For senior engineers, imposter syndrome misses the point

togetherlondon.com

1 pointlucidplot4 comments

I think the author doesn't appreciate what tech people mean by imposter syndrome. It is not performance anxiety when communicating with non-tech people. Not at all. It is the opposite - feeling like your tech peers gets the tech more than you and will see you as being unskilled.

Thank you for the feedback. If imposter syndrome means the fear that you'll be seen as unskilled by tech peers, how does that experience differ to what I mentioned in the article?

Doesn't it have the dynamic of needing to convince the other person that you know your stuff? When that might not be what the other person is thinking at all.

No, you don't have to prove your knowledge to resolve imposter syndrome. That is the point - that the feeling of having to prove yourself doesn't match reality. You already proved it and are hired into your role. Worrying about having to keep on proving yourself is a self-inflicted problem. So just do your work and stop fretting over it.

I think "stop fretting over it" will work for some. For others--who find certain interactions difficult--I'm suggesting that there are other things that might make a newly minted senior engineer anxious. And that focusing on what people need from you might help.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com