Beginning a career in technology can be overwhelming, especially when you’re making a total career switch. Many tech talents suffer imposter syndrome from time to time. Building your confidence matters, as you may not get to your full potential if you don’t believe in yourself.
Recognizing imposter syndrome is the first step to take in building your confidence and overcoming any obstacle. Confidence originates internally but is also influenced by our external environment.
In this article, we’ll discuss how to identify imposter syndrome in your tech career and the steps to take to overcome it.
What Is Imposter Syndrome?
According to Wikipedia, “ Imposter syndrome is a psychological occurrence in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud”.
Individuals with this syndrome experience feelings of inadequacy or undeserving of their positions. As a field known for its high expectations and technical requirements, it frequently affects those just beginning their careers in tech.
Imposter syndrome is “constant feelings of self-doubt and incompetence despite one’s education, experience, and accomplishments.” Given the difficult transition from school to the tech industry, it is not difficult to understand why the vast majority of tech workers experience imposter syndrome at some point in their careers.
How Imposter Syndrome Affects Tech Talents
There are different ways imposter syndrome affects tech talent. Here are the most common ones:
Feeling Unqualified
How imposter syndrome affects tech talents?
A typical display of imposter syndrome is when a techie begins to feel unqualified for a task. For instance, you’re given a job as a business analyst, and instead of pushing to reach your target, you get overwhelmed and feel incompetent.
People with this type of imposter syndrome typically feel dissatisfied with their level of knowledge, despite their apparent growth in the learning journey. Having this kind of imposter syndrome could prevent talents from learning new things. Because they constantly think that regardless of their effort, they’ll always be unqualified.
Soloist
Another way imposter syndrome shows itself is in need to work alone. Often, when people feel inadequate, they encounter fear in showcasing their work with a group of people. In their minds, requesting assistance could reveal their incompetence or weakness. For this reason, you’ll hear techies say they only work alone or do poorly during collaborations.
Unfortunately, collaboration is an essential part of the tech industry. If a tech talent doesn’t overcome this imposter syndrome while still learning, it may become difficult to hit milestones when working.
Due to a wide range of stereotypes, exceptionally talented techies may get reluctant to even ask for assistance, which may cause them to struggle with their work or experience anxiety. To avoid reinforcing a stereotype, they opt to work alone to avoid being “exposed.”
Perfectionism
Perfectionism is common among techies. For instance, a digital marketer may become fixated on the flaws and errors in a part of their campaign strategy even when they’ve received positive feedback on other aspects of the tasked strategy.
It’s dangerous when learning; the little wins matter. If a techie doesn’t recognize and acknowledge those little wins, they will keep feeling inferior to others.
Perfectionists, when learning tech, can also spend too much time on a single task because they feel it’s not good enough.
Unrealistic Expectations
Setting unrealistic goals while learning in the tech industry can quickly turn to imposter syndrome, as disappointments happen when they don’t meet their goals.
This type of impostor syndrome causes people to overstretch themselves. They may believe that others do not believe in their success. It could also result from the high expectations from family and friends.
Black women are known to have this a lot. They typically feel the compulsion to live up to the “strong black woman” societal expectation.
Although setting goals is essential in learning, no one needs to carry the pressure of an unrealistic expectation.
What Causes Imposter Syndrome?
Importantly, imposter syndrome is not a mental disorder. Instead, it is a response to a particular event. Due to this, there is no exact method for diagnosing imposter syndrome. In addition, an individual may not always be able to predict when an episode of the syndrome will occur.
Certain circumstances can cause a sense of impostor syndrome. Researchers discovered that it could be associated with how families related with their kids while they were young, genders, backgrounds, and more.
Here are a few things that can cause imposter syndrome.
Cultural Bias
People may experience imposter syndrome due to cultural biases in technology, such as racism, xenophobia, and outdated notions of what certain groups can and cannot do.
Even intelligent technologists may encounter anxiety and self-doubt when working on large projects. Some of these feelings may stem from their culture, which leads them to believe their colleagues will mistreat them.
Societal Expectations
Societal expectations often trigger imposter syndrome. It may originate from the person’s family or even social media. For example, suppose you come from a community where people are not expected to advance in life due to financial and economic constraints, and you exceed expectations. In that case, you may question whether you deserve your position.
Stereotypes
If a person has faced different stereotypes in terms of gender, family background, race or more, it’s possible to feel imposter syndrome. For instance, women are grossly underrepresented in the tech industry. This largely owes to the stereotype that women are not meant for STEM jobs. If a woman, having embraced this stereotype, begins her tech learning journey, it’s easy to contemplate giving up or feeling inadequate.
New Opportunities
The pressure of new opportunities can also bring imposter syndrome. For example, if a person gets sponsored education in tech, it’s easy to get triggered into imposter syndrome.
In these new roles and environments, the pressure to achieve and succeed, coupled with a lack of experience, can result in feelings of inadequacy.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome in Tech
Overcoming imposter syndrome All at once is a challenge. These feelings of inadequacy can only be dealt with through mindfulness and cognitive behavioral strategies. Thankfully, imposter syndrome isn’t a life sentence; you can overcome it. However, it takes a few intentional steps. Here’s how:
Acknowledge the Problem
The first step is to recognise it the minute it begins to show itself and acknowledge its existence. So often, people shrug it off and face more and more issues dealing with it. However, once you can understand why you feel like an imposter when acquiring new skills, you will be well on your way to overcoming it.
Change Your Thinking
Momentarily pause and ask yourself, “Is this thought accurate?” Whenever you’re having a negative thought about your abilities or are unsure if you are qualified for a job, you should visualise yourself succeeding. Is this emotional experience authentic, or am I reacting to external factors? Does this thought help or hinder me?
Consider your prior experiences, beliefs, and emotions. To gain perspective on your thoughts, classify them into one of these categories. For example, if you feel upset or guilty because you believe you did not deserve something, you should investigate the reasons for this belief and determine whether it is true.
Celebrate Little Wins
Imposter syndrome comes with the temptation to disregard even the most minor accomplishments, but little wins matter. Scoring highly on a test, completing a course or task, and more deserve celebration. List your achievements and feel the emotional impact of each one to resist this temptation. This practice will assist you in developing a more accurate picture of your accomplishments and enhance your sense of self-worth over time.
Talk to Someone
Discussing your emotions with a mentor or another person can be highly beneficial. Another person’s perspective can help you overcome irrational beliefs and return to reality.
Having a mentor during your tech education is crucial. It is easier to navigate challenging times with someone who has already been through them. In addition, sharing similar experiences will make you feel less isolated.
Conclusion
Learning a tech skill may involve both success and failure. It is essential to remember that having good or bad days has no bearing on your competence. Instead, recognise your accomplishments to date, and remain committed to achieving even more.
It is easier to overcome imposter syndrome when there is an understanding community. This is why the Tech1M community exists.
