What is imposter syndrome, and how does it affect people in the tech industry? 👇
#Discussion question of the week - April 10, 2023
mild oysterBOT
raw lion
Imposter syndrome is questioning whether or not you belong. Whether or not you're good enough to do something like break into tech. Everyone I have ever taught has experienced imposter syndrome in their learning journey and most of us continue to on into our career!
Unfortunately, this often prevents people from continuing their journey into tech because they accept their fear that they aren't good enough, but that's NEVER the case. With dedication, practice, repetition, anyone can make the transition into tech!
vale snow
Before, I believed in "imposter syndrome," but after reading this article and understanding its origins, I have changed how I see it. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/13/the-dubious-rise-of-impostor-syndrome
First off, we have been stamping too many things with imposter syndrome. If everyone has it, is it really a syndrome? Categorizing as some sort of syndrome puts the feeling they are having on to the person themselves and something they need to solve. It completely removes the idea that it might be the company, co-workers, or the culture that is making them feel less than others.
Second, using the label "imposter syndrome" makes a person think that it's some sort of unique condition they may never overcome or have to take special precautions to work through. But it's really the simple feelings of insecurity, inadequacy, and vulnerability. These are feeling we deal with every day to different degrees. By everyone accepting these sort of feelings are possible in the workplace or in your process of learning, we can begin to support people more and make cultural changes instead of just boiling complex emotions to just a single term that is a you problem.
Hard to directly articulate my thoughts but this has been bouncing around my head for a while now. But it boils down to this, we all have these emotions in our careers, and the more transparent about it and not stamp it with a label. People will know it's ok to have these emotions and are prepared to handle them.
frigid mirage
I mostly agree with your points @vale snow (and I will read the article as well, thank you for sharing) but one thing comes to mind for me is that I was a massage therapist for 13 years, studied biology and everything relating to soft tissue disorders and the body. As I learned and worked I always felt more confident in my abilities and expertise.
When I entered the tech workforce (first through GIS then ultimately dev) I notice that no matter how much I advance, there's still an ever nagging feeling that I will never feel that same level of confidence.
I share this story to say, I think there is something about the tech industry specifically that produces this result more often than other industries (very anecdotal, i know). So while yes, I definitely agree these are normal emotions that can be experienced through many parts of life, the tech industry culture seems to produce this feeling more for people at every level of expertise.
vale snow
@frigid mirage I highly recommend reading the article, it goes very depth for how women have much more to overcome than men.
Also the origin of imposter syndrome being something specific to women
frigid mirage
yes, I have it saved! I'm trying very hard to get through my to-do list before I get distracted today. (clearly I"m struggling already lol)
Edit: read the article, interesting etymology and definitely by the original definition and research I find it wholly unrelatable. I still believe there is something specific to the world of tech that creates this situation (perhaps yet to be named). But yes, as far as the original research is concerned, I don't feel connected to the term in any way.
regal dove
I am not sure about everyone else, but with me it comes in "episodes" or in other words, it's not constant feeling that is just there every hour of the day. I also believe that there should be a healthy number of episodes that drives one to work harder and do better.
spiral island
I've started to feel like imposter syndrome is less about "I'm not good enough" and more about "I haven't been communicating enough, and others haven't been communicating enough with me". I'll try to explain this the best I can.
The reality, especially in tech, is the body of knowledge and breadth of scope is so large that no one person could possibly keep up. Even when you specialize, this is still true as the field is moving so fast and so many minds are constantly pushing it. So it's 100% natural to feel overwhelmed by all of it, and feel that others are "getting it" when you aren't.
But the reality is different. Those other people are either feeling the same as you are, or they don't know what they don't know yet. It stands to reason then, that the community coming together and saying "Holy cow, we all feel this way!" would make us all feel better about the whole thing. Can that happen? I don't know. It would be beneficial though (in my eyes at least) for the community at large to take steps to welcome people in wherever possible. The world needs the tech sector to function in a healthy manner, because tech runs the world now. And the collective "Welcome to the tribe! We don't know everything either and we never will!" would mean a lot to people that feel intimidated by it all.
verbal trout
I agree with @frigid mirage that the abstractness in tech work that creates more insecurity. We're always working in undefined areas and results in not knowing what "good" or "bad" look like. The breadth of knowledge needed also keeps increasing at the same time. I've worked in a lot of other industries, and there's nothing like software development.