The feeling behind the Impostor Syndrome

Yann Mulonda
Sep 2, 2018 · 4 min read

How to overcome the impostor syndrome as a new software Engineer

I officially got into the job market in 2017 after many years of education. However, even after getting a technical diploma in electronic industrial in High School, a degree in administration and computer networking, a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Information Technology, and currently pursuing Master of Science in Software Engineering and certificate programs in Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Machine Learning. I still struggle when it comes to assessing my level of professional competence and achievement.

I have been trying to pursue a career as a Software Engineer in the IT industry since 2016. I currently have less than 2 years of experience as a DevOps Engineer and Full-Stack Software Engineer. However, I can’t shake the feeling that I haven’t really accomplished anything valuable yet.

I constantly have the feeling of fraudulence and feel that I haven’t fully earned the title of “Software Engineer” while many people around me seem to find my education background and skill set somewhat impressive. Furthermore, I have received positive feedback and great recommendations from all my former supervisors who are FAAMG Alum and some of the brilliant Software Engineers I have worked with so far.

FAAMG stands for: (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google)

I have recently been receiving attention from recruiters who ran across my LinkedIn profile, so much that I even asked recruiters who contacted me about job opportunity at Google, Amazon, Canonical, and Microsoft: “what made you pick me?” simply because I think my current skill set is not yet worthy of other’s attention and doesn’t deserve as much attention as it has been receiving from recruiters and account managers.

I was scrolling through my Facebook page and stumble across upon Ted Talk video presentation on impostor syndrome by Elizabeth Cox. That’s when I realize that I was experiencing the impostor syndrome, to some extent.

What is Impostor Syndrome?

Wikipedia defines Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) as a psychological pattern in which an individual doubt their accomplishments.

However, Elizabeth Cox indicated that Impostor Syndrome is not a disease or abnormality and it isn’t necessarily tied to depression, anxiety or self-esteem.

What I have been doing to overcome the impostor syndrome as a Junior Software Engineer

I recently relocated to Minneapolis, MN; where I’m pursuing a master of science in software engineering and AI. So I have been looking for a new position and I have few interviews lined up with some major companies in town and out of State including 2 of the big 5, FAAMG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google) at their HQ in the next few weeks.

When I got my first internship as a DevOps Engineer, I felt like the last person on earth who could ever deserve that spot because I didn’t know anything about DevOps, I had never coded in the programming languages that I was going to use for my projects. In brief, I was simply given a chance of a lifetime and the opportunity to prove myself.

So, I worked so hard to overcome impostor syndrome. I studied all the time, watched tutorials, read books, learn new programming languages and tried to catch up with my team as fast as I could. I also started mentoring people who were still in college and still learning the basics. I started taking on more and more responsibilities at work, contributing to open source projects outside of work.

I met people like Chris Shellenbarger who helped me develop a habit of doing research and writing about my experience, new technology concepts, and publish tutorials about how I fixed some of the issues I ran into while working on some of my projects. I started writing code regularly and became more active on my GitHub profile and even write answers on StackOverflow.

So, now I deal with impostor syndrome by using it as motivation to continuously learn and take on new challenges. It’s a given that being a software engineer involves working in an industry that is constantly evolving. The learning curve is steep, the information never quits evolving, we are all battling the feeling of being behind the curve, and the ability to adapt, overcome and learn new things is very important.

I have become aware that there will never be a point where I can say: “ Hey, this is it! I think I’ve mastered it all.” That will never happen.

Accepting the fact that I don’t know everything or as much as I’m supposed to, open my mind to learning.

As a Junior Software Engineer— your ability to acquire knowledge and eagerness to learn new things are more important than your current knowledge. You are not defined by what you know, but what you are willing to learn. Knowing is a puddle; learning is an ocean.

If you enjoyed this story, you might also like “Coding Interview: Problem Solving Techniques

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Cheers!!!

Yann Mulonda

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👨🏾‍🎓Grad Student | 👨🏾‍💻 Software Engineer | "if you can't explain it simply, you probably don't understand it well enough" |⚽️🏀🎧📷🎥🎸

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