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You're Better Than Your Impostor Syndrome

Sarah Beecroft on March 12, 2020

Hi! My name is Sarah and I've only been seriously coding for a little over a year. I deal with Impostor syndrome, just as many other coding newbies...

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Keff • Mar 12 '20

I still deal with this after 4-5 years of working as a developer in the same company,

I can assure you this is something also midlevel/senior developers suffer as well if not more because they are expected to perform in a certain way and offer a certain output.

Juniors are expected to not be experts in anything so you don't have to worry that much about doing it all perfectly :)

I recommend checking this article out, and many more that are available in dev.to:

One Useful Advice To Fight The Impostor Syndrome

Elena ・ Dec 8 '17 ・ 6 min read

#impostorsyndrome #advice #coaching

Sarah Beecroft • Mar 12 '20

I really appreciate your insight. I liked that you focused on not only what impostor syndrome is and how to start to conquer, but how it can damage reputation and mental health. I'm guilty of belittling my own achievements because of the thoughts in my head, so I need the reminder sometimes.

Sarah Beecroft • Mar 12 '20

lol I totally responded to you as if you wrote this article. I blame early morning pre-coffee. Either way, your insight is appreciated. :)

Keff • Mar 13 '20

Ohh, don't worry! I guessed that was the case :P

Alvin Karanja • Mar 12 '20

Am with you on this. I am still new to coding but on the very first days were pretty hard on me. It took the support from my fellow coders at boot-camp to overcome my fears and shortcomings. Just as you have said it on the blog, you have to totally believe in yourself and your work and most importantly code everyday. Sites like CodeWars can also be of help with the Whiteboard problems. Write the BDD and Pseudocode before tackling the actual problem as it not only helps you understand the problem better but also coming up with the solution.

Sarah Beecroft • Mar 12 '20

I need to go back to CodeWars! I checked it out when I first started and it was just a little daunting.. Pseudocoding is something I need to be better at too! Whiteboarding is great for that.

Alvin Karanja • Mar 12 '20

Personally I find HackerRank intimidating partly because I never understand my way around and have a hard time figuring how it works. Also CodeWars is much easy to understand and know your way around. A lot of Devs practice using CodeWars making it easy to get assistance when stuck. Crush on Pseudocode and it will be easy on the problem.

Sarah Beecroft • Mar 12 '20

Their interface is a little confusing at first. I highly recommend going through their tutorials first. Once you adjust to it, it's not so bad. I'll be checking out CodeWars later today.

Martin Häusler • Mar 13 '20

I have a PhD in computer science and work as a senior developer at a startup, and the impostor syndrome hits me as well every now and then. That's normal, I guess. Reflecting on your position is good, but fear is not. Don't let it keep you from following your chosen path.

There's a proverb in my country: "Everybody is cooking with water". There is no super-special ingredient, it's discipline and diligence and hard honest work. You're certainly not an impostor if you're working to the best of your abilities and constantly learn more.