When a fraud is not a fraud

Cartoon of a wolf disguised as a sheep

Imposter syndrome: the subjective belief that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be.

This week's word is actually a phrase, but I liked it - thanks to the client who suggested it. (If I didn't use it, I would have used apoplexy. That's because I was apoplectic yesterday when a service provider sent me a password in plain test. If I don't get a better suggestion, I'll tell you the sad saga next week.)

What is imposter syndrome?

Imposter syndrome occurs when you don't believe you have as much knowledge and skills as other people think you have. You feel like a fraud. And you are afraid that everyone else is going to discover the truth.

Psychologists first used the term in the 1970s in respect of high-achieving women. But it can affect anyone.

Imposter syndrome is sometimes classified into types:

  • The perfectionist is never satisfied and always feels that her (or his) work can be better.
  • The superhero feels compelled to push herself to work as hard as possible.
  • The expert is always trying to learn more and is never satisfied with her level of understanding.
  • The natural genius sets ambitious goals, and then feel crushed if she doesn't succeed on the first try.
  • The soloist prefers to work alone, and fears that asking for help is a sign of weakness or incompetence.

The problem with impostor syndrome is that, even when you excel, the feeling doesn't really go away.

How much do you know?

The person who suggested the phrase also shared a link to a blog post by David Walsh. Walsh is a former senior software engineer for Mozilla. He writes about how and why he felt like an imposter. Walsh also suggests that development is an environment that lends itself to imposter syndrome.

That may be true. One of the realities about being a developer is that there is always more to learn. You will never reach the point where you know it all. As Lewis likes to say:

"The more you know, the more you know how little you know."

If you experience imposter syndrome, you're probably not an imposter. Because it's only when you know more than most people about a topic that you realise how much more there is to learn.

I'd love to hear your comments on this. Please share your thoughts - and any suggested words for next week.

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