Have you ever struggled with imposter syndrome? 👽

Have you ever felt like you just aren’t smart enough or like you’re incapable of being a dev? How did you overcome this feeling? What did you learn from it? Please, share! 📢

Comments

[manish srivastava]

I am chemical engineer passed out in 2005. Then, I joined government of India undertaking and appointed as head of credit for food and agro industries. After, nine years , I quiet that job to start my own venture .

Today , I own three companies- electronic, IT and infra. I love IT most.

I thought I won't be able to code ever. I started learning online from youtube etc .

Today, I know php fairly. My next learning is going to be python.

My business is also into cloud computing consultation. I learnt cloud.

I believe no one suffers from syndrome. The only thing is " every journey start with single step". Whenever, I think I can't do.... I take my first step. Even if don't reach the destination, I will atleast know the way of destination.

[Paul Isaris]

Of course. Most times that I get to do something I feel not prepared about.
What I learned from it is that it's pretty OK not to know everything and not being prepared about everything (which is impossible, also). You just need to allocate time to study and get better.
The key is to learn how to battle it and accept it as you grow.

[Rei Allen Ramos]

Short answer is I haven't overcame it.

Everyone gets it whether they put a label on it or not. I guess from personal experience, I just acknowledge the fact that there's always someone better than me, therefore I need to keep an open mind and treat each moment as an opportunity to grow. This growth mindset is what's pushing me to pursue other hobbies outside of web development as well.

The advice I tell myself is to always compare what I am with what I was 3 months prior. This helps me quantify my progress.

• I just wrote a migration file to add a new column to table foo. 3 months ago I didn't even know what a table is.
• (time X has passed)
• I just wrote a migration file to add a new column to table foo. 3 months ago I had to copy/paste an existing migration's filename and sloppily edit the timestamp.
• (time X has passed)
• I just wrote a migration file to add a new column to table foo. 3 months ago I didn't know this framework has built-in generators.

So take it easy and pat yourself on the back for every small progress you make. Leaving this powerful message below:

1.01^365 = 37.8
0.99^365 = 0.03

[Ashish Santikari]

Yes, that is something I have struggled with. There is no way to overcome it as it's a phase that will hit you once in a while. I can correlate the situation with this graph. All I can suggest(which worked for me), is to take it slow, chill for some time and let that mood subdue. All the best :)

[John Colagioia (he/him)]

I recently posted on this, my theory being that anybody who hasn't is either an idiot or doesn't see it as a bad thing, and that it's a good thing.

Impostor Syndrome

John Colagioia ・ Aug 23 '20 ・ 6 min read

#career

Seriously, I'm glad people are finally willing to ask and those of us who have been at work for a longer time need to own up to it and normalize the fact that we're all in over our heads.

[Ian Pride]

It's really the same life concept that: the more you learn, the more you realize you don't know much at all and I think that's one of the main things behind Impostor Syndrome.

[Juan F Gonzalez]

That is Dunning-Kruger Effect for you.
The ones who are really knowledgeable about a subject realize that they still have a lot to learn.

[michael]

Have you experienced any other form of motivation this effective in trying to prove yourself wrong?

Welcome to Game Theory :)

[Sohaib]

I feel like I struggle with this time to time when I am learning to code, but whenever I have learnt something I feel like I have accomplished something great. The feeling of creating something and for it to work has a great deal of satisfaction for me. I am trying my best for the imposter syndrome not to hit me again but lets see how I get along.

[Gruber]

It's an ongoing process, but to list your skills and ask your co-workers about major points that could use improvements should provide honest feedback that really feels real, since any positive feedback will be met with constructive criticism, which in my experience, is enough to bypass the impostor's syndrome.

[Gerard Klijs]

Lots of times. Past week was pretty bad, with a kind of bug solved today. Learned a lot in the process, but didn't feel like it should be something spending almost a week on.
I got some feedback from my Kafka Summit talk a few weeks ago which helped.
There is just so much you could learn as developer and there is ample time to learn. It doesn't feel totally right, but sometimes it helps to see other struggle. Like live demo's going wrong, or when helping out a colleague and noticing they make an error.

[Matthieu Cneude]

After some years in the field, here's my thinking:

1. There is always somebody better than me.
2. I'll always have problems I have difficulties to solve.
3. I'll feel an imposter because I can't solve all my problems.
4. I'll feel in imposter because the other person is better than me.

The conclusion: everybody, at every level, even among the best of the best, will have this feeling that we shouldn't be here. That we shouldn't do what we do. That's normal, and when you fully realize that, you can begin to create some tactics to go around it:

1. When the imposter syndrome begins to arise, think about your past self. You're better now, and that's all that matter.
2. Difficulties and challenges will teach you a lot. See the learning you'll get from it, not the failures you're living now.

It's difficult. You need to work on that as often as you can. When your mind wander into comparisons and judgment on yourself, remember the advice above.