I’d like to share some of my own experiences. Warning ⚠️: this is going to be long.
When I started out as a software developer 6+ years ago, I was totally shocked 🤯 by how bad I was at coding. Everyone around me was doing great, completing all the assignments, I had the worst reviews among all my batchmates, and so on. Every single day I would think if I was cut out for the job. I too didn’t know this was called imposter syndrome.
Looking at types above, I can safely say I was the perfectionist type even though I was struggling with the basic stuff 🥲, and the soloist because I didn’t want anyone touching my code thinking they could make it worse than it already is. BIIIIIIG MISTAKE!!! I should have reached out for help and communicated with someone more experienced.
A short story from a few years ago to set the context before jumping to the present. I had just started out with a green field full JavaScript project, I was the only one working on this(this will be important later), and I was doing just fine, I was happy with the work I was putting out, thinking finally I was over the problems I had in the past. But boy was I wrong 🤦♂️.
The client suggested that we present our journey for this project in Dreamforce since something like this was not very common, plus this might get us the much needed help we’ll need in the near future.
I was so happy that I finally got a great platform to share my work with others.
One more surprise the client had for me was that I was going to be the one presenting the whole talk. insert heavy breathing and sweating meme
As you might have guessed, this is where the imposter syndrome kicked me right in the face. And the fact that I was the only one working on it made it worse. Again, big mistake, I didn’t reach out for help.
Anyways I submitted the proposal, and even though I knew how great of an opportunity this was, every day I would just wish that Salesforce reject the proposal. And when they finally did, it crushed me knowing I had just missed a great opportunity.
That’s when I decided I was just going to ignore whatever bad thoughts come into my mind, ask for help as early as possible.
Well, fast forward to today, I still have some of those thoughts and I’m still kind of a soloist, but now I’ve somewhat learned how to deal with them and learned to be a better teammate. What works best for me is that I don’t think too much about the possible outcomes, I just take everything up like a chore that I have to do, like running an errand at home, no big deal, right 😅.
I’ve now found a partial solution that works for me, but I’m always on the lookout for better ways to deal with such negative thoughts.
Communication might be THE BEST solution IMO.
Oh wow! Thank you for sharing your story. For you to recognize your flaw(a sign of humility and that you are winning), is already a big step in fighting IS. I can understand being a soloist as the fear of being judged, for me. Luckily, I found one classmate that I made a connection with... we both can relate to each other and support each other. It does help to know you are not alone in this and that your feelings are valid. I guess we just have to see the bright side of this syndrome... that we can know ourselves better and we are great fighters in our battle. Winners never quit and quitters never win! Thank you again!
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I’d like to share some of my own experiences. Warning ⚠️: this is going to be long.
When I started out as a software developer 6+ years ago, I was totally shocked 🤯 by how bad I was at coding. Everyone around me was doing great, completing all the assignments, I had the worst reviews among all my batchmates, and so on. Every single day I would think if I was cut out for the job. I too didn’t know this was called imposter syndrome.
Looking at types above, I can safely say I was the perfectionist type even though I was struggling with the basic stuff 🥲, and the soloist because I didn’t want anyone touching my code thinking they could make it worse than it already is. BIIIIIIG MISTAKE!!! I should have reached out for help and communicated with someone more experienced.
A short story from a few years ago to set the context before jumping to the present. I had just started out with a green field full JavaScript project, I was the only one working on this(this will be important later), and I was doing just fine, I was happy with the work I was putting out, thinking finally I was over the problems I had in the past. But boy was I wrong 🤦♂️.
The client suggested that we present our journey for this project in Dreamforce since something like this was not very common, plus this might get us the much needed help we’ll need in the near future.
I was so happy that I finally got a great platform to share my work with others.
One more surprise the client had for me was that I was going to be the one presenting the whole talk. insert heavy breathing and sweating meme
As you might have guessed, this is where the imposter syndrome kicked me right in the face. And the fact that I was the only one working on it made it worse. Again, big mistake, I didn’t reach out for help.
Anyways I submitted the proposal, and even though I knew how great of an opportunity this was, every day I would just wish that Salesforce reject the proposal. And when they finally did, it crushed me knowing I had just missed a great opportunity.
That’s when I decided I was just going to ignore whatever bad thoughts come into my mind, ask for help as early as possible.
Well, fast forward to today, I still have some of those thoughts and I’m still kind of a soloist, but now I’ve somewhat learned how to deal with them and learned to be a better teammate. What works best for me is that I don’t think too much about the possible outcomes, I just take everything up like a chore that I have to do, like running an errand at home, no big deal, right 😅.
I’ve now found a partial solution that works for me, but I’m always on the lookout for better ways to deal with such negative thoughts.
Communication might be THE BEST solution IMO.
Oh wow! Thank you for sharing your story. For you to recognize your flaw(a sign of humility and that you are winning), is already a big step in fighting IS. I can understand being a soloist as the fear of being judged, for me. Luckily, I found one classmate that I made a connection with... we both can relate to each other and support each other. It does help to know you are not alone in this and that your feelings are valid. I guess we just have to see the bright side of this syndrome... that we can know ourselves better and we are great fighters in our battle. Winners never quit and quitters never win! Thank you again!