Imposter Syndrome take-down

Have you heard about the story about the Senior software engineer who was handed a task he didn't know how to do and felt that urge of being in a position he wasn't qualified for and felt like an imposter? Chances are if you haven't heard that story, you've heard a story with striking similarities to the one above.

Imposter syndrome doesn't care who you are or what your experience level is. Someday, one day, maybe today, imposter syndrome will peak its head out to take a little bite (sometimes a mouthful) out of your confidence and pride and then sink back into the abyss until its hungry again. So what are you suppose to do to be proactive and keep the imposter syndrome monster at bay and keep your pride and motivation in check?

The story of the senior engineer at the start of this article is a real conversation I had with someone yesterday. They have 10 years of cooperate experience and over 18 years of coding experience and somehow with all that time and expertise in the field they still felt like they were somewhere they didn't belong. So I ask again, what are you suppose to do to be proactive and keep this imposter syndrome monster at bay?

Do you believe in coincidences? Personally, I don't. Which is why the subjective answer I was given by the senior engineer didn't floor me one bit even though its been my exact cure for this issue. The answer I was given was as follows:

I just imagine what I was doing before I got this job. How much I disliked what I was doing and how much I never wanted to go back to that lifestyle. That remedy always seems to fill up my gas tank to keep going for another few hundred lines of code.

Manipulation has a gotten a bad connotation in todays world. However, what's negative with manipulating your mind to produce the results you can envision? What's negative about chasing the proverbial carrot you yourself puts out in front of you? What's negative about telling yourself you never want to go back to your old lifestyle and way of living? I say nothing, and MORE POWER TO YOU!