![Cover image for [On-Demand Talk] You're not an Imposter, You're a Life-Long Learner](https://community.codenewbie.org/images/mnVf0aWkDeNRaPc4ZV3L63XXXsjPZTH0z61UEER1U-I/rs:fill:1000:420/g:sm/mb:500000/ar:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9jb21t/dW5pdHkuY29kZW5l/d2JpZS5vcmcvcmVt/b3RlaW1hZ2VzL3Vw/bG9hZHMvYXJ0aWNs/ZXMvdW15MTlvZnNj/b211dXBoNjcydHou/cG5n)
About This Talk
My name is Pj Metz, and I'm a former English Teacher. After working with all ages of students K-12, I left educatio...
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The real question: Am I good enough to have impostor syndrome 🤔🤣🤣
Oh man. I felt like high school PJ when I started coding bootcamp. I felt like I was just...in the wrong place. Being a career changer adds another layer to the Dunning-Kruger effect, especially the more you learn (the more you know, the more you know what you don't know). But then over time, you learn that everyone is always learning, and you figure out how to give yourself the grace to learn and take up space.
Great discussion, thank you. I have been stuck with imposter syndrome for a few years now. As a general IT professional, I have been looking to move into more of a development kind of career. I've taken countless courses and bootcamps over the years to prepare myself. Trying to determine if I have enough knowledge to be a developer is hard. It seems like I may never feel ready, as there are always going to be things I still need to learn. How did you know when you were ready to move from teaching to a tech role?
"Imposters don't fail"...now I'm sure I'm not imposter :D Love this talk, thanks Pj Metz!
That hits so close to home. I always feel the most like an imposter when I'm struggling to implement something or solve a problem.
100%! Then you see someone doing the same thing easily, so you start questioning your career and life choices :D
I spent way too long working on building nested dictionaries from an API response in Python the other day. While building out the data structure I completely forgot about lists... I only realized the flaw in it after reaching out to the other developer in my department for advice
Means a lot when you have someone to rely on
It has been a blessing. We inherited the codebase which was all in C# (I'm not super familiar with it) and there was absolutely zero documentation. From what I had been told, it was all written by one person who is no longer with the company.
Such an important reminder! One of my new years resolutions was learning how to fail (and being fine with it) and I'm still working on it 🤣 But to be honest, feeling ok to just try something and see it as a learning if it goes wrong seems so liberating.
Love the analogy of comparing your own blooper reel to everyone else's highlight reel - definitely made me think back to the very early point of starting to learn coding - acutely aware I knew absolutely nothing, and didn't even know the depths of things I didn't know! - took a while to realise this isn't a race with others, but a one-person trip, and any any progress is better than none. Really positive, grounding session. Thank you.
Also, set backs don't mean progress is finished. It's a long term game.
Amazing talk.
I guess I forget that the learning journey never ends, plus reducing harsh self criticism helped this year. Errors !== bad developer.
I've felt like an imposter so much because of coding interviews. I've been ghosted too many times to count. So many times that I gave up and just decided try and make my own SaaS personalized job aggregator website.
Comparing their 'highlight reel' to my 'blooper reel'...perfect analogy. Thank you so much for this perspective! I'm also transitioning from teaching (high school science) to coding, and can't count how many of those conversations I've had with kids..."You wouldn't be here if you already knew everything. You're exactly where you're supposed to be." Have to remember to say it to myself more often. Thanks!
(Question for PJ) Online resources recently lead me to believe that interviews in the tech industry are rapidly increasing in difficulty, despite the industry crying out for new Dev's. Do you think this contributes to imposter syndrome, and if so how would you combat this?
Basically, the interview scene is becoming increasingly intimidating, and I think this creates anxiety and doubt.
From my experience, even experienced developers hate interviewing. The interview process can often feel very different from the actual work you'll do. I'd agree that it can lead to a belief you don't belong.
The best way to combat that is with the knowledge that interviews are often not directly related to what you'll do at the job. In fact, they're two different skill sets.
Question to anyone....
How do you decided what to do in software if you cannot decide what to do in tech?
Example i am doing full stack course but i don't know if am enjoying it enough. i have interests in Data science, game development and all sorts. I just cannot seem to narrow it down to one field. Any ideas?
Try it all!! It's a lot out there, but try little pieces of them where you can. Maybe you take a free course on Data Science. If you like it, take another. If not, try something new.
Full stack will give you a great set of skills to build upon in other areas.
Thank you all for your comments! @metzinaround is gonna love reading your feedback. As an educator, do y'all know what Pj also loves?
Questions! Please feel free to drop any and all questions you have for Pj right here in the discussion.
Calculus doesn't have to be scary ;)
I loved the point that highly qualified people work with highly qualified people, so by working with them you're a highly qualified person.
We know enough to know we don't know things, but everyone doesn't know things so it's okay.
[Question] PJ, any differences in how we deal with imposter syndrome and expressing a learner-posture, between one-ups, peers, or directs?
This was such a great talk! As someone changing careers into tech, I think it's a super worthwhile conversation having in many industries! Thank you so much!
Insightful talk - thank you for the encouraging words/perspectives on overcoming the dreaded imposter syndrome! Definitely digging the brag document/record keeping - I imagine it will also help me in my job search future state! Thanks so much!
Great topic and way-to-go on the skit! Ugh, I feel this even after several years on the same team. "Confusion is the sweat of learning." I love that quote! I'm going to use it from now on! Thanks for the talk and encouragement PJ!
Wow! Don't compare someone else's highlight reel to ones own blooper reel. Gosh, that's just great!
Wow, this one hit a nerve. This talk genuinely helped me, thank you.
this has to be my top favorite discussion so far, your humor got me so good especially with that scenario in the beginning lmao. thank you so much for talking about such topic! it really helps a lot and i relate to your examples too much that i kept yelling "that's so true!" to myself many times. :P "failure is a part of learning" is the line that got my head up, hearing that from someone else impacts me differently. i'll definitely keep in mind that being open about one's own imposter syndrome is healthy and actually helpful. cheers! :D
Thank you, PJ, for sharing such an important topic on mental health. I really appreciate it.
You asked us to tell you “When do I feel like an imposter?” I say, just a few moments ago before I start this message.
Thoughts like:
“Who do I think I am that at 65 yo that I could get back up and re-join the industry that I left behind — and has now left me behind in terms of trends and new technologies?”
or
“Why not just stay in the retail industry where you deserve to be?”
or
… put any statements of doubts here…
However, looking back in your presentation, I realize that everyone suffer this syndrome in varying degrees.
Thank you, again, PJ.
I am interested in finding a mentor to help me get back into the software development saddle. Any suggestions?
Thank you for your coment!
community.codenewbie.org/tanakamut...
The current live talk is all about finding a mentor!
(From the live question segment)
Absolutely stealing this line 😂
Hellooo!!!!
Anything about learning excites me :relief:
Annnnd it doesn't go away
Have to say this!! The starting really got me haha. Looking forward to the rest of the talk :D
You definitely made us smile, thanks for delivering such a colorful and on-point presentation.
PJ, Fear to talk and feel confident of my code is my weakness. what is the best advice to overcome these fear?
Thank You ;)
Face your fear, ask for a code review (inspection).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_review
Love the editing hahahahah!
I think almost everyone suffers from this imposter syndrome atleast once in their lifetime.
Thanks for bringing this into discussion.
Thanks for this talk! As someone who used to work in higher education, I recently completed a full-stack boot camp and I am now am looking for new opportunities. When looking at opportunities I feel imposter syndrome a bit, but after your talk I'll remind myself I do know things and am still learning :-)
"I'm learning, not lying", this will be my new mantra now lol. Thanks for the words of encouragement!
You can gamify providing and accepting thanks (in your intranet platform, on people's profiles). And you'll often get surprisingly little use of it. :>
We strive for "progress" not perfection.
This was absolutely amazing - hilarious beginning and a very powerful message. Thank you so so much.
Also, hello from another former teacher!
"Confusion is the sweat of learning"
Want that on a t-shirt.
Will be good to hear from you
Very engaging speaker and great topic!
I think this is my hardest thing that I deal with!
'brag document'. nice
It reminded me a lot of this article I read ages ago: You Are Your Own Best Hype Person
Love this! 🚀
It was really relatable, and something that needs to be addressed.
So talking to me with this presentation!
Yeah, everyone learns from mistakes.
Thank you!!!! ......Just, Thank you!!!
Needed to hear this talk!
PJ hit the nail on the head on this one!
Thank you for this, I enjoyed your talk! Strangely, in a topsy turvy kind of way, I had more of the impostor-syndrome thoughts when I was in grad school than when I got a job in software 😂
Love the talk! Documenting positive feedback is definitely going to be helpful for me. Thank you!
Love the energy!!
Instead of thinking "should I be here?" , I should think "I am a person who is learning" and embrace myself as a learner. This means a lot, thank you Pj Metz.
Yeah. Stackoverflow rocks.
Very interesting and engaging, great talk, thank you!
I love the brag document idea, I should start one :D
"Actual imposters don't get imposter syndrome" So true! We are all human and learn at our own pace.
@metzinaround where do I get your swag? that poster and your shirt are right up my alley!
FWIW I thought this was the best talk of the conference.
What a great talk. So uplifting... specially for new coders like me \o/
Comparing highlights to bloopers is an excellent analogy!
Great talk! Loved the intro, editing and energy. I saved a link to this page because you gave a really clear and informative talk about imposter syndrome. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Great sense of humor in this talk. Love the point that you're learning not an imposter.
No PJ it was GREAT! Thank you so much for the talk, it's very helpful for me as a career changer, and the levity really helps!
Giving hopes out there :)
This was both funny and helpful. You introduced a few perspectives on this idea that I hadn't heard before. Thank you Pj.
This is an awesome talk, thank you so much!
This talk demands a return visit. Appreciating the messages and the delivery.
Excellent talk! I especially liked how you compared actual con-people with people who are at a completely normal and expected stage in their development. And I love the board behind you! 🙂
Thanks for sharing
Amazing presentation!
Thank you for sharing.
This talk is helping me, Thank you for the talk. Love the energy
Awesome talk. Thank you Metz.
I feel like an imposter all the time too :)
Learning new things is one of the biggest things that I strive for
really needed this encouragement, thank you Pj