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Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

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Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#181

Post by Clubber »

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…

I was fortunate enough to have an outstanding mentor. What a difference that makes. We worked together for years on some really cool DSS stuff. We were constantly trying to outdo each other and it made us both better.

As far as the degree, I'm sure you've realized by now that drive can compensate for just about anything. Also, everyone has to prove to themselves that they are good enough. Once that happens, results are limitless.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#182

Post by scarface74 »

I've never had imposter syndrome. I've always been honest about my qualifications at interviews and I've always purposefully taken jobs where I barely meet the qualifications. It's a great way to learn. This also meant the first few months I spent plenty of extra time learning the technology that I didn't know. If the company hired me despite knowing that I didn't know all of the required technology, they must be willing to give me ramp up time.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#183

Post by ams6110 »

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…

I have a degree but honestly can't say I've ever really used anything from algorithms or compilers courses on the job. Nobody (meaning, very few people doing mainstream startup/SaaS development) writes fundamental algorithms, you use libraries and classes from the language you're working in. Most people don't work in compiled languages anymore, and if they do, they don't write their own compilers.

Maybe understanding the concepts from these courses helps. But despite having a degree I often feel that I am (to quote TFA) not really “clever enough” or “good enough” or “well-rounded enough” or “deep enough” in their discipline. Almost everything I do day-to-day I did not learn in school, I learned by flailing around for a while, reading documentation, and gradually working things out.

Yet I don't feel anxiety over it, because I get my work done, and can see that I accomplish more (in some case a lot more) than many of my peers. Yes, there are also some others who are clearly better than me, but that's life.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#184

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

catach wrote: post #110
madaxe_again wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we are all impostors This, a thousandfold. I have struggled with impostor syndrome throughout my life - it doesn’t help that my 35 years to date look like a smacked out Mary Sue fantasy. In my previous business I often felt like I was pulling the wool over the eyes of the world - what right did I have to lead these people, to charge those people, to make these decisions? Well, none, and neither does anyone else…

Perhaps we feel compelled to assume that the people in charge know what they're doing since the alternative is deeply unsettling.

That's also one hypothesis of why people are prone to believe in conspiracy theories: the alternative to believing in some malevolent force controlling everything towards some ultimate end goal is that no one is really in control and stuff just kind of happens. Some people find the latter more disturbing.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#185

Post by scandox »

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #176
scandox wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to me this is kind of the opposite of impostor syndrome which is a kind of anxious humility in which we fear that everyone else is smarter and wiser than ourselves. In the case you describe, you are divided between a suspicion that everyone else is an idiot (and you are wise) or that everybody is equally aware, but you've all learned to live the lie.

> Seems to me this is kind of the opposite of impostor syndrome [...] > you are divided between a suspicion that everyone else is an idiot [...] Not at all: you can be painfully aware that 90% or even 99% of your peers are not that good and yet you are still light years away from being in the top 0.0001%. It's the same type of awareness. Compare it with income only for the sake of having a numerical benchmark. With a…

In such a case, let's imagine a programmer in a department of 100 people. I take that case because to me Impostor syndrome relates to a peer group that one is actively engaged with - not to an abstraction.

Anyway, in this case, he believes that 98 people in the office are no good. 1 is amazingly good. He is both better than the 98 but much much worse than the 1. To my mind that is not impostor syndrome.

Perhaps I don't really understand the term.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#186

Post by darkerside »

philbarr wrote: post #122

Does anyone else get that feeling like, "am I the only one who sees what a load of shit this is?" I don't think it's imposter syndrome per se, but it's related. It's like, "I'm the only one who can see the truth." An example: years ago my old crooked boss brought everyone in to his huge office to tell us why he couldn't afford to give people the pay rise they'd been asking for. With a straight face and with his Aston…

All I've got is your word that he's crooked. There are totally reasonable ways that people can have a fancy looking Aston Martin and be dead broke at the same time (used cars, financing, underwater on loan, etc).

Estimates are guesses by nature, and it's not surprising you know nothing about them.

If you hate your job that much, what are you doing about it?

It's weird to see the top post on HN be an immature and empathy-barren rant that is completely irrelevant to the article.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#187

Post by hoborama »

philbarr wrote: post #122

Does anyone else get that feeling like, "am I the only one who sees what a load of shit this is?" I don't think it's imposter syndrome per se, but it's related. It's like, "I'm the only one who can see the truth." An example: years ago my old crooked boss brought everyone in to his huge office to tell us why he couldn't afford to give people the pay rise they'd been asking for. With a straight face and with his Aston…

Reading your comment is reassuring, as I sometimes feel like I'm the only sane one at work. Farcical training sessions, management-speak with zero content..I could go on. I don't so much mind all that - I accept it as part of working for a large organisation - but it drives me crazy when I joke about it later and nobody has any idea what I'm on about.

Maybe it's me..

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#188

Post by darkerside »

js8 wrote: post #16

I might have an impostor syndrome at work. And I am somewhat anxious about it. And I feel like it decreases my performance by quite a bit. And luckily, my managers understand it and are very supportive of me. However, I have a question (and this is going meta). Maybe my managers are too understanding about it. Sometimes I wish they give me a harder time, and feel like I don't get reprimanded for failure enough and st…

How many managers do you have and what is their level of experience at managing direct reports? It's certainly possible for managers to do a poor job at conveying appropriate feedback, both by failing to give positive praise for good things and by pointing out failures and negative outcomes that you could have avoided.

If you feel like you're not being challenged, tell your manager! They may have decided you're doing "good enough" and aren't motivated to take it to the next level, but it sounds like you are. A strong manager/report relationship is one where the manager can sense when you have more in the tank and knows when to push and when to back off. If you don't have that relationship, start building it.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#189

Post by lorenzobr »

dirktheman wrote: post #47
jaggederest wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the last couple weeks I've had to decline 18 total hours of "challenges" and "work samples" from 4 different interview processes. I'm not sure at what point it became de rigueur to require applicants to complete on average 4.5 hours of work without pay, but I really, really don't think it's reasonable. I've even offered to show them my current projects in lieu of work samples, and no go. Baffling.

I really don't get this interview process, and why it's so ubiquitous. I wouldn't care if an interviewee could pass a whiteboard fizzbuzz test if he/she provided some samples of projects they've done. That would tell me much more about your proficiency and methods. I'd be much more interested in finding out if we would have a cultural fit. You can teach certain skills, but if your personality doesn't fit the culture…

Exactly this. A lot of these "challenges" are about the theory but the real job is never about the theory of things.

I mean knowing the theory is a nice to have but I don't remember last time I used it on my daily job, especially after 10 years of experience.

Re: Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?

#190

Post by darkerside »

> This is perhaps why women may be more likely to feel like impostors, because they typically do not see themselves reflected and reinforced—in some sense, validated—in the same way that men do.

For some reason, I was irked by this comment which seems to be completely unsubstantiated.

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