Most engineers start their careers feeling like they don’t belong or that they are not good enough. Imposter syndrome is very real and can have a serious effect on morale if not addressed early. There is a lot of bad advice out there when it comes to dealing with imposter syndrome. “Get over it”, “Fake it till you make it” while pithy and would make great t-shirt slogans are not very actionable and make the problem seem intractable. So I am going to focus on things that have worked for me in the past.
Here are some approaches:
1. Focus on your strengths
As someone new, there are plenty of skills that you will need to develop to be successful. But everyone has certain natural strengths which can be leveraged to add immediate value to your project/team/company. Here are some ways to do that:
- If you enjoy writing things down, you can volunteer to improve the state of documentation. I am yet to see a team/company that is satisfied with its current state of documentation!
- If you enjoy diving deep and fixing bugs, you can take on the investigation of some tricky issues that affect the team.
- If you like organizing things, you can help with task tracking and other aspects of project management.
2. Find quick wins
If you focus on your strengths as described earlier, you can then get a lot of quick wins under your belt and build a reputation for yourself as someone who is good at a particular skill. This has an effect on how people perceive you in general which in turn helps you build confidence. The confidence that you build can help you take on newer challenges since any new failures will not define who you are since you have already created a positive impression for yourself in people’s minds.
3. Find champions
Find someone who believes in you and leverage their experience to help you. This could be a mentor or someone you look up to. (If you focus on your strengths and get quick wins, you will definitely be able to earn the trust of some of your senior peers and get them on your side) Having someone to discuss your mental state and your lack of confidence can go a long way in overcoming your fears and insecurities. The odds are they have had to deal with this their entire career and have some valuable advice for you. Just being able to talk freely about how you are feeling without feeling judged can be a relief. This person can also help you find opportunities to shine and create a space for you to succeed. Knowing that you are not alone in this can give you a lot of strength to deal with these challenges. This is a heavily underrated and underused approach.
Some of the best engineers I know have shared their stories of dealing with imposter syndrome. I am constantly amazed at these stories since it is hard for me to imagine these engineers lacking belief in their abilities since they are so good! If more people shared their struggles and experiences, it would go a long way in normalizing open discussions around this problem which is the first step to sharing solutions. This will help others dealing with this problem since they will no longer feel alone.