Self Confidence as a Developer: The Impostor Syndrome

As a young developer with a lot of coding experience i have faced many set backs and “bugs” in real life, but the greatest of them all has been this syndrome.

The Impostor Syndrome

Imposter syndrome was first studied and expounded by psychologist Pauline Rose Clance in 1978.

Impostor syndrome is associated with feelings of fraud, like you’re inadequate or a failure. It is basically not fit or worth to take reward for a project or work done by you.

class SelfConfident {

Here you struggle with self-confidence, the fear that you may not be able to achieve the task assigned to you not necessarily that you don’t have the skills. But you’re afraid to disappoint them. Having the feeling that you don’t know enough to be “that good”.

A few months back i was reading up on some interview questions and I felt like I knew nothing, but then on a closer look at them I discovered I had done many if not all off the tasks specified. I might not know advanced algorithms when they are singled out but I do know how to unravel them into simpler codes when found in real coding situations.

return false }

Overcoming the Syndrome

It can be hard overcoming it, nevertheless its of upmost importance that it must be conquered. Here are some things you can do to try and over come this syndrome:

=> Acknowledge your feelings:

You need to first accept that you have a flaw, this is basically the first step in correcting your view of yourself. Without this step you cant venture into the others. Acceptance is the beginning and pathway to overcoming this syndrome.

=> Understand you’re not alone.

You need to know you’re not the only person in the world who have had such insecurities, lots of famous and skilled persons still harbour such feelings.

Understand that this feeling is not tied to being successful or not, both sides still can still feel like impostors.

=> Talking to someone about your issues.

Try opening up to someone you trust, or get a professional involved it never hurts to let something off your mind. You can get invaluable advice from this and most times it helps build your confidence once more

=> Practicing more to build self confidence

A lot of practicing can help boost ones confidence in his/her skills. In the process of practicing you can actually feel why you are as good as others say you are, encountering problems and solving them in this process is golden.