Impostor Syndrome - My Two Pennies
Tags: life, imposter, codenewbie
Published: 2020-03-09 03:03:17

I would like to start off by saying that I'm no expert on the human psyche so you should take everything I say with a grain of salt. (As you should when reading anything on the internet.)
However, I would still like to share with you my own experiences with it to remind you all that you are not alone in feeling this way.

It’s perfectly natural for people to think they’re not good enough, after all people have a desire for growth.  When we’re stagnant it feels like we’ve lost control. “But control is just an illusion” and whatnot. Well I don’t know if I can speak for anyone else but illusion or not, I think we would much prefer to feel like we have some control over lives right? Not being in control is just outright depressing.

##Where does this feeling come from?

I’m under the impression that people often compare themselves to their peers to gauge their level of skill and accomplishments. This could be a good thing if it inspires some healthy competition among yourselves, pushing each other to greater limits. It becomes a bad thing if you’re just constantly knocking yourself down because the gap between you and the person you’re comparing yourself to is quite far in between. This is one of the biggest demotivators especially for beginners when comparing themselves to someone at a professional level. Rather than taking everything in small digestible steps they look at the long never-ending journey of their chosen craft. 

Well let me tell you something:
It probably won’t look much different once you catch up to the person you’re idolizing because chances are, if they’re truly passionate about what they’re doing, they still feel that they can improve much more. 

In the end everyone desires to improve themselves and are too impatient when it comes to arriving at the destination they desire. I had quite an insightful conversation with my friend recently and he lifted my mood by telling me I’m an exceptional person. He was quite upset at me and people who can do amazing things and still think so little of ourselves when others can’t even achieve what we can because we’re too busy comparing ourselves to “masters”.

You really shouldn’t be comparing yourself to others but rather you should compare you to your past self. Every time you feel like you haven’t really come that far in whatever you’re practicing, you should ask yourself, “Would I have been able to do this 2 weeks ago? A month ago?”

##Let’s wrap this up

You only feel like you don’t belong amongst your peers because you’re comparing yourself to them and you think too little of your skill. You should compare yourself to yourself and you will realize that you’ve actually accomplished a lot. I’ve had people who come from non-technical backgrounds point out mistakes in my code and I’ve come to realize that we’re equals in this craft despite my years of study prior to this vs their 1 1/2 months. If anyone should feel like an impostor, it should be me! 

All jokes aside, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past, you can still achieve your goals if you just pour your heart into it! Don't give up and believe in yourself.