For a developer, experiencing imposter syndrome is almost inevitable; dealing with it is where the real work lies.
How It All Starts
Regardless of expertise, have you ever encountered a challenge that humbles you to the point of questioning the very decisions that led you to your current situation?
Examples:
Working in a Team of Experienced Developers: You're assigned to a project team where everyone else seems to have years of experience. During meetings, they discuss concepts and technologies that you're unfamiliar with, leading you to question whether you belong in the same room. You start feeling like you're the weakest link in the team and that your contributions are less valuable, even though everyone started where you are at some point.
Receiving Critical Code Reviews: You submit your first code for review, and it comes back with numerous comments and suggestions for improvement. Even though constructive feedback is a normal part of the development process, you interpret it as a sign that you're not good enough. Instead of seeing feedback as an opportunity to learn, you internalize it as evidence of your inadequacy, which can further fuel feelings of imposter syndrome.
Struggling with New Technologies: You’re learning a new programming language or framework that feels vastly different from what you’re used to. Despite your best efforts, you find yourself struggling to understand it, while others seem to pick it up quickly. This can lead to feelings of inadequacy, as if you're not "cut out" for development, even though learning curves are normal and everyone progresses at their own pace.
Comparing Yourself to Peers: You browse social media or developer forums and see peers posting about their accomplishments—launching apps, getting promotions, or speaking at conferences. Meanwhile, you’re still trying to grasp the basics. The comparison game can make you feel like you’re falling behind, which intensifies feelings of being an imposter, even though these platforms often showcase only the highlights of others' careers.
Dealing with Unsolved Bugs: You encounter a stubborn bug that you can’t fix for hours or even days. The more time you spend on it, the more you start doubting your problem-solving skills and question if you’re fit for the job. This can lead to a spiral of self-doubt, where every unsolved issue becomes further "proof" that you don’t have what it takes, rather than recognizing that debugging is a challenging part of development for everyone.
Feeling Overwhelmed by Rapid Changes in Technology: You’re trying to keep up with the latest trends and tools in the tech industry, but the pace of change feels overwhelming. You constantly feel like you're falling behind, no matter how much you learn. The rapid evolution of technology can make you feel like you’ll never be able to keep up, feeding into the idea that you’re not a "real" developer because others seem to adapt more quickly.
Struggling with "Simple" Tasks: You’re given a task that seems simple at first glance, but you find it unexpectedly difficult. You worry that this should be easy for you, and the fact that it isn’t makes you question your abilities. This can lead to a disproportionate sense of failure, where you start to believe that you're not capable of handling even the basics, which is a common trigger for imposter syndrome.
The General familiar feeling!
You start to feel out of place, inadequate for the task at hand. The roller-coaster of self-doubt begins. Then, suddenly, you come up with a solution to your problem. But instead of feeling accomplished, you attribute this success to luck or chance. (This isn’t the real issue.)
The Problem
The real problem arises when you face your next challenge, which is likely to be even more difficult than the last (and it usually is). You approach it with the mindset that you somehow "lucked out" the first time. The relief you felt quickly fades, and the roller-coaster of doubt continues.
Reality Check
Here’s the simple truth: first, you need to recognize that many others have gone through what you are experiencing now. You are not alone. Second, there are those who have made it through and those who haven't. Third, it's not about being intelligent or dumb—if you’ve made it this far, you’re neither. It’s all about your emotional resilience.
Light Bulb Moment
Give yourself the credit you deserve. Recognize your strengths and weaknesses; work on the latter by building on the former (I know it sounds like a sales pitch, but it's true). In reality, if you hadn’t persisted in finding a solution to your problem, you wouldn’t have found one. In tech, as much as it may seem like it, coincidences are rare (we can't all be Percy Spencer). The probability of being just "plainly lucky" is very low. You might stumble into tech by chance, but resilience is what will carry you through the daily challenges.
Creating Something from Nothing
Many of the disciplines in the tech industry didn’t exist a few decades ago. This means that much of the tech field is still unexplored. Better yet, you can invent a discipline that suits you and run with it.
Conclusion
The moment you give up on notions of coincidences, luck, impossibilities, and rigidity, your journey towards overcoming imposter syndrome begins. You also learn to live with it, because it’s bound to happen again!
Top comments (1)
This is a situation I am currently experiencing. Sometimes I feel inadequate. My work is not on time and I work day and night to do it. If I can get rid of this, it will be great for me, but if the work continues to increase, it seems like this will be a bigger problem.