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A computer engineer describes five ways learning his job made him incredibly insecure
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The tech world is filled with high-paying, rewarding jobs for many people.
But the tech industry's dirty little secret is that such jobs can be extremely demanding and stressful.
Being a programmer, for instance, is so stressful that we know of instances where individuals have had complete mental breakdowns.
Many tech professionals who are working themselves into the ground are suffering from something called "Imposter's Syndrome." That's when you're sure that all the engineers you work with are smarter, more talented and more skilled than you are and you fear they will find out that your are faking your abilities.
All humans, in every job, feel insecure sometimes and have brushes with Imposter Syndrome. But it's particularly prevalent (and can be crippling) in the world of coding where intelligence is worshiped, and those considered to be the most brilliant have been known to ruthlessly flog others when they make mistakes.
Since we first reported on the rampage of Imposter Syndrome in the tech industry these days, we've noticed an increasingly number of brave souls going public about their own battle.
The latest is a thoughtful post from a security engineer Scott Roberts, who works at GitHub."Imposter Syndrome is like the boogie man: open the closet, turn on the lights, look around, and you see that nothing is there," he writes. "But it never goes away entirely. It’s just temporarily gone, and you’ll have to expose it again."
The trick to making it go away, even temporarily, is to talk about it and discover you are not alone, he notes.
So Roberts shared five specific ways he's suffered from Imposter Syndrome, which we've summarized below. We bet there are many others who can relate:
(Github/Scott Roberts) Github's Director of Bad Guy Catching Scott Roberts
Fear that the work you are doing could be done much better by a computer:
The worry is that someone smarter than you will come along and write the code/build the machine that can do your job better than you. "This is the easiest inferiority to look at and dismiss as silly, but that doesn’t make it less potent from time to time," he writes.
Believing other people's hype: There are brogrammer-types (especially in the computer security field) who regale everyone with their never-ending, epic successes, making their life sound like a constant string of successes. Missing from these tales? The person's struggles and failures. If you don't recognize this talk for what it is, selective memory, that's a fast track to insecurity.
Not being a know-it-all: There are countless skills to master in any tech profession. That's one of the things that makes the job so interesting —there's always more to learn. But nobody is a master at everything, and those who don't recognize that could easily start "assuming we should know more and trying to avoid admitting we don’t," Roberts writes.
Feeling mediocre 80% of the time. In Robert's job, there are times when he's responding to a computer security emergency, like firefighters responding to a burning building. Many security pros live for that.
(REUTERS/Pichi Chuang) Participants get ready to apply facial masks in Taipei July 28. 2013. A total of 1213 people broke the Guinness World Record by applying facial masks for 10 minutes at the same time on Sunday, according to event organizers.
But, like firefighters, the burning building only happens on occasion, maybe 20% of the time.
The rest of the time the job involves doing mundane tasks that can make him feel "like a 3rd wheel, unnecessary, an imposter," he writes. Many jobs are like that: 20% high-flying and 80% mundane, wondering what the point is. It can be a trap to downplay the mundane parts of the job.
Believing your insecurity is unique: Chances are, even the people you most admire had moments where they were over their heads, and knew it. Humility is the act of acknowledging those feelings without letting them stop you.
Nothing new can be accomplished without doing something untried. Nothing new can be learned without being a beginner. If you think your heroes never felt that way, that can make you feel incapable. Instead, know such feelings are "normal" and you can "handle it too," Roberts writes.
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