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Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

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Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#221

Post by RC_ITR »

saalweachter wrote: post #134
jldugger wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Total derail but: > I'm a Principal Engineer at a FAAMNG company. Does anyone other than a MS employee put an M in FAANG?

I usually use FAAMG instead of FAANG because I don't understand what Netflix is doing in there.

Lol good on you for not just dropping the N, but there's actually a person who coined this, and he coined 'FANG' to describe a set of stocks that at the time were appreciating very quickly. Netflix was both the smallest and the first to slow of that group, so that's why they now seem out of place.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#222

Post by sfink »

polote wrote: post #131
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…

Honest question, imagine if at your company tomorrow they decide to fire one principal engineer. Would you find it fair that the one is you? Would yo find it fair if you were among the 10% they fire? The 20%? The 30%? I ask you that because it is much simpler to answer to a binary question like, do I have imposter syndrome? Or put in other words, am I modest? You can make the link with how people see themselves. A lo…

Uh, no, don't do that.

Anyone who has survived a round of layoffs is very familiar with survivor's guilt, which manifests as an intense form of impostor syndrome. "Why was it X instead of me? How did I manage to trick my way into staying when X (and Y and Z) went?"

It doesn't have much to do with your honest self-evaluation. It's kind of unavoidable. Whether or not it's accurate doesn't really matter.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#223

Post by sheikheddy »

tester756 wrote: post #219
jldugger wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Total derail but: > I'm a Principal Engineer at a FAAMNG company. Does anyone other than a MS employee put an M in FAANG?

I do because I wouldn't put video streaming service among tech behemoths that create operating systems, compilers, programming languages, databases, put shitton into ML research and many, many other I'm not saying that video streaming is easy, but I believe any of those could do it easily from technical standpoint. Google, Facebook and Amazon already do, idk about Apple and MS.

AppleTV+? Microsoft Stream?

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#224

Post by quickthrower2 »

charles_f wrote: post #96

The title is somewhat misleading, because it's talking about two different types of imposter. The "imposter" of "imposter syndrome" believes others didn't figure what they really are, that they're flawed, underskilled, will fail, etc. ; and that makes you somewhat of a fraud, i.e. an imposter, because they're secretly not the skilled person that was hired. The "actual imposter" from the "imposter syndrome" would be s…

Another type of imposter is due to the Dunning–Kruger effect. The one who thinks they are an expert, but are not yet. Like an overconfident driver who has just passed their test.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#225

Post by tester756 »

sheikheddy wrote: post #223
tester756 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do because I wouldn't put video streaming service among tech behemoths that create operating systems, compilers, programming languages, databases, put shitton into ML research and many, many other I'm not saying that video streaming is easy, but I believe any of those could do it easily from technical standpoint. Google, Facebook and Amazon already do, idk about Apple and MS.

AppleTV+? Microsoft Stream?

Oh, I forgot about AppleTV, but honestly I've never heard about Microsoft Stream

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#226

Post by Sanguinaire »

whimsicalism wrote: post #202
jcheng wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then does Amazon belong there? I didn’t get the impression it’s at the level of the others, but closer to Microsoft.

Lower than Microsoft prestige-wise.

Highly debatable. While Amazon is more likely to be on the shit-list of Joe Public, in technical circles it comes down to AWS vs MS. Frankly if MS hadn't bought GitHub to distract magpie developers, there would be no contest.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#227

Post by France_is_bacon »

I got up to 5th degree black belt, had my own school. Total imposter syndrome, all. the. time. One out of a million people that start learning martial arts will reach that level.

Your average person would come in off the street and are white belts. I could literally f-ck them up with the smallest flick of my hand. I've been through thousands and thousands of rounds of sparring, bag punching, etc.

But lots of imposter syndrome. I just thought I sucked no matter how much time I put into it.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#228

Post by armchairhacker »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #8

I guess I just don't really believe this. It sounds nice, and it might even be a good falsehood to tell yourself for personal motivation—but that doesn't make it true. Yes, of course if you're an actual fraudster intending to commit fraud, you're probably comfortable with committing fraud. But feeling "impostor syndrome" colloquially means second-guessing whether you're good enough to deserve your position. There are…

> good enough to deserve your position

What does this mean? What qualifies as "good enough"?

If you're not fired, you're good enough for your boss.

There are billions of people from poor regions who would put in way more effort than you. Many of them are smarter too. You make $100K / year to spend 35 hours / week drinking coffee and writing JavaScript, they make like $10K / year to spend 60 hours / week physical labor and getting yelled at. You'll never be good enough for them.

Also, there are 7+ billion people in the world. That means there are millions if not billions more talented than you. You're probably not even the most talented in your group.

But why does any of that matter? Literally nobody is good enough by those standards.

There's no objective "good enough". Those people from poor regions who work their asses off deserve more, you don't deserve less. In my eyes, don't be an asshole, contribute to society in some way, and you're good enough.

Except maybe one objective "good enough": if you're not fired, you're good enough for your boss. Honestly, some bosses have unrealistic standards so even that doesn't count.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#229

Post by Sanguinaire »

TechBro8615 wrote: post #198
psyc wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought it was more appropriate for most purposes. But on HN, perhaps the most common purpose is discussing ludicrous total comp. And, at least when I left in 2010, Microsoft most certainly did not offer that. I heard that they raised pay across the board shortly after I left, but considering where they started, I’d be shocked if it put them on par with FAANG. Anybody know?

It’s a dog whistle for fellow prestige whores and status collectors. Literally nobody cares what megacorp buys your time from you. I’d posit that if you’re optimizing for comp and stock options you’re either a well-balanced person with priorities outside your career, or the complete opposite – obsessed with chasing status symbols and a myopic idea of success.

Is it better to aspire for balance by chasing both, or neither? After all, what is status if you have no-one to brag to - and what good is having a lot of free time when you are just going to end up dead either way, and with work being the best chance most of us get at making a mark on the world.

Not meant as a snide/flippant remark; this shit is what keeps me up at night.

Re: Actual impostors don't get impostor syndrome

#230

Post by b112 »

menzoic wrote: post #156
b112 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft wasn't historically an "internet company". They were an OS only, non-internet company, compared to the rest. When the acronym was created, it was still that way. Even now, they make most of their butter from OS installs, although yes, they have branched out a lot.

The acroynm is based purely on stock performance during the time it was created. You could make the same argument for Apple but Apple was on the list from day 1.

I think there's more nuance here, for example, Microsoft never succeeded in disrupting anyone but itself.

Others were major market movers and shakers.

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