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Ask HN: What ways have worked for you to overcome 'imposter syndrome'?

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Re: Ask HN: What ways have worked for you to overcome 'imposter syndrome'?

#41

Post by jancsika »

I don't think I have a solution if the setting is as broad as "technology" or even the narrower "careerist technology".

I do have a solution if one is experiencing "imposter syndrome" in a particular domain: have a mentor. The mentor will help you measure the extent of your knowledge. If the mentor says, "That looks/sounds good to me," then you cast the research into the big scary world and sit with those "imposter" feelings knowing they are false positives.

Eventually you learn to measure your knowledge without reliance on the mentor, and the "imposter" feelings lessen.

Re: Ask HN: What ways have worked for you to overcome 'imposter syndrome'?

#43

Post by kixiQu »

droithomme wrote: post #39

> A lot of people on HN grew up in wealthier families, and perhaps never had to work a manual labor job. Speak for yourself. I find this offensive. But maybe you are right since a large number of people here have upvoted this to be top post. > If the average worker lifts 100 boxes per day, you just have to lift 100 boxes and you know you are doing the work correctly. You deserve to be there. Deserve to be there? Wow.…

Whoa, what? I don't think this comment meant anything negative to people from blue-collar backgrounds, and I think when it reads "deserve to be there" that--you might be reading that as "don't deserve anything better than that", but I think the context implied that what was meant was "shouldn't feel like you're a fraud at box-lifting and thus don't deserve to be doing the work you're doing". My family's blue-collar AF, but I don't think there's anything offensive about noting that a field that widely requires college degrees (these days) is going to be populated largely by the classes of people who get college degrees (for whatever reasons such class divisions exist). "Wealthier" doesn't even necessarily mean anything above middle class, in context.

Re: Ask HN: What ways have worked for you to overcome 'imposter syndrome'?

#46

Post by jasonm23 »

Better to think of imposter syndrome as an engine of improvement. You are signalling yourself that you want to be more like (insert current inspirational figure here)

If you were as good as you'll ever be how would you improve? How would you stay interested in your life?

It's a long journey of small steps...

Being able to deliver with what you know and getting better is fun. If you really feel deficiency in a particular field that you want to improve, crack the books, ask for help, get peer feedback and set simple goals you can achieve.

Build on that and keep going.

It's not intelligence, per se, it's also tenacity, diligence, and practice that combine into satisfying feelings of improvement.

Re: Ask HN: What ways have worked for you to overcome 'imposter syndrome'?

#47

Post by jacobolus »

droithomme wrote: post #39

> A lot of people on HN grew up in wealthier families, and perhaps never had to work a manual labor job. Speak for yourself. I find this offensive. But maybe you are right since a large number of people here have upvoted this to be top post. > If the average worker lifts 100 boxes per day, you just have to lift 100 boxes and you know you are doing the work correctly. You deserve to be there. Deserve to be there? Wow.…

The question was about “impostor syndrome”. The implication that the OP feels like he doesn’t really “deserve” to be where he is is right there in the name.

Nobody said that he was justified in such a belief. Here’s Wikipedia’s definition: “Impostor syndrome is a concept describing high-achieving individuals who are marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a ‘fraud’.”

Re: Ask HN: What ways have worked for you to overcome 'imposter syndrome'?

#48

Post by droithomme »

kixiQu wrote: post #43
droithomme wrote: post #39

> A lot of people on HN grew up in wealthier families, and perhaps never had to work a manual labor job. Speak for yourself. I find this offensive. But maybe you are right since a large number of people here have upvoted this to be top post. > If the average worker lifts 100 boxes per day, you just have to lift 100 boxes and you know you are doing the work correctly. You deserve to be there. Deserve to be there? Wow.…

Whoa, what? I don't think this comment meant anything negative to people from blue-collar backgrounds, and I think when it reads "deserve to be there" that--you might be reading that as "don't deserve anything better than that", but I think the context implied that what was meant was "shouldn't feel like you're a fraud at box-lifting and thus don't deserve to be doing the work you're doing". My family's blue-collar A…

"deserve to be there" is very clear in its meaning.

Re: Ask HN: What ways have worked for you to overcome 'imposter syndrome'?

#49

Post by all_usernames »

Get a degree in clinical psychology. You'll learn that everyone basically shares the same thoughts of inadequacy, the same kinds of guilt and shame. And that these feelings don't really go away with "success," but they might lessen with conscious attention (therapy, coaching, etc.)

But even better: share your feelings with a group of your peers. You'll find that they can all relate, and that you're not alone. The antidote to shame is (healthy) vulnerability.

Re: Ask HN: What ways have worked for you to overcome 'imposter syndrome'?

#50

Post by good_vibes »

superasn wrote: post #24
caser wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I respect your opinion, I think that there are a large number of people who struggle with the feeling of not having accomplished anything / not being "good enough" even in be face of what most would consider career success. Psychology has some terminology for this: cognitive distortions, and in particular, minimization and magnification. Whether it's due to upbringing, environment, what have you, some large num…

This is rather good advice. To add to that I would recommend reading Feeling good by David burns. It has a lot of exercises, especially the Vertical Arrow technique that can really help OP.

Will read it after I finish 'Reinventing Your Life', another book that was recommended to me.
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