Imposter Syndrome Among Software Engineers

With the constant advancement of technology, imposter syndrome is becoming highly common amongst software developers.
It is almost impossible to stay up to speed with all of the innovations in the tech industry, and programmers feel like they never know enough.

🔎 What is the imposter syndrome?
It is the inability to internalize your accomplishments, leading you to attribute your success to luck or trickery. Imposter syndrome is loosely defined as doubting your abilities and feeling like a fraud. It disproportionately affects high-achieving people, who find it difficult to accept their accomplishments.

🌡 Why is it problematic?
One of the most common feelings that software engineers have is that they are not good enough, or that their success is a fluke. It’s an insidious problem because it leads you to attribute your successes to luck instead of hard work, which can be self-destructive and cause you to give up on opportunities before they have a chance to succeed.

It’s all too easy to feel like an imposter in a field where everyone seems to know more than you do. But don’t let the imposter syndrome get you down! There are a number of things that you can do to overcome this feeling of inadequacy and to realize that you actually might be doing things right.

You’re not the only one.

While it’s easy for you to be aware of your own imposters feelings, it’s often surprising for your colleagues to learn that you suffer from this as well. In the tech industry, it’s easy to get caught up in the idea that because you are a software engineer, you must know everything about technology or programming languages. But this is simply not true! There are so many different aspects of programming languages and tools, and even experts struggle with understanding certain concepts at times.

The best thing to do when feeling like an imposter is to ask questions and seek help from those around you — you aren’t alone!

Tip#1: Track Your Progress.

Start keeping track of all the things that you accomplish at work. You could use a spread sheet to keep a log of what you do each day, week or month, then reflect on how much time was spent doing each thing and whether there were any particular types of tasks that were easier or harder than others. This can help give an objective view on what accomplishments have been made over time so they don’t feel like they’re just “luck” (which often feeds into feeling like an imposter).

Tip#2: Ask For Regular Performance Reviews.

Another way to look at how well one has done something is by asking someone else who has direct experience with those tasks or skills — ideally a senior engineer or your direct manager. Whether it’s a manager at work giving feedback about how well certain projects went last quarter compared with previous quarters/years; team members reviewing your projects; friends offering advice on improving study habits. This will help you see your improvement and your weaknesses overtime.

Tip #3: Set Short & Long-Term Goals.

Set some personal goals at work to understand the pace of your progress. Goals can be set using OKR or SMART goals methodologies. It teaches you how to target attainable success and will contribute to a better understanding of your capabilities. Seeing your work resulting in career advancements will help with the feeling of imposter syndrome as you understand that your accomplishments are valuable.

Tips #4: Find A Mentor

Get a software engineering expert who has a strong background in the industry and will guide you through your career. This person surely felt like an imposter too when they were in their earlier years of programming. Being mentored by someone who was in your position at some point in their career will give you the motivation and strength to keep on moving forward. Your confidence will be highly optimized and so will your performance, once you overcome the imposter syndrome.

To Conclude…

The imposter syndrome comes from a feeling of never being good enough. That’s not a bad thing because it may push you to work harder. The main limitation of the imposter syndrome if to start feeling demotivated and overwhelmed. To overcome it, start by tracking your progress, ask for performance reviews, set short and long-term goals and get mentorship from a professional of the industry. As you keep on learning throughout your career, the imposter syndrome will keep on coming back, but it is a sign that you’re constantly growing!

We recommend you have a read at our previous article Trigger Your Career Growth in which we give you more tips to reach your long term career goal.