Impostor syndrome is described as feeling inadequate in the workplace, that leads to the fear of being labeled a fraud or chronic self doubt. When you are having heavy doubts of what you are doing is even correct anymore. All the while you are afraid of being exposed that you shouldn’t “belong” there. This phenomenom affects roughly 70% of people at some point in their lives. It could be the feeling that you are only succeeding due to luck, and not because of your talents or skills. Essentially it revolves around second guessing ones worth in a specific area.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/13/the-dubious-rise-of-impostor-syndrome
https://time.com/5312483/how-to-deal-with-impostor-syndrome/
I have personally experienced impostor syndrome while in computer science when I started doubting my own skills with java. I got overwhelmed with the project that I didn’t even think it was possible or where to start. It was worse when I thought I was doing well in the class and turned in labs/projects in a timely manner.
The article covers that within the world of programming, developers can feel developer impostor syndrome since there are many approaches, languages and methods to accomplish a task. That in itself makes it difficult for a developer or programmer to know everything. Since technology is ever-growing it is impossible to keep up with everything new that comes out. This can make some of the practices learned obsolete which can enhance the feeling of being an impostor. One of the ways to mitigate the feeling was to embrace it, remembering that you have constant learning and growth within your field. Another way is to keep track of your achievements, by listing the achievements that you have already accomplished sets a reminder that you are able to complete difficult feats in the past. Lastly, to promote teamwork and camaraderie, you are not alone in this situation, there are other people that either understand it more or have wisdom of a problem set you have.
A way to get over impostor syndrome is to remind yourself of what you have accomplished in the past and what hurdles you had to overcome to get there. That the feeling will pass as long as you chip away at the task at hand. Have to remember that you do not have to know everything in the field, relying on others for information isn’t a downfall.
