Maybe You Are an Impostor Software Engineer

Six years ago I transitioned careers at 30 to become a software developer. Since then, I’ve worked at 4 different companies and been promoted to engineering manager.

I also own a small coding bootcamp — Parsity.io. Check it out and maybe become an impostor 😅 or at least grab some free stuff on the site.

At each stage of my career I’ve had a not-so-small voice in the back of my head questioning whether I was really qualified to be in my current position. Was it luck? Did my presence help to fill some diversity quota? Did they make a terrible mistake by hiring me, I wondered. It was just a matter of time before I was caught!

Luckily, I’ve never been “caught” as an impostor at any of the companies I’ve worked for and I’ve learned to counter that voice of doubt with reason and logic — proving that I do belong where I am.

There are dozens of articles and books written about impostor syndrome and they mostly start with the presumption that you are not, in fact, an impostor. I would argue that you must be at some point.

Making the transition to software developer at a much later stage than most people in the industry brought me a lot of anxiety. I was leaving a stable job at a community college and would be working with people in their early to mid 20’s with a lot more…