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I don't know what it is about "imposter syndrome" but it's clearly having a moment. People are quick to label things "imposter syndrome" these days. Imposter s

by D13Fd 6y ago

I don't know what it is about "imposter syndrome" but it's clearly having a moment. People are quick to label things "imposter syndrome" these days. Imposter syndrome is feeling like you are an imposter or fraud even though, objectively, your job performance is adequate. If anything, the original poster is describing the opposite of imposter syndrome, because they cited specific objective criteria showing that their job performance is inadequate, and came to the realization that they need to improve despite their previous feeling of competence. That's a great thing, IMO -- figuring out you need to improve before it becomes a problem with your peers/supervisors means that you can take action before it is forced on you. But it has nothing to do with imposter syndrome.

Minor49er 6y ago
While this is a good point, I'm not so sure that this is the case. The OP has over a decade of experience, but is noting issues only after deciding to work for a "proper medium software company". It sounds like the OP may not have been used to working on projects that place a heavy emphasis on testability. But now that that's an important consideration, it's changing the entire approach for all of OP's implementations, which can be pretty startling. If the OP hasn't been writing working software for the last ten years, I'd say that it wouldn't be a case of imposter syndrome.
lamontcg 6y ago
Read the title again. That is impostor syndrome. OP is not reacting by wanting to do self-improvement, OP has decided their 10 year experience is a fraud and wants to quit software development.
- soulofmischief 6y ago
  1. I know plenty of terrible software devs in their 30s. 2. OP wanted guidance about how to improve as a developer, if they wanted to quit they wouldn't have made the post.
sangnoir 6y ago
> If anything, the original poster is describing the opposite of imposter syndrome, because they cited specific objective criteria showing that their job performance is inadequate It is not clear if what original poster described is objective: I am guilty of writing such software myself in the past. I was given unrealistic timeframes to write good software - in no way did that make my performance "inadequate", that's just the trade-off chosen for me (I wonder if the author felt pressured to deliver quickly). The only difference is I didn't blame myself for the outcome; rather, I felt proud of being able to deliver something that works on short order.
rozab 6y ago
>they cited specific objective criteria showing that their job performance is inadequate The examples given by OP seem like subjective self-assessment to me. I doubt if they were that bad a programmer, they'd be able to identify such issues with their own code. It would be different if OP has received consistently negative feedback on their work, I don't know if that's the case.
deleted 6y ago
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by D13Fd 6y ago

Minor49er 6y ago

While this is a good point, I'm not so sure that this is the case. The OP has over a decade of experience, but is noting issues only after deciding to work for a "proper medium software company". It sounds like the OP may not have been used to working on projects that place a heavy emphasis on testability. But now that that's an important consideration, it's changing the entire approach for all of OP's implementations, which can be pretty startling. If the OP hasn't been writing working software for the last ten years, I'd say that it wouldn't be a case of imposter syndrome.

lamontcg 6y ago

Read the title again. That is impostor syndrome. OP is not reacting by wanting to do self-improvement, OP has decided their 10 year experience is a fraud and wants to quit software development.

soulofmischief 6y ago
1. I know plenty of terrible software devs in their 30s. 2. OP wanted guidance about how to improve as a developer, if they wanted to quit they wouldn't have made the post.

sangnoir 6y ago

> If anything, the original poster is describing the opposite of imposter syndrome, because they cited specific objective criteria showing that their job performance is inadequate It is not clear if what original poster described is objective: I am guilty of writing such software myself in the past. I was given unrealistic timeframes to write good software - in no way did that make my performance "inadequate", that's just the trade-off chosen for me (I wonder if the author felt pressured to deliver quickly). The only difference is I didn't blame myself for the outcome; rather, I felt proud of being able to deliver something that works on short order.

rozab 6y ago

>they cited specific objective criteria showing that their job performance is inadequate The examples given by OP seem like subjective self-assessment to me. I doubt if they were that bad a programmer, they'd be able to identify such issues with their own code. It would be different if OP has received consistently negative feedback on their work, I don't know if that's the case.

deleted 6y ago

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