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Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

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Re: Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

#21

I always think of this story from from Walt Boomer [0]. Backstory: It's right before Gulf War I (1990). Paraphrased from Gen. Boomer: "General Schwarzkopf asked me 'Boomer, can you get everyone we need to this location by X date?' and I responded 'Yes sir! 100%'. Immediately after I said that, I thought to myself 'I have ABSOLUTELY no idea how to make that happen.' But we figured it out and that's what happened" I al…

That's sort of how I felt when I took the job -- just kind of thrown into the deep end. I had no idea how I was going to complete my first assignment. I think it's tempting to want to seek comfort in your profession (or anything you do, really), but I guess comfort doesn't necessarily spur much growth.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

#22
post #12

Why would having an education make an idea or decision any more valid? A good idea is a good idea is a good idea. Also I really shouldn't have to list the famous tech entrepreneurs who dropped out of college or lack degrees entirely because its pretty much a cliche by now.

I think it's just a confidence thing -- when you learn an idea in a class, you know it's something that's been validated by your professor and whoever wrote the book. When you come up with it or learn it on your own, you don't have the same validation that you're on the right track and not just repeating someone else's mistake.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

#23

As soon as you accept, not just “realise”, but actually and honestly accept the fact that there’s always going to be somebody more qualified to do whatever it is that you’re doing.. the imposter feelings will vanish ;) so yeah.. you’re not the most qualified. Absolutely all odds are all against you, in any case. So what? Just make the most of any opportunities you’re presented with and make your time worth while ;) T…

True, I guess focusing on the impostor feeling doesn't really have much practical application to getting the work done and getting paid for it!

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

#24
post #12

Why would having an education make an idea or decision any more valid? A good idea is a good idea is a good idea. Also I really shouldn't have to list the famous tech entrepreneurs who dropped out of college or lack degrees entirely because its pretty much a cliche by now.

I think it's just a confidence thing -- when you learn an idea in a class, you know it's something that's been validated by your professor and whoever wrote the book. When you come up with it or learn it on your own, you don't have the same validation that you're on the right track and not just repeating someone else's mistake.

Ok I see what you're saying. But if you have learned something through practice, can't you validate it by researching / googling it? See what people are saying on stackoverflow, in blog posts, in books etc.? Also many university film and publish their lectures on youtube, i.e. Stanford Software Engineering course:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkMDCCdjyW8&list=PL3BD1325B3...

> But after years of good performance reviews, successful projects, and promotions, I started to finally allow myself to believe that I knew what I was doing.

Back to your original post, this kind of learning is FAR more valuable than anything you will learn in university. You have learned through practice and experience. I have probably interviewed at at ~20 different companies in the last 6 years and never once have I been asked a single question about my university degree, literally never. Nobody cares about them. They know that its the experience that counts, not the degree (though I'm not saying degrees are worthless either). In my experience I would say around 40% of the software developers I have worked with either do not have a degree at all or have a degree in a completed unrelated subject (i.e. Philosophy). The idea that one developer would discount another developer's idea because he doesn't have a degree in computer science is actually laughable.

Though I'm only saying all of that in order to tell you that a degree is not the answer to your imposter syndrome. The answer is to educate yourself, read books, experiment with different technologies and system architectures, read blog posts and discussions, watch conference talks, go to a conference, join slack channels and discuss topics with other developers. You should feel confident that you know what you're talking about because you have put the effort in to determine what the best solution is based off of research and practical experience, not because you paid hundreds of thousands of dollars (assuming your in the US) to have some guy tell you ideas about software engineering which are probably out of date anyway.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

#25
I dropped out of college when I was in my 20's due to the fact that I was already in the tech industry and making 3 times what my piers where making. I returned 15 years later and got a tech degree, If I had to do it over I would not have went for a tech degree. I was self taught and had a good grasp on programming and architecture by the time I returned to school. I figured I am in tech so I should get a tech degree. If I where to do it again, I would have went for accounting or applied mathematics or even EE.

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

#26
> Now, though, the impostor syndrome is back

Here's my 2cents; You are actually The REAL DEAL because you bootstrapped yourself. I'm not saying that the peeps doing AI research at Carnegie Mellon are pretenders, but you have at least as much claim in Tech as they do--at least the way I see it.

GL and Great Job!

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

#27
post #25

I dropped out of college when I was in my 20's due to the fact that I was already in the tech industry and making 3 times what my piers where making. I returned 15 years later and got a tech degree, If I had to do it over I would not have went for a tech degree. I was self taught and had a good grasp on programming and architecture by the time I returned to school. I figured I am in tech so I should get a tech degree…

This is good to know, thanks!

Re: Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?

#28
post #26

> Now, though, the impostor syndrome is back Here's my 2cents; You are actually The REAL DEAL because you bootstrapped yourself. I'm not saying that the peeps doing AI research at Carnegie Mellon are pretenders, but you have at least as much claim in Tech as they do--at least the way I see it. GL and Great Job!

I appreciate the encouragement! Sometimes I have to just assess the situation more objectively and tell myself "you're making a good living at this stuff, you can't be that terrible at it!"
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