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Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

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Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#81

Post by auto »

deanCommie wrote: post #77

A lot of the discussion here is treating impostor syndrome and qualifications as binary: You're either qualified or not. And your evaluation of your skills is either above your actual skills or not. But it's more nuanced than that. I'm a Principal Engineer at a FAAMNG company. I have impostor syndrome all the time. Why? Because I measure myself against 1) role models that are ahead of me in many ways - I've always do…

A lot of this resonates with me, and in particular:

> but I don't consider them difficult (how could they be, if I am good at them)

I've struggled with this over the years. As a kid, once something clicked it felt like you had leveled up in some way, and now had a new skill. As an adult, I have a hard time not looking at everything I'm capable of and thinking "it's so simple, it obviously just works like this".

It's as if I have no spectrum of [I don't know this at all] and [I'm an expert at this], my self reflection that leads to impostor syndrome just sees them as [I don't know this at all] and [This is obvious].

FWIW, not FAANG, but Senior Firmware Engineer for a household name with FAANG affiliations.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#82

Post by andai »

auto wrote: post #81
deanCommie wrote: post #77

A lot of the discussion here is treating impostor syndrome and qualifications as binary: You're either qualified or not. And your evaluation of your skills is either above your actual skills or not. But it's more nuanced than that. I'm a Principal Engineer at a FAAMNG company. I have impostor syndrome all the time. Why? Because I measure myself against 1) role models that are ahead of me in many ways - I've always do…

A lot of this resonates with me, and in particular: > but I don't consider them difficult (how could they be, if I am good at them) I've struggled with this over the years. As a kid, once something clicked it felt like you had leveled up in some way, and now had a new skill. As an adult, I have a hard time not looking at everything I'm capable of and thinking "it's so simple, it obviously just works like this ". It's…

The wtf-duh dichotomy... I know it too well!

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#84

Post by sylens »

deanCommie wrote: post #77

A lot of the discussion here is treating impostor syndrome and qualifications as binary: You're either qualified or not. And your evaluation of your skills is either above your actual skills or not. But it's more nuanced than that. I'm a Principal Engineer at a FAAMNG company. I have impostor syndrome all the time. Why? Because I measure myself against 1) role models that are ahead of me in many ways - I've always do…

This comment resonates a lot with me. Over the years, I realized that while I may not know the most in some areas, the fact that I am able to communicate what I do know clearly and efficiently often makes up the difference. You quickly learn that people aren't really expecting you to hold the entire knowledge base in your head as long as you're willing to admit you may not know the best answer/best solution but are willing to dig for it.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#86

Post by mikeryan »

deanCommie wrote: post #77

A lot of the discussion here is treating impostor syndrome and qualifications as binary: You're either qualified or not. And your evaluation of your skills is either above your actual skills or not. But it's more nuanced than that. I'm a Principal Engineer at a FAAMNG company. I have impostor syndrome all the time. Why? Because I measure myself against 1) role models that are ahead of me in many ways - I've always do…

I feel that some level of imposter syndrome is healthy it means you’re cognizant of the fact that there might be something you’re missing or that there might be a “better” way.

I started my career in software 20 years ago with a good attitude and an “HTML for Dummies” book. It made me very cognizant that I was outgunned by a lot of my peers so it made me ask a lot of questions - half of them I’d figure out just figuring out how to pose a question while walking over to someone else’s cube.

I’ve gotten “better” as an engineer and there’s less I “don’t know” but I’m still always wondering, even on “simple” stuff if there’s not a “simpler” way to do it.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#87

Post by jldugger »

deanCommie wrote: post #77

A lot of the discussion here is treating impostor syndrome and qualifications as binary: You're either qualified or not. And your evaluation of your skills is either above your actual skills or not. But it's more nuanced than that. I'm a Principal Engineer at a FAAMNG company. I have impostor syndrome all the time. Why? Because I measure myself against 1) role models that are ahead of me in many ways - I've always do…

Total derail but:

> I'm a Principal Engineer at a FAAMNG company.

Does anyone other than a MS employee put an M in FAANG?

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#89

Post by AlbertCory »

I coined the phrase "reverse imposter syndrome" during my later years at Google.

Reverse imposter syndrome is when you think you're good enough to be there, but you're not.

At s company gets bigger and bigger, the talent level has to revert to the population mean. Especially when all FAAMNG companies also covet the highly talented, no one of them can fill its hiring goals without lowering its standards.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#90

Post by burkaman »

travisjungroth wrote: post #27

I disagree with this article and most things I read about imposter syndrome. There's usually some good advice in there about self care. But, I think it ends up missing the mark because it leaves out half the story: It is healthy and normal to question if you're over-representing yourself. A constant feeling of "Am I as good as people think and I say?" is only imposter syndrome if the answer is yes . Otherwise, yeah,…

The key part of impostor syndrome is that you think you're bad at something, but somehow nobody else can tell. You keep getting compliments for the thing you're worried about.

If you think you're bad at coding, and people can tell right away in a short coding interview, then you're not an impostor, you're just bad at it. If you're coming in last in every race, then you're not an impostor, everyone knows you're bad. If you're consistently on the podium but you tell yourself you don't really deserve it and those races were all flukes, that's imposter syndrome.

It is healthy and normal to question your own abilities and how you represent yourself, but it's not healthy to question to such a point that you ignore all positive evidence. If you mentor someone who's great at coding, and you tell them that, and they still think to themselves that they're actually bad and just got lucky this time, that's impostor syndrome.

tldr: "Am I bad at this" and "am I a fraud that has everyone fooled" are very different.

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