I haven't experienced imposter syndrome, and maybe you haven't either (opens in new tab)

Diagnosing oneself with imposter syndrome (or, at the other end of the spectrum, recognizing the Dunning–Kruger effect in oneself) is a perfect catch 22.

This article hits the nail on the head: being slightly paranoid and doubting oneself is a pretty essential part of being a good developer. It's (in most cases) pretty normal. The key is to try and detach your self-worth from the problems you face. You aren't any less good because you couldn't solve that bug last week.

when i was in grad school all the faculty were off doing startups and they had the grad students teaching the undergrads because they were never around.

we were all petrified, felt totally under qualified and did as much as we could do to fill the perceived skill gap.

i think without an exception we excelled. the courses were harder, graded better, got better student feedback, covered a lot more material and engendered a reciprocal student response that the distracted and jaded profs never got.

a little performance pressure isn't always a bad thing

Definitely experienced it in my first few years in tech... I'd made quite a career leap and I honestly _did_ feel like a fraud. But I'm here now and I'm happy and I know where I fit into the mix and I no longer feel like a fraud.. I feel like someone who is growing with my role and where I fit in the community.

This did resonate, though (reminds me of the buzz words in mental health that gain popularity every year or so)

>it minimizes the impact that this experience has on people that really do suffer from it

You can't have imposter syndrome if you're actually an imposter.

Nice to know I actually suck.