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Nazanin Ashrafi
Nazanin Ashrafi

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This Is How I Deal With 'Imposter Syndrome'!

"I'll never be good enough", "There are so many amazing programmer/developers out there, I'll never be like them", "Am I really gonna make it?", "I'm not smart enough to learn this"




What even is impostor syndrome?

According to wikipedia impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments or talents and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud".


Simply put, It's when you don't feel enough and doubt your accomplishments.
It doesn't matter if you have 5 or 10+ years of experience in your field, or you're a newbie who just started out their journey, Imposter syndrome will hit you anyways.
What is important is that how you deal with it and don't let it get to you 💪💪


How to deal with impostor syndrome?


1. Use social medias to your advantage :



There are lots of amazing and successful people that we see on social medias everyday and we're like "they have achieved so much, ugh I wish I was like them".
Instead of thinking like THAT, just tell yourself if they made it then so can I.
None of them were born successful. they've worked their asses off to be where they are now.
we don't know what they went through to get where they are right now, we don't know about the struggles they went through, we just see their success.
The path won't be easy and you'll struggle a lot but just take those people as a proof that you can make it too 💪💪


2. Only compare yourself to your past self :



Ask yourself : who was I last year? who am I now? have I evolved in any ways?

Last year me was a lazy and hopeless person who had no purpose BUT I've changed so much now. I have goals and I am working hard towards my goals.
What I'm trying to say is that I'm trying to change/evolve everyday. I am making progress. I don't need to compare myself to another person. I only need to compare myself to who I was last year/ last month/ last day.
In my opinion the only time you're alowed to compare yourself is what I've talked about in the first tip

-If you're the same person as who you were last year/ last month/ last day then you really have to do something.
-But if you've changed in any way then don't worry you're doing just fine and you will achieve great things.


3. No one cares about you :

I admit the title sounds so bad and negative but hear me out first.
Recently I saw a tweet (I don't remember who it was from), It was something like "People only care about themselves, they don't care about you or what you do".
And it is the truest thing I've ever heard.

Let me explain this with an example :
You created something but you're too scared to share it because you think it sucks and you/your work will be judged.
While the truth is that "those people" are too busy dealing with their own imposter syndrome and have no time for thinking about other people's work.
If they like your work, they will compliment it and if they don't they will simply ignore it

4. Track your achievements :



Tracking your achievements would really help you with dealing with imposter syndrome.
Make a list of what you've accomplished so far and you'll be amazed how good it feels.
Like for example I'd never thought codepen would ever pick one of my pens BUT two of my pens were picked and It felt like my css skill improved ^_^
So yeah it's great way to help you overcome your imposter syndrome.


These are the ways that I use. let me know if you have any other methods to deal with imposter syndrom.

You can also connect with me on Twitter . 😃

Top comments (10)

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usaidpeerzada profile image
Usaid

I started my first job as a full stack dev intern and imposter syndrome hit me so hard that I feel like I can't fix a little bug as well, but now I'm trying my best to remind me that I can do things as well and I'm not wasting time and my skills are not useless.

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maulik profile image
Maulik • Edited

Usaid,
As a developer, we many times stuck at some issues and we do research to fix it. And sometimes we end up finding the issue very lame. We think that we have wasted a lot of our time fixing that.
But the truth is, we have not wasted our time, we gained knowledge, we gained experience from that research which will surely help us. These little things are part of our life.
Happy that you have handled the situation.
Thanks for sharing

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nazanin_ashrafi profile image
Nazanin Ashrafi

Of course you can, just keep going I'm sure you can defeat the imposter syndrome

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costinmanda profile image
Costin Manda

All you know about the syndrome is what you've read on Wikipedia. What makes you qualified to talk about this? Sorry, couldn't help myself...

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nazanin_ashrafi profile image
Nazanin Ashrafi

The title says "that's how 'I' deal with imposter syndrome" it means it hits me as well.
But if you do know more, please do tell/write, educate us sir

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costinmanda profile image
Costin Manda

It was a joke... I did say sorry :)

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nazanin_ashrafi profile image
Nazanin Ashrafi

But it didn't sound like a joke lol
But seriously if you have something better to share please do and I'm saying that in a genuine way

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maulik profile image
Maulik

Imposter syndrome is now quite common in our community. We should tackle it otherwise it will affect our mental health.
Thanks Nazanin for sharing your thoughts on this topic

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nazanin_ashrafi profile image
Nazanin Ashrafi

We should defeat it 💪💪 or it will defeat us

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yusufcodes profile image
yusufcodes

Great tips to tackle Impostor Syndrome👍🏽