imposter syndrome is that feeling you
get when you feel like a complete fraud
like you don't really feel like you
belong where you are you don't deserve
what you have you feel like everyone
else around you is so qualified and you
yourself you're not it said that
imposter syndrome affects 58% of tech
employees and perhaps many more outside
of tech as well and I wanted to share a
little story with you today
I too have impostor syndrome yeah even
me you know as an ex-googler tech lead
you would imagine that I would have
gotten past all of this that I would
have solved all of these issues about
self-esteem self-confidence and I
wouldn't be so nervous so anxious about
my own qualifications you know like
whether I'm fit to do things that I want
to do and you know the truth is that
imposter syndrome even affects the best
among us including myself what do I know
I see other people they're so qualified
they have experienced they have
knowledge they have skills and yet I
look at my own qualifications you know
am I good enough do I belong if you to
have imposter syndrome I invite you to
join me on my journey in which we will
overcome impostor syndrome
that's right we will visualize the light
of success together we will fake it
until we make it we will get past this
so why don't we begin by sharing our
stories with each other and before you
share yours with me I will go first I
was sharing my story my story is
actually somewhat different from other
people's see my imposter syndrome is not
so much with my job actually I'm feeling
great about my job and I feel very
qualified about what I do in tech unlike
other people in tech I actually feel
extremely qualified about what I'm doing
I've been coding since elementary school
and it's just been decades of non-stop
programming I've done programming
competitions I went through
school for computer science I went
through dozens of jobs and internships
I've launched numerous successful coding
projects so that's all great that's fine
I don't have any concerns with that I
have the skills I have the knowledge I
have the experience I'm confident in
what I'm doing now I look at the other
people around me I'd say about 58% or so
they look like complete imposters like
they're just faking it until they make
it seems like they don't really know how
to code don't really know what they're
doing I can see right through what
they're trying to do and it's just not
gonna work on me these are people who
don't even know basic recursion but at
least for me I feel fine they're the
issue I have with impostor syndrome is
actually I want to be President I want
to be President of the United States I
mean I'd like to be President of the
world and I'm just thinking don't you
need qualifications for this like don't
n need political connections don't I
need the interest in world news like I
don't even read news don't I need
supporters don't I need skills and you
know maybe not I mean why not why can't
I be President
why can't you why can't all of us we
cannot be President I'm even my dog can
be president why not right why not who
are you to tell me that I can't be
president you know this is a free
country and I don't think it's fair if I
can't do what I want I just need to
change my attitude I need to visualize
my success I'll tell you what else I
want to be I'm gonna be like a doctor
like a surgeon I think that would be so
useful like doctors can cure so many
health problems like any time a family
member or friend is sick I can just go
help him out I can cure them why not I
can be a doctor too I think the only
problem is that up until now I've had no
confidence in myself you know I don't
have experience I don't have knowledge I
don't have the skills I think I don't
even really look like a doctor like this
physical appearance I think I look like
an engineer more so I don't have any
problems there but as far as trying to
be a doctor I'm not sure if I really
look the part if I tried combing my hair
back maybe I could be more like a doctor
if I slick my hair back a bit and
there's something I might want to try
doing just so you know okay
not everybody has the time money
resources or the effort like I don't
want to put in the effort to try to get
good at something and try to become like
a doctor I don't have that too much time
I'm not gonna waste ten years of my life
trying to do that and just because
somebody else decided to spend 10 years
of their life
trying to get good at some skill and
wasting tons of money and time and
friend resources trying to do all that
that doesn't mean that that person is
necessarily going to be more qualified
than me right it can't be that hard
I've watched a few YouTube videos on how
to do this stuff and you know as a
doctor and you can call me doctor tackle
it if you like from now on it's up to
you I don't feel like it's right to call
me a fraud just because I don't have the
knowledge experience or know how to do
any of this stuff
right you can't tell me that somebody
else is more qualified than me simply
based on their gender their hairstyle
their physical appearances their race
their religious ideology it's not fair
and I should be able to feel good about
myself
just because somebody else went to
medical school and there's stupid little
medical residencies they should not have
more confidence than me which is why I'm
going to fake my confidence I'm gonna
fake it until I make it I'm qualified
you know if I'm not qualified then no
one else is qualified ok as far as I'm
concerned if I can't do it then no one
else can and so that's why I'm the tech
lead I'm the tech lead ok right not you
I'm the tech lead me I am you can't be
the tech lead I should have more
confidence because I'm the tech lead you
can try to fake your confidence I have
confidence too your confidence is not as
good as mine what was I saying oh yeah
so for being a doctor ok maybe I'm
afraid that if I mess up somebody's
going to get hurt maybe I can't do that
maybe I can't fake my way there but as
long as there's no accountability then I
think I'm good you know then I can just
mess up I can figure into and make it
and if there's any fallout I can deal
with that now for our little journey
there's three ways we can deal with
imposter syndrome okay the first way is
we simply just don't deal with it we
just accept that maybe maybe we're not
qualified after all right maybe we just
don't have the qualifications maybe
we're not qualified but that's not very
fun is it the second way to deal with
this is that we can actually go out and
put in a bunch of time and effort and
slowly build up this confidence over
like ten years it's gonna cause a lot of
time when the love effort the confidence
will be hard-earned it's just too much
work too much effort who's got time for
that
that time is gone it's coming past and
we just can't go back we're not gonna go
back and do that we still want to feel
qualified though so that brings us to
option number three which is to just
fake it until you make it and join a
bunch of internet support groups and I'm
going to keep making posts all over the
Internet until somebody agrees with me
somebody says something I want to hear
and this is the option I'm opting for
I'm going to put so much time and effort
into this I will do anything I can to
avoid actually doing the actual work it
takes to slowly build up that confidence
but I will do anything else I can I will
spend literally hundreds of hours on the
internet support groups talking about my
issues talking about I'm going to try to
build up my imposter syndrome fake
confidence anything I can to avoid
actually doing the actual work and to be
honest I have a lot of concerns and a
lot of personal weaknesses but I'm going
to hide those you know nobody needs to
know about this stuff even if it puts my
own projects at risk it's fine I'll deal
with it
I've just got to visualize my success
and make my own rules in life humility
humility got me to where I am today it
was perhaps my own self-awareness my
empathy my eagerness to learn my
understanding of my own weaknesses that
got me to where I am today it helped me
understand my shortcomings and that's
why people value me that's what people
appreciate about me because it's truly a
rare trait in today's society but that's
just the problem you see if I'm always
learning if I keep learning then people
will doubt me because they'll wonder why
am I still
learning something then I know
everything already people would just
think I'm stupid I'll never be the
smartest person in the room then I'll
never know everything so the time for
that has come and gone it is over now
and it's time for me to exert my
dominance I need authority I need to be
respected and I need slaves the tech
lead needs slaves I'm the tech lead not
you not your manager not your boss me
I'm the smartest guy I'm the best
I need slaves you're my slave there's
nothing I don't know and go ahead just
ask me ask me any question I will know
the answer for that anything you want to
ask go ahead you know there's just not
enough time right now though I got to go
the videos over we'll have to talk about
this next time take it offline gotta go
now
there's not enough time now I'm a busy
man gotta go we have to take this
conversation offline if you liked the
video give it a like and subscribe I'll
see you next time bye