I'm currently a 3rd year Computer Science student, who recently just transferred from a community college into a university, and I feel like I'm not quite ready or feel like I don't have the necessary skill sets that I need in order to succeed, not only in my upper division courses, but as well as when it comes to things like internships. There are these doubts in my head that would creep up from time to time telling me that I've only gotten up to this point of because of sheer luck and that sooner or later, reality will come crashing down and expose me. I've read and heard stories of students and even those who already have their career in the tech industry experience this so my question is: how did you overcome it? Does it comeback from time to time? If so, what do you do?
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Top comments (3)
It happens to all of us so my answer may or may not work for you.
In my own personal experience, I continuously read self-help and inspirational books. Sometimes I talk to my friends about it and often times during the discussion they would open up about "impostor syndrome" as well and share his/her own view about it which really helps significantly.
Also there are times when you may feel that "you're not great" or "you're not helping" but again, always keep in your mind that it's just a normal thing to feel that way. You have to constantly try new things and see what makes you better.
And... Don't hesitate to ask for help. There are tons of good people out there.
Cheers!
It came back to me today when I was told I wasn't good enough for a job at one of the "cool" tech companies in the city where I live.
Negative thoughts entered my mine immediately after being ushered out of the shortened interview. Will I have to take yet another [redacted] contract job with no benefits to make ends meet? What did I do wrong? Did I say something wrong? Why? Is there a huge surplus of people who are better than me? Are my skills and talents really that weak?
What do I do? I usually go back to music, both listening and playing. I may listen to something uplifting to improve my mood (U2 - Beautiful Day, Peter Gabriel - Don't Give Up) or something that lets out anger (Foo Fighters - The Pretender, Iggy and The Stooges - Search and Destroy, Sturgill Simpson - You Can Have The Crown). That seems to push the negative out of my mind....until the next time.
some very good vids on this out there - try this one: youtube.com/watch?v=l_Vqp1dPuPo