This week I handed in my notice at a job I have had for almost ten years. In a few weeks time I will start a brand new job as a web applications developer.
This is a great achievement for me and a great chance to learn and expand my development skills.
However moments after I handed my notice in, a huge wave of uncertainty enveloped me. I have read about this and I think I was suffering from an attack of Imposter Syndrome.
Despite external evidence of their competence, those with the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be.
I started to convince myself I couldn’t do the job I had just accepted and that moments after I arrived on my first day I would be found out as a fraud and kicked out the door.
My logical brain was no match for the Imposter Syndrome. Having been kicked out the door of this new job, I would become penniless in no time with no employer (even my previous boss wouldn’t want me back) or recruitment agency willing to speak with me.
OK lets see if we can fight off the Imposter Syndrome and look at a possible worse case scenario. I start at my new job, it is very hard work and a month or so later I have to move on.
No employer ever would sack me on my first day. My first day will be lots of learning how they do things, looking at procedures. I have lots of experience of learning new things, looking at procedures and if I put the work in I can make this new job a success. I have lots of good ideas and useful experience that no one at my new company has.
I don’t know what the solution is to Imposter Syndrome other than to try and ignore it by thinking positively and the knowledge that I have done amazing things in the last ten years and I will do the same in the next ten.
Top comments (1)
Imposter syndrome is truly like a demon in your mind always taunting you. Facing your demons and beating them is the way to overcome imposter Syndrome. It's a life long battle but we can be triumphant.
I had awful imposter Syndrome in a previous job I had to ask another developer for support because I felt out of my depth and I did not want to be seen as weak.