4 ms·

If you feel like an impostor, then you almost certainly are one. Most impostors probably don't even realize that they're impostors. I've never felt like an impo

If you feel like an impostor, then you almost certainly are one. Most impostors probably don't even realize that they're impostors. I've never felt like an impostor, every day I have the opposite feeling.

WaxProlix 10y ago
That's great! Enjoy trading hedge funds or whatever.
- jondubois 10y ago
  Thanks! I feel good knowing that I'm doing my bit to help make the world a better place. I just love seeing the smile on my clients' faces after a good quarter. The management fees and bonuses are just the cherry on top.
  - Jotra7 10y ago
    You are a rent-seeking leech.
    - sctb 10y ago
      You're not welcome to post personal attacks like this on Hacker News, no matter what you're replying to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
1123581321 10y ago
Hi, John. I didn't downvote this because it is a legitimate opinion and because it is true that the unskilled and ignorant are sometimes unaware of it. However, I don't agree that those people are imposters unless they're really being paid to contribute at a higher level than which they're capable of doing now or after an appropriate amount of "getting up to speed" at their job, which can legitimately take years, and meanwhile their peers are contributing enough. Employers ask for a lot, but they often don't expect to receive it or don't know when they aren't receiving much, and in either case the employee is doing satisfactory work!
deathhand 10y ago
Would that feeling be entitlement?
nommm-nommm 10y ago
>People who have reportedly experienced [imposter] syndrome include Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks,[5] screenwriter Chuck Lorre,[6] best-selling writer Neil Gaiman,[7] best-selling writer John Green, comedian Tommy Cooper,[8] business leader Sheryl Sandberg, US Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor,[9] and actress Emma Watson.[10] Do you believe that those people are all impostors?
- paulpauper 10y ago
  but some people truly are imposers, although they may not realize it ...dunning kruger effect
- no_wave 10y ago
  That list made think about what would make you feel impostor syndrome. I think it often happens when the rewards you get are disproportionately large compared to the amount of effort you've put in. No doubt Tom Hanks put in a lot of effort, but fifteen years into his career he was being paid tens of millions of dollars and getting nationally feted to go onto a movie set and do his thing. All of those people, simply because of the scale of the US and how the economic/legal structure operate, were at some point just way more rich or influential than it's natural for anyone to be, often too soon. The people I've personally known most subject to impostor syndrome are programmers early in their career who slacked off a bit in college who are suddenly making close to or more than a hundred thousand dollars a year to do something they didn't have to work all that hard to be able to do. The sort of people who put in 70 hour weeks even in college never seem to feel it. (Neither do cooks)

WaxProlix 10y ago

That's great! Enjoy trading hedge funds or whatever.

jondubois 10y ago
Thanks! I feel good knowing that I'm doing my bit to help make the world a better place. I just love seeing the smile on my clients' faces after a good quarter. The management fees and bonuses are just the cherry on top.
- Jotra7 10y ago
  You are a rent-seeking leech.
  - sctb 10y ago
    You're not welcome to post personal attacks like this on Hacker News, no matter what you're replying to. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

1123581321 10y ago

Hi, John. I didn't downvote this because it is a legitimate opinion and because it is true that the unskilled and ignorant are sometimes unaware of it. However, I don't agree that those people are imposters unless they're really being paid to contribute at a higher level than which they're capable of doing now or after an appropriate amount of "getting up to speed" at their job, which can legitimately take years, and meanwhile their peers are contributing enough. Employers ask for a lot, but they often don't expect to receive it or don't know when they aren't receiving much, and in either case the employee is doing satisfactory work!

deathhand 10y ago

Would that feeling be entitlement?

nommm-nommm 10y ago

>People who have reportedly experienced [imposter] syndrome include Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks,[5] screenwriter Chuck Lorre,[6] best-selling writer Neil Gaiman,[7] best-selling writer John Green, comedian Tommy Cooper,[8] business leader Sheryl Sandberg, US Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor,[9] and actress Emma Watson.[10] Do you believe that those people are all impostors?

paulpauper 10y ago
but some people truly are imposers, although they may not realize it ...dunning kruger effect
no_wave 10y ago
That list made think about what would make you feel impostor syndrome. I think it often happens when the rewards you get are disproportionately large compared to the amount of effort you've put in. No doubt Tom Hanks put in a lot of effort, but fifteen years into his career he was being paid tens of millions of dollars and getting nationally feted to go onto a movie set and do his thing. All of those people, simply because of the scale of the US and how the economic/legal structure operate, were at some point just way more rich or influential than it's natural for anyone to be, often too soon. The people I've personally known most subject to impostor syndrome are programmers early in their career who slacked off a bit in college who are suddenly making close to or more than a hundred thousand dollars a year to do something they didn't have to work all that hard to be able to do. The sort of people who put in 70 hour weeks even in college never seem to feel it. (Neither do cooks)