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Stop treating being an impostor as something bad. See yourself as con artist who succeeds in senior developer, architect and management jobs without the require

Stop treating being an impostor as something bad. See yourself as con artist who succeeds in senior developer, architect and management jobs without the required skills.

mar77i 9y ago
Exactly. You might end up giving yourself a harder training than anyone around you. And there you go. My current job is mainly kata for me, because most code reading, tweaking and engineering I do is well within my abilities. I can both choose my challenges and deliver, which is just perfect. I'll still mention that it took me almost a decade to get here, intensively tinkering on 1980ies computers as well as a pretty broad range of "modern" programming languages. All while working outside IT, part time if at all.
onion2k 9y ago
Impostor syndrome is bad because you fear being fired for not being able to do your job, or being dropped as a speaker because you're not worth listening to, or your career stalling because you can't compete with other people who seem to be better than you. Suggesting that sufferers accept that might actually be true is not helpful.
- ramblerman 9y ago
  > Suggesting that sufferers accept that might actually be true is not helpful. On what are you basing that? It's an interesting insight. Thinking of the world as one big pool of impostors might be equally relieving.
  - onion2k 9y ago
    Thinking of the world as one big pool of impostors might be equally relieving. He said "See yourself as con artist...", not "See everyone as con artist..". Believing that most people feel this way may well be helpful. Believing that you're not good at what you do but you've successfully faked it definitely isn't.
- tome 9y ago
  But even people who are good at their job can be fired for not being (perceived as) able to do their job, or for any number of other reasons. Imposter Syndrome must be bad for reasons other than "I fear I might get fired".
randomdata 9y ago
What if you feel like an imposter as a con artist?
- Traubenfuchs 9y ago
  Become a cheater.
- mar77i 9y ago
  ...get a real job. Both you as a con artist and you... as... wait for it... the person pretending to be an imposter you are.

Stop treating being an impostor as something bad. See yourself as con artist who succeeds in senior developer, architect and management jobs without the required skills.

mar77i 9y ago

Exactly. You might end up giving yourself a harder training than anyone around you. And there you go. My current job is mainly kata for me, because most code reading, tweaking and engineering I do is well within my abilities. I can both choose my challenges and deliver, which is just perfect. I'll still mention that it took me almost a decade to get here, intensively tinkering on 1980ies computers as well as a pretty broad range of "modern" programming languages. All while working outside IT, part time if at all.

onion2k 9y ago

Impostor syndrome is bad because you fear being fired for not being able to do your job, or being dropped as a speaker because you're not worth listening to, or your career stalling because you can't compete with other people who seem to be better than you. Suggesting that sufferers accept that might actually be true is not helpful.

ramblerman 9y ago
> Suggesting that sufferers accept that might actually be true is not helpful. On what are you basing that? It's an interesting insight. Thinking of the world as one big pool of impostors might be equally relieving.
- onion2k 9y ago
  Thinking of the world as one big pool of impostors might be equally relieving. He said "See yourself as con artist...", not "See everyone as con artist..". Believing that most people feel this way may well be helpful. Believing that you're not good at what you do but you've successfully faked it definitely isn't.
tome 9y ago
But even people who are good at their job can be fired for not being (perceived as) able to do their job, or for any number of other reasons. Imposter Syndrome must be bad for reasons other than "I fear I might get fired".

randomdata 9y ago

What if you feel like an imposter as a con artist?

Traubenfuchs 9y ago
Become a cheater.
mar77i 9y ago
...get a real job. Both you as a con artist and you... as... wait for it... the person pretending to be an imposter you are.