Is there a fix for impostor syndrome? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#341

Post by Regardsyjc » Sat, May 05, 2018, 1:26 PM UTC

darkerside wrote: post #340

Regardsyjc wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author says you can feel like an imposter when you're a minority, whether gender or race. I think there's much evidence out there about women that are not being validated in the tech and startup space the same way as men... Just look at female founder statistics.

I just find it best to keep those kinds of complaints extremely specific. Maybe the founder validation statistics you're talking about have changed since the last study was done. Imagine we'd fixed all race and sex discrimination problems (bear with me for a moment). By leaving unfounded statements like the above littered across the internet, we'd be ensuring that future generations of minorities also feel a vague se…

I interpreted that you could feel imposter syndrome simply from the fact that you don't look like you belong and thus minorities have a more difficult time because they can't hide because their difference is literally visible.

When it comes to women or minorities in tech or female founders, if the statistics aren't good enough I believe it's easily visible. Even Google has an atrocious amount of Hispanic or African American engineers. If you work in tech look around your office or at the next tech conference. The lack of visibility is a big problem because it gives the subtle message that you don't belong.

Future generations of minorities won't feel a vague sense of inferiority from reading comments like these, they will have the benefit of seeing who was right or wrong. In fact they might be more amazed by the amount of ignorance...

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#342

Post by smsm42 » Sat, May 05, 2018, 7:08 PM UTC

There's a fix, of course. But it works only for a real impostor syndrome, not for the fake ones.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#343

Post by smsm42 » Sat, May 05, 2018, 7:15 PM UTC

alexquez wrote: post #158

I've been in software for 14 years without a computer science degree and carry a chip on my shoulder because I missed out on algorithms and compilers in school. I'm mostly self-taught and have had the opportunity to run a SAAS company for six years now (CodePen). I'm winging it like many other people in our industry. I wish I'd had two things to when I started my career. 1. A right of passage that endorsed my skills…

> dove deep into the wrong technology (Java Swing :|)

Over my career, I have worked with so many technologies nobody knows about now... That's the part of the game. That's like working for a startup that didn't work out - of course, it's worse that being employee #3 at Facebook, but if you got to do some cool stuff, got paid and learned from the experience - you are still not too bad. The experience will be useful the next time, often in ways you can't now even predict. Including "no, this doesn't work - we tried it at $JOB-2 and it was a complete disaster" :)

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#344

Post by meko » Sat, May 05, 2018, 9:30 PM UTC

always_good wrote: post #289

w0m wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agreed. 18 y/o me was an idiot; i'd have done thing significantly differently.

Frankly, had I known I would be where I am today by my own whims, I would've majored in something like philosophy, not taken more compsci courses.

Here I am, a (floabt) poliSci+=econ major, wishing I had been in CS. I don't truly regret it though, I think it gives me a unique perspective.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#345

Post by meko » Sat, May 05, 2018, 10:03 PM UTC

always_good wrote: post #291

jontayesp wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t most career fields come with important knowledge you learn as a junior, but don’t actually use on a daily basis? I assume doctors learn a huge variety of things in school, but practically don’t use more more than 50% of that knowledge on the job. But having this knowledge makes you better at your job overall. I never got a CS degree, but I wish I did. There are times I run into obscure issues where deeper knowl…

There's nothing in a CS degree that you can't brush up in a self-study. For example, I have a hard time believing my compilers class at UT serves me better than someone taking one of the compiler MOOCs I've seen people mention on HN from time to time. Especially since it was 10 years ago. The class cost me over $2,800 too. It might be tempting to think a CS degree would help you know more about things you don't, but…

You might be able to learn stuff on your own but you'll probably do it at a much slower pace. I consider myself an autodidact but when I started taking in-person classes at my local CC I got access to an almost custom level of guidance. "You get out what you put in": If you're expecting professors to just upload all this karate to your brain, you won't get as much out of it as the guy practicing at home and bringing his questions in.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#346

Post by darkerside » Mon, May 07, 2018, 12:54 AM UTC

Regardsyjc wrote: post #341

darkerside wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just find it best to keep those kinds of complaints extremely specific. Maybe the founder validation statistics you're talking about have changed since the last study was done. Imagine we'd fixed all race and sex discrimination problems (bear with me for a moment). By leaving unfounded statements like the above littered across the internet, we'd be ensuring that future generations of minorities also feel a vague se…

I interpreted that you could feel imposter syndrome simply from the fact that you don't look like you belong and thus minorities have a more difficult time because they can't hide because their difference is literally visible. When it comes to women or minorities in tech or female founders, if the statistics aren't good enough I believe it's easily visible. Even Google has an atrocious amount of Hispanic or African A…

People ride to the level of their expectations. If you expect them to feel isolated and alone because others "don't look like them", it's more likely they will. If you expect them to not work about it and do good work, they're more likely to do that. And the end result is more diversity, just like when East Asian and Indian engineers started working in tech, did good work, and continued to be gainfully employed.

I'm not denying there are systemic problems that affect different ethnic groups differently, but I'm very confident that moaning about visible diversity in tech is not the best way to fix it.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#347

Post by mar77i » Mon, May 07, 2018, 8:38 AM UTC

randomdata wrote: post #134

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #54

Stop treating being an impostor as something bad. See yourself as con artist who succeeds in senior developer, architect and management jobs without the required skills.

What if you feel like an imposter as a con artist?

...get a real job. Both you as a con artist and you... as... wait for it... the person pretending to be an imposter you are.