Throughout my time at OSU, I have definitely felt the sneaky self-doubt feeling known as “Imposter Syndrome”. That feeling where you doubt all your skills and feel like a fraud.
It happened again this past sprint when I went down a rabbit hole of trying to solve a certain problem. I started to overcomplicate a problem that had an easy solution. I succumbed to my self-doubt which led me into a google frenzy of trying to find a solution on sites like StackOverflow. If I would have trusted myself and my problem-solving skills instead of feeding into that feeling of “I have no idea what I am doing. I am a fraud.”, I would have saved myself a lot of time and frustration.
So how should you deal with Imposter Syndrome?
- Self-awareness. At the time, I did not realize imposter syndrome was happening but as I took a step away from my work, I reflected on what I was feeling and immediately thought – “imposter!”. Thus the first step in dealing with imposter syndrome is being aware that it’s actually happening.
- STOP. When you find yourself going down a rabbit hole of research to solve a problem, STOP. Get away from your computer and take a break. It’s usually in these moments where you have your best ideas, but it’s also just giving yourself a break mentally. If you sit at your computer and continue to fail at the same problem, it’s just going to feed your imposter syndrome.
- Be your own cheerleader. Instead of being your own worst critic, start to think of all of the things you have already accomplished as a programmer.
- Let go of being a perfectionist. No programmer is perfect and every programmer looks to Google for help. So stop being so hard on yourself!
- Know you are not alone. In every professional, there comes a time when you feel like you have no idea what you are doing and that’s okay, it’s part of the learning process. So just know you are not alone with your “imposter” feelings.
And lastly and most importantly, BE KIND TO YOURSELF!
