that have come and gone, both technical and social aspects. It is how I became the technical lead that I am now.

What is with the title? Lets dive in shall we.

1. How are you doing?
2. Need anything?
3. What can I do to help? These are the 3 most underrated questions that I continually ask. As a tech lead, it is my responsibility to those I work with to be taken care of both mentally and physically. Even us engineers are human. Despite the stereotype "code monkey".

We as engineers live hand in hand with the concept of burnout, stress, anxiety, self-doubt, and for some... the unexplainable fear of asking for help for sake of how we may be perceived or judged by others who are more knowledgeable.

We get so caught up with this lifestyle, that we don't even think to ask these questions. Why is that?

Has social media taught us that we are all doing well for ourselves, because we show only the good and never the ugly side? Perhaps. Or is it that we've been taught to lead with our ego and tuck those negative feelings away. You know, shove them deep down to fester within ourselves until a breaking point, because we believe that no one wants to see weakness, only strength should be expressed. Is this truly what we've learned only to accept?

How are you doing?

• Are you stressed with learning a new language or concept?
• Did something not make sense while building a component causing you to lose vision of the project as a whole?
• Are you full of anxiety within a role where you just don't understand the request coming from a client or business?
• Do you have that uneasy feeling in your stomach because the deadline for that major project is due within a week and you're still two weeks behind?
• Frustrated and having the urge to quit because you just don't feel like you're making progress?
• Or are you excited and confused at all the new things you want to learn, which is a great feeling to have. How you are doing may not always be negative, there is always room for positive feelings as well, these are just some examples I've encountered.

Tell me, how are you doing? Don't hold back. I am here to listen.

Need anything?

Perhaps positive encouragement. If you're reading this. Hey, you got this. Whether you are self-taught, university taught, or even taught by an acquaintance/friend. You. Got. This.

Don't allow yourself to have that feeling as if you're not making progress, you've made it this far. Keep going.

Don't worry about those dead lines, take a break. Give yourself some time to think about it, eat something healthy and go for a walk if you can.

Does that specific API call not work you're trying to troubleshoot? That is okay, you'll figure it out, you always have in the past with other problems. Start over and reach out to someone who you know is an API expert. You'll find that the problem is usually something so minor that you may be stressing over a small typo or grammatical error. It's happened more frequently than you may think.

Don't hesitate to ask, do you need anything if so, what is it?

What can I do to help?

I can review your portfolio, sure, and I can provide feedback at all levels.

Are you struggling with just the basic steps of CSS? Here is a resource that may be helpful:

developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS..

Are you unsure or not feeling confident enough to make posts and asks others for information or help? Who are they, I'll create a group chat with you and together we can ask for help. Remember, I'm here to help you, just like you are here to help me.

Take a break, I encourage it. The way you're feeling is not just you, we're all feeling that same thing. Only difference is, I am here, and we are in this together.

Do you want to troubleshoot some code together? I'm always available to do code reviews, but I will expect you to explain it to me like I am an intern. This is how you will learn faster, is if you teach.

If you feel stuck in the engineering path, you can always rely on me to help. That is what I am here for.

Just let me know, how can I help?