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Imposter Syndrome take-down

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•2 min read
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Alexander

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!

CARROT.jpg

#beginners#newbie
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kndb4y ago

I am a senior software engineer, and I hate you for bringing up this topic 🙂

I frequently encounter this when I work on new tasks at work

Here are a few things that I do to cope (apart from the obvious research on SO and other platforms)

  • fight with the realization, it almost always ends with "I was given the task because people trust me, they think I am capable of getting it done"
  • don't commit to tasks right away, 2-3 toilet breaks atleast to ponder about the task 🙂
  • keep a track of all my thoughts, start noting down everything, literally everything, even thoughts that dont make sense, in the end it would all make sense and you should be able to cleanup (i like to create mindmaps)
  • discuss with teammates, even freshers who work on your team, everyone has ideas. You will be surprised what these young chaps bring to the table. Nothing to feel ashamed about, once the job is done they are the ones who will take over and I can move on to other critical tasks.
  • break down the task into smaller pieces, as I wrap up each task, I start gaining more and more confidence, I am unstoppable by the end of it

I wont say I manipulate my mind, rather I don't shy out of a challenge when given one (bit of ego to get things done) -> being an introvert I usually dont pick challenges proactively though 🙂