the root of impostor syndrome

You can write perfect code and still doubt yourself.

You can have a Senior title, a high salary, and recognition from your colleagues.

And still doubt yourself.

Why?

Because fear of failure and impostor syndrome have little to do with external causes (such as the lack of career professions, low salary, etc.).

The complete opposite might happen.

Instead of solving your confidence issues, a promotion will make you feel more like an impostor and increase your anxiety.

If you want to eliminate the impostor syndrome and the lack of confidence, you must attack the root cause of these feelings, not the symptom.

Lack of motivation and career growth are only symptoms of a deeper issue.

Developers at all seniority levels experience this feeling.

You will be surprised by how many Tech Lead and Principal level engineers I know still struggle with confidence issues.

This email is too long, so I will only discuss Impostor Syndrome today.

Part of my job as a mentor is helping developers overcome this once and for all.

After spring years investigating this phenomenon and working 1:1 with developers trying to overcome impostor syndrome, I think I found the best way to completely get over it.

It is not “fake it till you make it”.

You probably already tried that, and you know it is only a temporary fix. You also know achievement per see, getting a particular title or salary is only a quick fix. A crutch that will disappear soon after the promotion.

To fix Impostor Syndrome, we need to look at its root cause.

So why do developers think, “I am not made for this,” or “This is not my thing,” or “I am a fraud”?

Well, it is mostly for two reasons:

1. They have a false idea of what a “real developer” is. And feel like they don’t cut it. That can happen for a variety of reasons. For example, if you are surrounded by Senior developers only, you will believe that all developers are like that and you are worse than most developers.

The solution here is not to mistake the level of your team or company with the level of the industry as a whole. Like any other career, software development follows a more or less normal distribution. Most developers are pretty average in their skills. If you think you are worse than the average, your idea of average might be wrong. 2. Secondly, their threshold for mastery is focused on others. They think by comparison. They look around their team, and their focus is to be x% better than the best developer out there. This is a zero-sum game, and it only produces anxiety.

The most remarkable people in any craft (think Leonardo Da Vinci and so) were not obsessed with what the painter next to them was doing but with their art. We release ourselves from pressure by focusing on improving our craft (and not our skill concerning where we think others are).

I don’t even mean to focus on you and not your peers. I mean, focus on the craft and nothing else!

By applying these two heuristics, you will get rid of impostor syndrome without needing any external validation, such as a title or a high salary.

And guess what?

When you focus on your craft, career progression and salary will follow.

Next week we will talk about lack of confidence and how to fix that one!

Have a lovely Friday, Dragos

P.S. I hope you are enjoying the sun! It is good for your mental health :) Go out today. I don’t care if it is walking a pet, seeing a friend, or grabbing coffee alone. Just go out. Get some sun. It will do wonders for your health and your mood. Thank me later!