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Discussion on: Share Your Experiences with Impostor Syndrome

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andreagoulet profile image
Andrea Goulet

I'm a career switcher. My background is in communication and marketing and I've wrestled with this a LOT. Specifically around figuring out when it was appropriate for me to call myself "technical" after having identified as "non-technical" for most of my career. One of the things I discovered is that it's not a gender issue as I initially thought. It's more about being a high achiever.

I've written about this on other places so you can read my stories in depth.

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kathryngrayson profile image
Kathryn Grayson Nanz

Wow, you're an excellent writer! Congrats on the upcoming book :) Thank you so much for sharing here.

I had actually already read your post about FreeCodeCamp, so it's really neat to be able to connect a name and a face (per say)! The technical / non-technical "divide" is also so interesting, because I feel like it's a line that's becoming more and more blurred as time goes on. For example, when I was in college, graphic design was pretty much a print-only course, but graphic designers that code are fairly commonplace! It's becoming crucial for everyone to at least speak the technical language now, so I think a lot of people identify with that feeling of being "technical, but not really" and wondering at what point they really qualify as "fully technical."

I'm curious to hear more about your take on it being about high achievement? I think gender (and race, actually) can play a role in increasing impostor syndrome – although I'll absolutely be the first to say it's definitely an issue that can (and does) affect everyone.

PS. Your tattoo is badass.