How do you balance confidence and ego as a beginner photographer?

I’ve been shooting photography for about 2 years now, mostly cars, but I tend to focus a lot on the people and atmosphere around them too. I don’t shoot super often, usually just a handful of times a month, but I do care a lot about improving and getting better over time.

Lately I’ve been thinking more about how this could tie into my future, especially since I’m in marketing and interested in the creative side of things. Because of that, I’ve been paying more attention to how I approach my work and how I think about my own skill level.

The thing I keep getting stuck on is the balance between being confident in my work and not having an ego about it. I’m self-taught, and while I like a lot of the photos I take and think some of them are genuinely good, I don’t really know what “good” is in an objective sense. I’m not always sure how my work actually stacks up or how other photographers would view it, and that’s where I start to question myself.

I see people talk all the time about beginner photographers overrating their work, and I really don’t want to be that person or come across that way. At the same time, if I just assume my work isn’t that good, it kind of kills my motivation and makes the whole thing less enjoyable.

So I’m trying to figure out how people deal with that. How do you stay confident enough to keep pushing forward while still being honest about where you’re at and what needs work?