5 ms·
Imposter syndrome is totally expected when you have no public role models doing what you do, and all of your teachers are "not like you" as are all the books an
by marquis 12y ago
Imposter syndrome is totally expected when you have no public role models doing what you do, and all of your teachers are "not like you" as are all the books and education materials. Speaking for myself, it gets easier as I grow older and in fact I find myself ticking the "I want my own company" box. But that took years, while my male colleagues founded companies of their own in their 20s.
- guard-of-terra 12y agoMaybe I'm too anti-social but my role model were letters on the screen all along. Books and education materials belong to a "bit-gender", it's a piece of info and gender doesn't go in the play. I. e. in book written by Evi Nemeth and others I could not tell whether the respective part is written by she or he. Maybe I'm too geeky and other people actually need physical humans like themself to cling to? :) That's a weird idea.
- marquis 12y agoIt was the same for me while I was "just a programmer" but I've moved into executive positions and have to deal with people on a human level. I am really enjoying the change in challenges and often miss that I could spend days on end with the "bits". I consider myself extremely lucky to have a role model who is an incredible person. Without her I would feel lost, and hope I can repay the favour some day to some young women.
- guard-of-terra 12y agoSurprisingly enough, executive positions usually have much more level gender ratio around me. It should be easier to find a role model there.
- alukima 12y ago>Maybe I'm too geeky and other people actually need physical humans like themself to cling to? :) That's a weird idea. A huge issue is that many, many people don't recognize that not everyone has the same needs as them. It's actually very refreshing to see someone point this out, even if it's in a sarcastic way. Too often conversation take a turn into "Well I did X without help, why should anyone else need help to accomplish the same thing". It's counterproductive to learning in general.
- imanaccount247 12y ago>Imposter syndrome is totally expected when you have no public role models doing what you do, and all of your teachers are "not like you" as are all the books and education materials Except that imposter syndrome is just as common in men.
- scott_s 12y agoHave you seen studies on it? I know some men feel it (anecdotally, I have), but saying "just as common" implies having some actual data on it.
- imanaccount247 12y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome#cite_note-Langford-9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome#cite_note-Lan... cites a few studies showing no difference between the sexes.
- tptacek 12y agoThe paper you linked to does not say that men and women experience the thing we are haphazardly referring to as "impostor syndrome" in the same way. In fact, it reinforces the claims made on this thread by suggesting that males respond to the phenomenon by developing a higher tolerance for risk.
- meowface 12y agoHow do you know though? Obviously imposter syndrome is common in men, but how do you know if it's more or less common in men than women in tech jobs? Do you have something to back that up?
- imanaccount247 12y agoWikipedia articles often have sources, which makes them a good first place to check for stuff like this. "Clance & Imes (1978) postulated that the experience would be more prevalent among females because of societal stereotyping of women as less capable than men ... Studies of college students (Harvey, 1981; Bussotti, 1990; Langford, 1990), college professors (Topping, 1983), and successful professionals (Dingman, 1987) have all failed, however, to reveal any sex differences in impostor feelings"
- aragot 12y agoImposter syndrome was felt by 50% of my colleagues when I left an awesome startup who insisted on the programmer-hero culture. Not gender-related.