Imposter syndrome refers to the mental feeling of feeling incompetent or unqualified for your job. Even though you may be meeting or exceeding your job expectations, you still feel like you are an “imposter” compared to your coworker peers. Many job roles and industries can invoke imposter syndrome, and it is especially prevalent in the tech industry when you hear about large scale projects, famous companies, and highly qualified people which don’t seem like yourself.
What Imposter Syndrome Looks Like
Imposter syndrome indicates a personal insecurity about your competencies.
This often happens when you compare yourself to others. If you are a junior or mid-level engineer, you may compare yourself to a principal engineer or VP who seems to know everything and has seen everything. Even if this sounds like an unreasonable comparison on paper, one cannot help but see how their peers are and desire for that. It’s the same way a child might look up to a high schooler or adult: they seem to think these older people have it figured out, when in reality, they might be just as competent a person. This feeling is magnified if you track software engineering news; seeing the latest large-scale AI project or company can make you feel incompetent if you are not working at the latest and hottest companies. You become a perfectionist, trying to minimize your mistakes and becoming more critical of them when they occur.
Software projects may invoke imposter syndrome based on their importance and visibility. Working on a low-stakes project like a small UI feature request or bug triage may not feel like “real” software engineering, and you feel like you’re not a competent engineer because you’re not working on highly technical or infrastructure-heavy projects. Only the principal engineers are the ones having “fun” with the interesting projects, and you end up doing glue work that no one cares for instead.
When I interned at a Big Tech company, I felt a strong sense of imposter syndrome. I felt like I was just starting my career and could never compare to the real engineers on the team or in the company. My project felt like someone’s experimental side project that no one would actually use, and I felt alone, unqualified, and unaccomplished; I thought I would never make it and didn’t belong here. In retrospect, my feelings were completely valid but amateurish, and realistically, I was as competent and working on a similar project as any other on the team. The feelings and sense of imposter syndrome were entirely in my head.
Reducing Imposter Syndrome
Given how powerful and self-deprecating imposter syndrome can be, there’s reason to dispel it as fast as possible. In my experience, imposter syndrome goes away as a function of time and self-confidence. As you build up your personal portfolio of accomplishments, you will naturally work on grander and more interesting software projects, and you will have the confidence to achieve more and feel like a real engineer. One way to tangibly track this is with a “brag sheet” of personal and professional accomplishments. Update a personal tracker or journal at regular cadence, such as weekly or quarterly; when you look back in the future, you can see everything you’ve accomplished. (As an aside, this document is essential for career promotions, which are a clear mark of your progress as a “real” engineer.) The reality is that you have accomplished a lot to get this far, and imposter syndrome is just a personal pressure to improve.
Imposter syndrome can be a source of motivation for self-improvement.
Imposter syndrome is a completely common and normal occurrence, and you don’t have to actually eliminate it. By acknowledging it, you can strive to become a better software engineer to address it, becoming the person you desire to be. Oftentimes those with imposter syndrome are those already at the top, those who still think they are not enough and strive to improve themselves (the Dunning-Kruger effect).