Not everyone who doubts themselves is suffering from impostor syndrome. Sometimes the real problem lies in the strategy they've chosen, and that's ...
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Thank you for sharing this post! I have similar reflections after taking up painting recently. I've always believed I don't have talent; however, I've always enjoyed painting. Recently, I started doing it for fun, and I quickly discovered that you can achieve a lot just by practicing and learning different techniques. I may not be able to draw a real-life pencil portrait, but I enjoy playing with watercolors. I'll probably never be a well-known artist, but it's not the point. I still enjoy the process of simply painting. I feel like this is the "change of strategy" you mentioned 🙂
Also, hard to believe you had such undervaluing thoughts about yourself. You always seemed to me to be quite a self-confident and accomplished engineer. I have a feeling that impostor syndrome somehow grows really deep in our nation 😅
Thank you, Klaudia! ❤️ I think my relationship with sports is very similar to your relationship with painting. I enjoy being active, I love the endorphins, but I'll never become a super-fit marathon runner. 😄 Sure, if I invested a huge amount of time and energy into it, I'd probably get better results... but they'd still be far from world-class. And honestly? I don't even want to. I'd much rather exercise for myself, for my health... and for my knees. 😄
As for my impostor syndrome, the funny thing is that you actually have a good intuition. I am generally a very self-confident person. 😄 But those thoughts still appear from time to time. I think it's because people only see the final result. They don't see how much work went into it, how many doubts I had along the way, or how much I had to learn before I got there. 🙂
That's why it's so valuable and important to share articles like the one you just published. When only results are visible, it can seem that success comes naturally to the person on top; that maybe they have talent or a specific personal characteristic that makes them succeed. Such thinking can even stop people from chasing their goals. They do not see that, very often, there's a lot of work and overcoming self-doubt behind the curtain.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! :)
Thank you, Klaudia, that's such a kind thing to say. ❤️
I completely agree. We usually only see the destination, never the road that led there.
I also think it helps to set smaller, more achievable goals instead of trying to plan your entire career from day one. 😄
I still remember my very first performance review as a junior developer. My manager asked me about my long-term career goals, and I honestly replied, "I don't know... my goal was to become a junior developer, and I've just achieved it!" 🤣
He burst out laughing, gave me a high five, and said, "Fair enough... but let's push you a little further." Then he signed me up for a certification course.🤣
Looking back, I'm actually glad I didn't try to map out the next ten years of my career. One small goal at a time worked much better for me. 😊
Ahahah, I love your honesty! 😂 Also, it's a great lesson to take it easy and focus on one thing at a time. I would probably stress my ass out and try to come up with something asap 🙈 Will keep your story in mind :)
This really resonated with me.
I struggle with impostor syndrome from time to time as well. But over the years, I've also had to accept another uncomfortable truth: there are things I'm simply not good at. I've tried, I've worked hard, and sometimes it just wasn't enough.
Looking back, I think the endless "just keep pushing" advice often made me feel worse, not better. Sometimes persistence is exactly what's needed. Other times, the healthiest thing you can do is accept that your strengths lie somewhere else.
I think your own journey illustrates that perfectly. You found the people who connect with your work, and that's far more meaningful than trying to appeal to everyone. Maybe that's what success really looks like—not universal recognition, but finding the place where what you do genuinely matters.
Exactly, Pascal! I especially like your last paragraph. I think that's one of the most important lessons: finding the right place where your work truly resonates with people, instead of trying to appeal to everyone.
And the older I get, the more I realize that our energy is limited. We simply can't be great at everything, so we have to choose wisely where we invest it.
For example, as you can probably tell from the article, I'll never become a super-fit marathon runner. 😄 But that doesn't mean I should just sit on the couch and give up on exercise altogether. It's still worth spending some time every week doing some kind of sport for the sake of my health.
I think it's the same with many other areas of life. Sometimes looking reality in the eye is actually liberating. It helps us stop fighting unwinnable battles and focus on the things where our efforts can truly make a difference.
I completely agree. I think the key distinction is between doing something because it's good for you and expecting it to become your defining strength.
I'm never going to be a great designer, for example. I know that now. But understanding the basics still makes me a better developer because I can collaborate more effectively and appreciate good design when I see it.
Accepting our limits doesn't mean giving up. It just means being intentional about where we expect excellence—and where "good enough" is perfectly enough.
I love that perspective. And you know what? Sometimes it's exactly that mix of skills—being really good at one thing, "good enough" at another, and having at least some understanding of several other areas—that gives us a real advantage.
I once read that many of the biggest breakthroughs happen at the intersection of different fields, where people connect ideas that specialists in a single discipline might never think to combine. That's another great reason not to chase mastery in absolutely everything. Sometimes "good enough" is exactly what you need.
And, after all, we only get one life (at least as far as we know 😄). It's worth actually living it, too, instead of exhausting ourselves in pursuit of some vague, undefined higher purpose.
Exactly! I think you've touched on something really important: depth is valuable, but connections between different areas are often where the unexpected value appears.
Looking back at my own career, I realize that many of the things that helped me the most were not isolated technical skills, but the ability to connect different worlds: development, infrastructure, business needs, user experience, security, and even communication.
I may not be the best specialist in every one of those areas, but having enough understanding to see the bigger picture has often been more useful than being exceptional in only one narrow field.
And I really like your last point. At some stage, the goal shouldn't be to optimize ourselves endlessly. It's about building something meaningful, helping people, staying curious—and still leaving enough energy to actually enjoy the journey. 😄
great take I think. I don't really believe in imposter syndrome, it's more like I don't have enough experience in that domain and need to learn more... just learn over time, take it easy but push yourself to do better, try to kill bad habits slowly & every once in a while - go explore the world
as you said, I think it's ok to know you won't be great at something. we shouldn't be perfect.
Thanks, Anmol! 🙂
I think we're actually saying very similar things. The only place where I'd disagree is the definition of impostor syndrome itself.
In my opinion (and according to psychology), impostor syndrome is specifically when you doubt yourself despite external success and recognition. That's exactly what happened in the examples from my article.
On the other hand, if you're doubting yourself because you genuinely lack experience, are missing a skill, or are working in an unhealthy environment, I don't think that's impostor syndrome at all. Those are real problems, and they deserve different solutions.
And yes, I completely agree with your last point. 🙂 None of us can be great at everything. That's just biology! The real challenge is figuring out where it's worth investing our limited time and energy, and where good enough is already enough.
This really resonated with me because I think a lot of us use "impostor syndrome" as a catch-all explanation for every uncomfortable feeling we have.
What I liked most was the engineering mindset you proposed. If production goes down, we don't just increase the CPU and hope for the best, we debug, inspect, measure, form a hypothesis, and change the approach if necessary. It's funny how rarely we apply that same thinking to ourselves.
I've caught myself doing exactly what you described. Whenever something wasn't working, my first instinct was always "work harder." More hours. More courses. More projects. But looking back, some of my biggest improvements didn't come from working more; they came from changing what I was working on. Sometimes the bottleneck wasn't effort, it was direction.
Your point about asking whether the strategy is producing results also reminded me of something I've been realizing recently. I used to spend evenings making tiny, fun tools just because an idea popped into my head. There was no grand career strategy behind it, I was simply curious. Somewhere along the way I replaced that curiosity with optimization: "Will this help my career? Is this worth the time? Should I be studying something else instead?"
Ironically, I think I learned more from those little passion projects than from constantly trying to optimize every hour of my day.
Maybe that's another question worth asking during those "engineering checkpoints": Have I become more effective, or have I just become better at being busy?
Fantastic article. I have a feeling a lot of people needed this reminder.
Thank you so much for both comments, Aryan! 🙂 I love how many interesting thoughts they contain.
What especially caught my attention was your point about those small side projects. Psychology actually describes this phenomenon quite well: once something starts feeling like an obligation, it often stops being fun, even if we originally loved doing it.
At the same time, I can also understand the opposite situation. If someone is actively looking for a job, for example, optimizing their learning for a while is perfectly reasonable. It's a temporary phase with a very specific goal.
And regarding the "work harder" mindset, I completely agree. It creates the feeling that we'll reach our goal faster, but will we really? It's also a very easy way to burn ourselves out before we ever get there.
That's a great point about psychology. Looking back, I think that's exactly what happened to me. My fun little projects slowly turned into "Would this be good for my portfolio?" and somewhere along the way the joy disappeared.
I also agree that there are seasons where optimizing your learning makes perfect sense, especially during a job search. The trick is remembering that it's a season, not a permanent way of living. Otherwise, even things we once loved can start feeling like obligations.
One more step worth adding to the engineering metaphor: beginners usually can't self-diagnose which category they're in, because they don't have a baseline for what normal struggle looks like.
Part of why is that impostor syndrome is the only case where the feeling contradicts the facts. The others—skill gap, strategy problem, bad environment—are situations where the feeling is accurate and the facts need interpreting. So the tie-breaker isn't introspection, it's external calibration: someone who's seen dozens of people at that stage and can say whether this difficulty is normal. That's what a mentor or an honest manager provides, and what solo learners often lack. It's also the mechanism behind meow.hair's point about needing an honest mirror.
I don't think I fully understand this part. 🙂 We're actually agreeing that impostor syndrome is the case where the feelings contradict the facts: for example, someone has objective success and external validation, yet still believes they don't deserve it.
So I'm not sure where beginners fit into that picture.
Beginners usually don't have that kind of external validation yet. They're still trying to figure things out, improve their skills, and understand whether they're making progress. That's exactly why I argue they often don't have impostor syndrome at all. They need an honest assessment of their progress and sometimes some external calibration.
And there I completely agree with you: a mentor or an experienced manager can be incredibly valuable.
I think we agree more than it reads—I wasn't saying beginners have impostor syndrome, but that they can't rule it out, which is a different problem. Your test works because you have facts to check the feeling against. A beginner has no such comparison, so "this is hard for everyone" and "I'm missing something" feel identical from the inside. Calibration isn't just tracking progress, then—it's what supplies the facts that make your test runnable in the first place. Without it they're stuck at "I feel bad," which is the one state that's consistent with every explanation.
Hi Sylwia,
thanks for this article. I liked it a lot, especially the engineering and debugging the strategy approach. I think this also helps one to get away being emotional about his/her "failures" or unexpected results (a better wording maybe) and create a strong roadmap to achieve better.
but above all, i think we should not forget enjoying.
even if this is developing (yes, we do it professionally and earn from it, but, it is still important to feel the joy, to overcome the heavy impostor syndrome or the failures) or it is just a hobby (in my case flute playing for ex. I am not very good yet, wanna be quite good, but dont pressurize myself for it, at least not much :) . I just like playing...)
Thank you so much, Alptekin! ❤️ That's a really valuable addition. I completely agree. There has to be joy in the process. I actually wanted to include that point in the article, but I eventually decided not to introduce too many ideas at once, or people might lose the main message. 😄
I really believe we should enjoy what we're doing. And, apart from occasional periods when we have to push a bit harder, I don't think we should dedicate all of our free time to self-improvement or run ourselves into the ground.
After all, we only get one life. It's worth living it, too. 🙂
In Czech, we have a lovely song with the line, “When you can’t go on, push harder.” We also have a humorous saying: “If brute force doesn’t work, you’re not using enough of it.” 😄 But I can confirm from my own experience that this approach doesn’t always work. 😅 Sometimes you simply have to change your strategy, exactly as you propose.
I would perhaps add just one thing: We also need to be patient and consistent, because not seeing immediate results doesn’t necessarily mean that our strategy is wrong.
Hahaha, I love those Slavic sayings! 😂 In Poland, we have one that goes, "If you can't get in through the door, climb in through the window," which I think is actually much closer to the message of my article. 😄
And yes, I completely agree about patience and consistency. I just think it's healthy to schedule honest checkpoints every few months. If someone has been working incredibly hard and still isn't seeing any progress, it doesn't necessarily mean they should give up, but it might be time to rethink the strategy.
Sometimes the answer isn't "work harder." Sometimes it's actually "work less, because you're not giving yourself enough time to recover." 🙂
You’re right, patience without honest reflection can easily turn into stubbornness. And yes, that sounds like a very healthy approach.
P.S. I just had an idea: we could combine both sayings: “Instead of reaching for a bigger hammer, buy a ladder!” 🤣
Hahaha, I absolutely love that! 🤣 We should teach that saying to little Slavic kids instead. 😄
Dear Sylwia,
Thank you so much for this article — I consider it a much-needed dose of realism in an era where self-development drowns in abstract, emotional slogans.
The point that resonated with me most was your call to separate the "ego" from the evaluation of our performance. This idea alone is enough to free us from the cycle of self-flagellation, because it teaches us to see our failures as ordinary "data" rather than as a "verdict" on our worth as human beings. Likewise, your warning against hustle culture was spot on: not every stubborn persistence is strength — sometimes it is simply an escape from facing the truth that we are walking the wrong path.
Reading your article opened a door in my mind to an integrative question that might add another dimension to your idea:
Could it be that our inner fear (or what we mistakenly label impostor syndrome) is what leads us to choose the wrong paths in the first place? Sometimes we choose safe, less ambitious paths out of fear of rejection, and when they fail, we assume the solution is simply to "change the path" — while the truth is that we first need to address the roots of that fear. Otherwise, we will reproduce the same failure on every new path we take.
I also reflected on the point about "immediate results." In many deep fields, the fruits may not appear for years. And here lies the real challenge: distinguishing between a path that is wrong and a path that simply requires patience and persistence.
But upon rereading, a deeper angle occurred to me: human beings are, by nature, blind to the results of their own work; we need an honest external mirror to show us the truth of what we are doing. And here lies the cruel paradox — sometimes our failure is not caused by a flawed strategy or personal weakness, but by the "friends" who surround us. The overly encouraging friend deprives us of hearing the truth; the fearful friend steers us toward paths of quiet defeat; and the envious friend distorts how we see our own successes. For that reason, choosing an honest, critically-minded circle may be the most important strategic decision we make before embarking on any project.
In short, your article did not merely hand me an excellent diagnostic tool — it prompted me to reconsider my relationship with my fear, with my patience, and with the people I listen to.
Thank you for this mature, thoughtful piece. I wish you continued impact and creativity.
With sincere appreciation,
🗻🧊😁
Thank you so much for leaving such a thoughtful comment! I really appreciate the time and effort you put into it.
Regarding your point about patience, I completely agree. In fact, I wanted to emphasize exactly that. Even when a goal realistically takes years to achieve, I think we still need to stop every few months and do an honest checkpoint: Am I actually making progress?
Take sports, for example. If your dream is to become a judo champion, of course it will take years. But if, after one or two years of training incredibly hard, you're still losing almost every match, it's probably worth rethinking your strategy. Who knows? Maybe you're actually training too hard and not giving yourself enough time to recover. Or maybe, as difficult as it is to accept, this simply isn't your path. The reality is that not everyone becomes a judo champion.
As for fear, I'm honestly not sure how to respond yet. I need to think about it more. Personally, I've never really struggled with that, but I do see it in people around me. The question I'm asking myself is: are they actually choosing the wrong path because of fear? Or are they choosing a perfectly valid but safer path, even though they're capable of aiming higher? That's a really interesting distinction, and you've definitely given me something to think about.
And regarding friends, I couldn't agree more. There's nothing worse than a "friend" who constantly downplays your achievements instead of helping you see yourself more clearly.
Thanks again for such a thoughtful comment. It genuinely made me reflect beyond what I originally wrote.
This post is so meaningful. Sometimes we need to look at both our mindset and the real evidence in front of us. But that kind of self-awareness is difficult. It takes courage to admit that the problem may be our approach, and some people may spend years without recognizing it. I’m grateful you wrote this and it gave me a much-needed reminder.
Thank you so much! ❤️ I think you're right, it takes a very special kind of courage. Or maybe not even courage, but a shift in perspective. Once we stop tying our self-worth to our work or our achievements, it becomes much easier to look at what we're doing objectively. Then changing direction doesn't feel like admitting defeat. It's simply another engineering decision based on new information. 🙂
The 1 thing that always stays true. Identify the bottleneck and optimize to improve the pipeline. Take running, no ACLs, means you'd probably do better with supports for your knees, not because that's a magic cure, but because it's an optimization that helps structural stability. Take job hunting, if you're a jack of all trades, you're never a perfect fit and while impressive, once cut with a cookie cutter, that overflow is a liability to a company, not added benefit, so pick a niche and target your resume to it. For burnout, if you're overworked, find ways to take a breather, smokers take smoke breaks, you can take 5 min to just lay back and close your eyes, to just let your brain reset.
Optimizations are universally good, whether it's applicable to your exact issue, is why it's important to identify a bottleneck first, else it's sub-optimal optimization. cutting 20ms off an API call helps, but it helps alot less than indexing the sql that was causing the 13 second slowdown...
Exactly, I completely agree! 🙂
Although it's funny, because when I was looking for my very first developer job, I did almost the opposite. 😄 Instead of looking for a niche, I kept reading job ads, identifying the skills companies were asking for, and then learning exactly those.
That said, I absolutely agree that having expertise in some niche area, even outside programming, can be a huge advantage. A friend of mine recently landed a job partly because, besides being a good developer, he also speaks German fluently. And, unsurprisingly, German clients really appreciate being able to communicate in their own language. 🙂
I did about the same and as I went on, I just added to the resume, to the point that my Skills list can be a document on it's own. Whereas best thing you can do is to specialize and stick to your specialty. Eg. .NET developer in FinTech for ERP systems. Extremely niche, but that means every job you work is 100% relevant to the next and while it narrows your scope of potential employment, it makes you a prime candidate for any that do fit.
Yeah apparently German Call Center support is a pretty big one. In my country that's pretty much the only 'online jobs' that people seem to find and yes, core requirement is fluent in german, but I guess it pays well?
Hahaha, I don't know about call centers. 😄 My friend is actually starting a software engineering job. The salary isn't anything extraordinary, but in today's job market it's definitely a solid offer. 🙂
Anything beats nothing... As long as they're employed and can pay their bills, it's good
Exactly, especially in today's difficult job market! 🙂 And I think it's a nice example that what helped him get the job wasn't even a technical skill.
When a direction stops working, pivot. You never see the whole picture from a single angle.
Exactly! That's how I see it as well. 😊 And there's nothing wrong with something not working out. It's not a verdict on us. It's just data. Data that helps us adjust our strategy and make better decisions going forward.
The "comfort and ease are not the diagnosis" line is the part I want to flag, because it reframes the whole conversation. A lot of writing about impostor syndrome treats the syndrome as the cause and pushes the prescription ("just believe in yourself, push harder, apply anyway") as if effort and confidence were the missing inputs. The article does the cleaner move: name the actual problem first (a real skill gap, a bad role fit, a missing piece of context) and only then talk about what to do about it.
The reframe that lands for me is the distinction between "I do not belong here" and "I do not yet have the inputs this role assumes." Those feel similar from the inside -- both come with the same flinch when you are asked to perform -- but they have opposite prescriptions. The first wants encouragement and exposure. The second wants targeted practice, a better environment, or a different role. Mixing the two up is what makes the "just push harder" advice so often backfire: it sends people into the second category with a first-category toolkit and then wonders why the flinch gets worse.
What I have seen work is treating the impostor feeling as a signal to investigate, not a verdict to overcome. The investigation usually finds one of three things: a domain where your training is thin (fixable), a role where the implicit expectations do not match how you actually work (a fit problem, not a you problem), or an environment that punishes questions (a culture problem, definitely not a you problem). The first is solvable with effort. The second is a conversation to have. The third is a door to walk out of. Pushing harder is only the right answer in the first case, and even there it works better as "push specifically" than as "push more."
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment! I really like how you expanded on the idea from the article.
The only point where I see things a little differently is your list of possible explanations. To me, all three examples you mentioned (a real skill gap, a role mismatch, or a toxic environment) are actually not impostor syndrome. They're real problems that deserve completely different solutions.
That's exactly why I wrote the article. 🙂
If someone lacks the required knowledge, the answer is learning. If the role isn't a good fit, the answer might be changing roles. If the environment punishes questions, that's a culture problem, not a personal one.
Impostor syndrome, at least in the psychological sense, is different. In my own examples, I already had external validation: conference committees accepted my talks, organizers described the speakers as "amazing international speakers," my articles were well received... and yet my brain still came up with the story that I was somehow fooling everyone.
That's why I think the first step is always making the right diagnosis. Otherwise we risk treating a real skill gap as impostor syndrome, or, just as importantly, treating genuine impostor syndrome as if it were simply a lack of competence.
Sylwia,
You are right, and the correction matters. I was listing real problems — skill gap, role mismatch, toxic environment — and treating them as alternative explanations for impostor syndrome. But they are not impostor syndrome at all. They are different diagnoses with different treatments, and conflating them does harm in both directions: treating a skill gap as impostor syndrome delays the learning, and treating impostor syndrome as a skill gap sends someone to study when they need to update their self-assessment.
Your diagnostic-first principle is the one that survives: figure out which problem you actually have before reaching for any solution. Thanks for the precision.
Exactly! 🙂 And this discussion has actually made me realize something else.
Even my own "textbook" impostor syndrome, the kind that matches the psychological definition, is still just a diagnosis, not a solution. I have a pretty good idea where it comes from (although I'd rather not play psychologist and self-diagnose too much here 😄), but you're absolutely right: even then, there's still work to do.
The difference is that the work isn't about improving a technical skill. It's about working on something else entirely.
Exactly — the diagnosis just tells you which instrument is lying, it doesn't fix the reading. I've come to think of that 'something else' as calibration rather than upgrading: when the internal gauge is off, you don't improve the machine, you keep re-zeroing the gauge against outside evidence — accepted talks, shipped work, people whose judgment you trust — until the two readings start to agree. Slow and weirdly unglamorous compared to learning a new skill, but at least you're working on the right part.
Hi.
This is a great perspective. I think one of the biggest mistakes we make is treating every struggle as a mindset problem when sometimes it is actually a strategy problem.
In engineering, when a system fails, we don't just increase the CPU and hope it works. We investigate the architecture, find the bottleneck, and adjust the approach. Personal growth is similar.
Sometimes we need more confidence and persistence, but sometimes we need to step back, analyze our process, learn new skills, change our strategy, or even choose a different direction. Knowing the difference is the real skill.
Thanks for sharing this. The "debug yourself like an engineer" mindset is something more people should talk about.
Thank you so much! 🙂 Exactly!
I think it's because we naturally look at software as an external system. We analyze it quite objectively (well... unless production is on fire and the deadline is tomorrow 😄).
Looking at ourselves the same way is much harder, because we're emotionally invested. We have our goals, fears, expectations, and stories about ourselves, and they're not always aligned with reality.
That's why I think it's so valuable to occasionally step back and look at yourself almost like an outside observer. It doesn't guarantee the right answer, but it makes finding it much easier.
Absolutely agree. I think that mindset is one of the most useful skills we can develop, especially as engineers. We spend so much time debugging systems, finding bottlenecks, and improving architecture, but we rarely apply the same process to ourselves.
Taking a step back and looking at our own habits, decisions, and assumptions helps us identify what is actually blocking progress instead of just pushing harder blindly. Self-reflection is almost like running a personal code review not to criticize ourselves, but to understand where we can improve.
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Sylwia, the running example nails it for me. you can't "push harder" your way out of a structural mismatch. I had my own version of this recently: applied for a role I was genuinely the best-fit answer for, on paper, and got rejected because of where I live, not what I know. No amount of "just believe in yourself" fixes a payroll line.
Your exchange with xm_dev_2026 in the comments is the real distinction — some rejections are data about fit, not data about worth
Exactly, Daniel! That's a perfect example.
Years ago I applied to Google, and one of the non-negotiable requirements was relocating to another city. That simply wasn't an option for me at the time. No amount of confidence or persistence could change that.
Another time I was rejected after a technical interview, and honestly... they were absolutely right. 😄 They were using a fairly niche technology that I simply didn't know well enough.
I don't see either of those as failures. They're just data. Sometimes the data tells you, "This isn't the right fit." Sometimes it tells you, "Here's the specific skill you're missing."
And I think that's much more useful than turning every rejection into a judgment about your worth.
This really resonated with me. Impostor syndrome has followed me through most of my academic life, from my Bachelors/Masters thesis to my PhD. The PhD especially came with a lot of self-doubt, feeling like I should know everything, or that not knowing something somehow meant I wasn’t good enough.
With time, I have become much more comfortable saying “I don’t know” without feeling insecure about it. And at the same time, I can also look at work I have done and say, “yeah, this is actually good.”. To be honest, the process of self-criticism helped a lot.
I really liked your point about separating self-doubt from a strategy that simply isn’t working. Not every doubt needs more confidence, sometimes you really do need to change the approach.
Exactly! I think the part I agree with the most is learning to say "I don't know." Ironically, I've also noticed that the better your reputation is within a company or project, the easier it becomes to say those three words. People trust that you'll find the answer.
Meanwhile, beginners often feel they have to pretend they know everything, when in reality that's the stage where saying "I don't know, let me check" is probably the healthiest habit they could develop.
I'm actually tired of this phrase, "imposter syndrome". It's really a matter of practicing a craft to perfect it. Of course it doesn't help if external forces are giving you headwinds based on who you are, but a lot of this appears to be self-discouragement. In 2026, surely we should be able to grow ourselves out of this quagmire...and if not, to rebuild our communities to help each other stop the self down-talk. Self- course-correction is the way, as you note.
Side note, just got back from Poland and really enjoyed it!!!
I think the worst case is when people use the term as an excuse not to change their strategy, and then the community reinforces it by saying, "Don't worry, it's just impostor syndrome." Sometimes it's exactly the wrong advice.
And I'm so glad you enjoyed Poland! I still haven't had the chance to visit Boston, but hopefully one day! 😄
That difference detector is the most interesting piece of life's puzzle 🙂
Exactly. That's why I think it's worth asking ourselves every few months: "Is what I'm doing still working?" 🙂
When I hear someone claim to experience imposter syndrome, I often have to kinda roll my eyes, because it comes across like "gee, it's sure hard to not be aware of my own greatness".
It's something where thinking you're experiencing it makes it less likely that you're actually experiencing it.
I didn't get that sense from this post though, to be clear. It's just one of those buzz words that's become a bit annoying, even though it is a real phenomenon and we've probably all experienced it at times, for real.
That's a really interesting perspective. 🙂 I've honestly never thought of people talking about impostor syndrome as bragging. If anything, I always interpreted it as almost the opposite. People downplaying themselves for the benefit of everyone else. But you're right, it probably depends a lot on who's saying it and in what context.
About ten years ago in Poland, the term was used as it should. A lot of people were entering software development, many after career changes, and it usually referred to the classic psychological definition.
I remember one tech lead who had excellent results and was highly respected by everyone, yet he genuinely felt like a fraud because he didn't have a computer science degree. I also remember a woman who felt like an impostor because she got accepted to speak at a conference, but believed her topic wasn't "technical enough" compared to everyone else's.
A few years later, though, I noticed the term starting to drift in a very different direction. People would say things like, "I've been sending out CVs for a year, failing every interview, and every company lets me go almost immediately. What should I do?" (At the time, the job market was actually very strong.)
And the replies would often be: "That's just impostor syndrome. Don't worry!"
To me, that's where the term started losing its meaning. Those situations may involve self-doubt, but they're not necessarily impostor syndrome. They could just as well point to a real skill gap, a mismatch, or something else entirely. And those situations deserve a completely different conversation.
It's a special type of brag (often): the humblebrag. A humblebrag requires two things:
If you think about it, imposter syndrome is the perfect vehicle for a humblebrag! Having imposter syndrome implies you're good at something (brag), but don't feel that you are (humble).
I do want to make clear again though that I'm not saying real imposter syndrome doesn't exist, it's just overused and often performative in my experience.
I think you're also right to point out that there's a difference between the classic psychological definition and the street definition, where the former is basically a lot stronger. Often somebody claiming imposter syndrome is just an instance of "therapy speak", where people casually claim some sort of significant mental pathology because they felt a certain way once, when actually it's just a normal feeling that everyone gets sometimes. Whether we should accept the more casual framing is a different topic, but I'm accepting it in this context, just for the sake of argument. And it is a convenient way to describe a real phenomenon, even when it's not a deep-seated pathology. Terms like "performance anxiety" or "achievement insecurity" may technically be better in a lot of cases, though.
People who really have clinical imposter syndrome, I would expect them to have difficulty accepting that they have imposter syndrome. When faced with the possibility, their initial reaction might be something like "no, I really do just have everyone fooled, and I'm actually not as good as they think I am". With time and reflection, they may come to accept that they have imposter syndrome, and that they need to work through it. But if someone easily arrives at "I must have imposter syndrome" (and especially if they go around telling other people), then they probably don't really have it, at least not to any real degree, in my opinion.
I think your core argument, that imposter syndrome is becoming a convenient excuse to avoid facing one's flaws, is very good. I hadn't considered it from that angle before, but it makes sense and is a far more dangerous misuse of it, compared to just humblebragging.
Haha, I think this is where we'll simply have to agree to disagree. 😄
Humblebrag definitely exists, but I also believe impostor syndrome is very real, and that it's perfectly possible to become aware of it over time.
That said... I have to admit I laughed at your point about "I have lots of achievements, therefore I might have impostor syndrome." 😂 I can definitely see how that could sound like a humblebrag in some situations.
Where I completely agree with you is that the more dangerous misuse is treating impostor syndrome as an excuse or as a substitute for honest self-reflection. The humblebragger might just come across as a bit funny. But someone who uses the label to avoid examining real skill gaps or strategy problems can genuinely slow down their own growth.
Totally agree with you! It feels like 'impostor syndrome' has become a convenient blanket excuse for any actual skill gap or flawed strategy. 😄
Loved the phrase 'Debug your strategy, not just your confidence'. Sometimes the solution isn't fighting self-doubt, but simply fixing the process!
Hahaha, exactly! 😄 I didn't even want to say it that directly in the article, because sometimes it really is a skill gap. 🤷♀️
But there are also situations where someone keeps trying, keeps working hard, and still struggles, not because they're lazy or incapable, but because that particular path just isn't the one where they'll thrive. The same person might be amazing in a different field.
I've learned to approach new things with the mindset of: "Okay, I'll give this an honest try for a while, and then I'll see what the data tells me."
Hi Sylwia! First of all, congratulations on the AI Coding Summit invitation! 🎉 Your article about Steve, clearly deserved that recognition — and the fact that your brain immediately wrote that "they've figured you out, you fraud" story is the perfect illustration of what real impostor syndrome looks like.
Objective achievements, external validation... and still the doubt.
I also strongly agree with your main point: not every doubt is impostor syndrome. Sometimes the diagnosis is wrong, and "just push harder" can genuinely do harm. Your "debug your strategy, not just your confidence" framing is spot on — sometimes the problem is the resume, the platform, the goal, not the confidence. And yes, some people are simply not good at certain things, and accepting that honestly is healthier than forcing it.
Where I'd add a small nuance, though: even in the "genuinely bad at this" category, training and deliberate preparation can take you surprisingly far. You'll probably never be Poland's marathon champion (especially with those judo knees 😄), and none of us will be Messi — but with the right strategy, most people can improve a lot from their starting point. Sometimes "I'm just bad at this" is a temporary state, not a verdict. The tricky part, as you say, is telling the difference between a wrong strategy, a missing skill, and a real limit.
Great read
Hi Sandro, thank you so much! ❤️
And yes, I completely agree that even in areas where we're naturally weaker, we can improve a lot with deliberate practice. I think the key is combining that with a healthy dose of self-awareness.
Take running, again. I'm pretty sure that if I really committed to it and invested a huge amount of time and energy, I could probably finish a marathon one day. Maybe not with an impressive time, but I'd get there. 😄
The real question is: is that where I actually want to invest that much effort?
If running has always been my dream, then absolutely, it might be worth it. But if my goal is simply to stay healthy and keep my body moving, then maybe running for half an hour a day is already enough. Or maybe I'd enjoy cycling, swimming, or another sport even more, and spend the extra time on something else... like blogging. 😄
I think that's the part we often forget. It's not only about what we're capable of, but also about what is actually worth pursuing given our limited time and energy.
I learned about it when I did google ux course (since english isn't my native language), so I wasn't even aware of this term.
These days, I believe imposter syndrome is basically seeing others doing good on socials - we compare a lot.
Absolutely! And social media makes it even harder, because we usually only see a tiny slice of other people's lives. We see the finished article, the accepted conference talk, the promotion... but we don't see the months of learning, failed attempts, doubts, or rejected applications that came before it.
Wanderful article.
As a person who suffered impostor syndrome before, I totally agree with you in the differentiation and, most important, in the advice.
A couple of years ago I was very frustrated for not being able to grow into the organization in the company I work at besides my good engineering career there, but at some point I started to think different and focus in what I can really do to achieve that, so I started to take some courses in soft skills. They were really helpfull in my daily relationship with my coworkers, but also after a while I was offered to a better position, more related to management which was what I wanted.
So, great great article
Thank you so much for sharing your story! ❤️ It's a beautiful example of exactly what I was trying to describe. Imagine if someone had simply told you, "Just keep doing what you're doing. Work harder." Your frustration would probably have just kept growing.
Instead, you identified what was actually missing and adjusted your strategy. Honestly, after reading your comment, I'd love to recommend those soft skills courses to a few people on my own team. 😄
I had a similar experience when I started blogging. My mindset was, "Let's see what people enjoy reading and what I enjoy writing." Instead of, "Nobody reads my posts, so I give up." That little shift in strategy made a huge difference.
Thank you ❤️ @sylwia-lask Personally, I believe in rating my efforts rather than the possibilities those efforts could produce which I now believe it's an absolute error after reading this. Sometimes, we don't need to put in more effort; we just need to be smarter, just as you have somehow explained.
I'm so happy to hear that! ❤️ Thank you.
Reading this article kind of reminds of the quote:
I feel like, there should be intent in our struggles, there should be a goal, there should be a strategy. Working harder but not looking at the statistics of your efforts is like working out but not checking if you have proper form or even looking at the mirror if you achieved the body shape you want (I know bad example haha, can't think right in the middle of the night).
But the point is, there should be a target. If it doesn't work, you've gained experience. Then move on towards the next viable target. That's how you get better, that's how you know your "hard work" pays off because there's an intention and there are statistics that could back it up.
Exactly! 🙂 Even the exercise example convinced me. 😄 If we're training hard but our fitness isn't improving, we instinctively know it's time to change something.
I think personal growth should work the same way. Maybe even more so, because we often dedicate years of our lives to it. Every now and then it's worth stopping and asking, "Is this actually working?"
Thanks Elmar for such a thoughtful comment! ❤️
I like this idea a lot. Fall Forward!
Two days since I wrote here, and my mind is still on this article. I think you hit the nail on the head.
Of course, I feel this "impostor syndrome" myself — mainly after the work I mentioned to you in one of my posts. My brain is on 24/7 saying: "If this solution was so good, why did nobody think of it before?" Meanwhile, the numbers and the tests are supporting my work.
I know this could be a 180-degree shift in how we create agents. But on the other hand, there's still that voice saying... OK, so why didn't OpenAI, Anthropic, or some other big tech company do this before?
😟
I actually had a friend who came up with a brilliant payment system years ago. We kept asking ourselves exactly the same question: "How has nobody thought of this before?"
Well... it turned out nobody had. A few years later, that way of paying had become completely norma, at least in Poland. (To be fair, we were so far behind in digital payments for a while that it was actually easier to introduce modern payment methods later on. 😂)
So I don't think "OpenAI hasn't done it" really proves anything. Sometimes great ideas simply appear in unexpected places.
The only thing I'd think about is the business side. My friend never really benefited from his idea because he was building it alone, without the business network or the people needed to turn it into a product. So if you genuinely believe you've found something important, it might be worth thinking not only about the technology, but also about how to bring it to the world. 🙂
This is an important discussion. Not every struggle with confidence or performance is simply “impostor syndrome,” and oversimplifying the issue can prevent people from addressing the real challenges. A more thoughtful approach that considers context, workload, and personal growth is much more valuable. Thanks for sharing this perspective! 👏
Exactly! 🙂 Thank you so much for your comment. Sometimes, no matter how hard we work, we simply won't get much farther unless we change our strategy. That's why I think it's so important to step back every now and then and ask not only "Am I trying hard enough?" but also "Am I trying the right thing?"
The running example is what makes this land, "keep training harder, you'll become Poland's marathon champion" being obviously absurd is the exact same shape of advice people accept without blinking when it's aimed at job searching or blog writing. The absurdity doesn't disappear just because the domain sounds more meritocratic.
The real diagnostic test hiding in here: impostor syndrome says "the results are fine, I just don't feel deserving." A strategy problem says "the results genuinely aren't showing up, no matter how I feel about it." Those need opposite treatments, one needs reassurance, the other needs an honest audit, and "just push harder" quietly assumes it's always the first one.
Exactly! 🙂 That's something I've been observing for quite a while now, the term "impostor syndrome" is often used far too casually.
And I think it can actually be harmful. Telling someone who's struggling, "It's just impostor syndrome. Try harder." without first understanding what's really going on can do much more harm than good.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful post! I’ve definitely had moments where I began to doubt myself, and, truthfully, after taking a step back, I realised that my methods were simply not working.
I play a lot of chess, and during my growth, I hit a plateau where what I had been doing was no longer working. I started doubting whether I really belonged at that level and questioning whether the problem was me. But in hindsight, it was actually my training methods that were holding me back.
Sure, if I had just kept at it and played more, I probably would have improved eventually, but the progress would have been much slower, and I probably wouldn’t have gone as far. After changing my approach to training, however, I started seeing real progress again.
Sometimes, the problem isn't that we aren't good enough. Sometimes, we just need to change how we're approaching the problem.
Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂 The chess example is fantastic. I think the diagnosis was the key part. Once you understood what was actually holding you back, you had options. You could change your training method, or you could even decide that changing it would take too much time and effort, and consciously stay at your current level. (That's basically my relationship with Beat Saber. 😂)
And that's exactly the point I was trying to make: put your ego aside, diagnose the real cause, and then make a conscious decision about what to do next.
Great piece — this distinction matters more than most advice-givers realize. Your engineering mindset is exactly what people need: a way to turn vague self-doubt into testable hypotheses instead of reflexive pep talks.
Why the distinction matters
When doubt comes from a strategy failure you get predictable, fixable symptoms such as no measurable progress, repeated rejections for the same reason, or clear skill gaps. When it’s impostor feelings you see a mismatch between objective evidence and subjective belief, persistent negative self-talk despite external validation, and anxiety that isn’t resolved by tactical changes alone.
Quick diagnostic checklist
If it’s strategy
Treat it like a debugging task. Define the metric you want to move, run small experiments, get targeted feedback, and iterate. Swap platforms, refine titles or resumes, practice interview questions with a coach, or focus on one market segment instead of chasing prestige.
If it’s impostor syndrome
Work on cognitive reframing and evidence collection. Keep a dossier of wins, ask for calibration feedback, and practice public exposure in low-stakes settings to build tolerance for discomfort.
Practical routine
Every 6–12 weeks run a short review: state the goal, list evidence, identify one hypothesis about what’s failing, design a two-week experiment, and measure results. This turns anxiety into actionable data and prevents “just try harder” from becoming the default.
Thanks for calling this out. Framing growth as engineering preserves both ambition and sanity, and it gives people a real path forward instead of platitudes.💡
Thank you so much for this comment!!! ❤️ This is practically the technical documentation for my article. 😂
And yes, this is exactly how we should debug our own careers and doubts: look at the evidence, identify the actual problem, form a hypothesis, experiment, and only then decide what needs to change.
I love this framework! 💡
모든 의심을 임포스터 증후군으로 부르면 전략 문제와 환경 문제를 놓친다는 구분이 좋았습니다. 특히 ‘더 열심히’ 대신 이력서 피드백, 지원 범위, 제목, 활동 채널처럼 바꿀 수 있는 변수를 하나씩 디버깅하라는 접근은 1인 개발자와 창업자에게도 그대로 적용됩니다. 노력의 양보다 가설을 작게 나눠 검증하는 편이 번아웃을 줄이면서 학습 속도를 높여준다고 생각합니다.
하하하, DEV 국제판이네요! 😂🌍 좋은 말씀 정말 감사합니다!
맞아요, 정말 정확해요! 이런 접근은 1인 개발자나 창업자뿐만 아니라 사실 삶의 거의 모든 영역에 적용할 수 있다고 생각해요. 다만 어떤 때는 제 달리기 예시처럼 비교적 쉽게 문제를 객관적으로 보고 “디버깅”할 수 있는데, 어떤 때는 자존심이나 에고가 너무 많이 개입해서 훨씬 어려워지는 것 같아요 😄
그리고 혹시 한국어가 이상하거나 틀린 부분이 있다면 미리 죄송합니다! 저는 한국어를 한마디도 못하고, GPT가 번역해주고 있어요 😂
Is there a name for the opposite of imposter syndrome?
The state of confusion summarized by -
'I swear I'm actually really good at this stuff but. Every beginner thinks I'm too advanced and yet somehow every 'real' expert ignores me as a pleb. I really should probably get asked to write books on the stuff I know or talk at conferences but somehow that never happens. Clearly I must be an idiot but equally clearly, from real world work done, I'm not.' 🤔
Hahaha, the Dunning–Kruger effect was actually the first thing that came to my mind. 😂 But in the situation you're describing, that's only one possible explanation.
Maybe this person is genuinely good but simply lacks visibility? Maybe they want to speak at conferences but have no speaking experience yet, or aren't even submitting CFPs? Maybe they need to work on their soft skills or take a course? Someone in the comments here actually shared a similar story: they felt stuck in their career, took some soft-skills courses, and it helped them tremendously.
In fact, in the context of my article, I think saying "Yes, you have reverse impostor syndrome!" would be almost missing the whole point. 😄
I'd rather ask: Why is this happening? What does the evidence say? What can be changed? Diagnose the cause first, experiment with the strategy, and see what happens.
This is so relatable. Ever since i have entered this development industry, every minor inconvenience gives me full legit weird thoughts. It feels like maybe I'm not good enough. Everyone else might be thinking "oh she is just another newbie, who completely relies on AI. Or, this is so basic what she has as skills."
But than again i push myself thinking- every experienced developer had this phase once.
Of course! 😄 Unfortunately, as you can see, it doesn't necessarily disappear with experience. 😉
I'm speaking at conferences now with one VERY advanced topic and another one that's much more beginner-friendly. And I still catch myself thinking—wait for it—that people probably won't like the first one because it's too advanced... and they won't like the second one either because it's too basic. 😂😂
Our brains are wonderfully creative when they want to find a reason why we're not good enough. 😄
Learning to tell the difference is such an important skill. Should I keep doing what I'm doing and wait for success to come, or is it time to rethink the strategy? Learning to recognize the difference is indeed hard, but I sometimes think accepting it is even harder, especially when the answer isn't the one you were hoping for.
Exactly! That's why I've learned to approach new things with the mindset of, "I'll give it a few weeks or months and see what happens." 😄 That way, even if it doesn't work out, my ego doesn't suffer. It's just an experiment, and every result teaches me something.
I like this perspective, Sylwia. Sometimes we get so focused on "just keep going" that we forget it's also okay to stop and ask if the way we're doing something is actually working.
Also, congrats on the AI Coding Summit!
Thank you so much! ❤️
Exactly! Sometimes the most valuable thing we can do is pause for a moment and ask ourselves whether we're actually running in the right direction. 😄
Persistence is important, but it's even more valuable when it's combined with an occasional reality check.
Not every doubt is impostor syndrome this is the most important line I've read this week The running analogy is perfect. We've all seen advice that says just push harder when the real problem is strategy, not confidence. And you're right that advice can actually be harmful when it keeps people grinding on the wrong path.
What I love about this is the debug your strategy mindset. We debug code, we debug systems but we rarely apply that same logic to our own growth. Asking is this working? instead of am I good enough? changes everything.
The part about the conference invitation hit close to home. That voice that says they'll figure out you're a fraud even when there's evidence you deserve it. 😅
Thanks for this one. I needed the reminder that sometimes the best thing to do isn't work harder it's work smarter. 🙏
P.S. The Poland's marathon champion line made me chuckle. 😄
Thank you so much! ❤️
Exactly! It even reminds me of a quote from House M.D.: "Work smart, not hard." 😄
And I don't even think that's a cynical approach. In the long run, a marathon runner will always get farther than a sprinter, even if they never become Poland's marathon champion. 😄
"Debug your strategy, not just your confidence" is such a fresh, necessary perspective!
Slapping the "impostor syndrome" label on every struggle often leads to blind persistence in an ineffective strategy. Treating growth like an engineering project—stepping back without ego to inspect whether the inputs are actually producing outputs—is far more constructive than just telling people to work harder. Loved the running analogy!
The running comparison makes the point so clear.
Telling a developer who has sent 200 unanswered CVs that they "just have impostor syndrome and need to keep going" ignores the reality that the CV or targeting strategy might simply be broken. Replacing blind grit with periodic, objective strategy reviews is how real progress actually happens. Great read!
Thank you so much! ❤️ Exactly, that's why I wrote this article.
I genuinely think it's unfair to give people that kind of advice. If someone has been struggling for months without results, simply saying "It's just impostor syndrome. Keep going." can actually be harmful.
Sometimes the kindest thing we can do is help someone step back, look at the situation objectively, and figure out what's really holding them back.
Lovely article! I appreciate this different approach of debugging your strategy.
Thank you sooo much 😍
Great article, Sylwia! I know the feeling about the imposter syndrome. I spoke a network last night. You need to take a leap of faith and move forward.
Thank you so much, Ben! 🙂
And yes, sometimes taking that leap of faith is exactly the right answer. My point was simply that first it's worth making sure we're actually dealing with impostor syndrome, and not a strategy problem, a skill gap, or something else entirely. 🙂
that is true :)
Awesome post! 🔥 Loved how you explained everything so simply. Super helpful! 🙌
Thanks a lot 🥰
10 minutes on LinkedIn is the cure for any form of "imposter syndrome"....
just saying.
Hahaha, I almost cried laughing. 🤣
This made me think about one extra problem with the “engineering mindset” analogy: even after we start measuring ourselves, we still have to make sure we're measuring the right thing.
I work with AI systems, and I see a similar failure mode there. A system can have good latency, valid responses, no errors, and still be wrong because it used the wrong source or the wrong context.
I think people can fall into a similar trap. “I studied for 100 hours”, “I published 20 articles”, “I applied to 200 jobs” — these are measurements, but they don't necessarily tell us whether the strategy is working.
So maybe the checkpoint shouldn't only be:
“Am I making progress?”
but also:
“Is the feedback I'm using actually evidence of the thing I'm trying to improve?”
In my work with AI systems, we're exploring a related idea called temporal provenance: keeping metadata about where a piece of information came from, when it was valid, which version it belonged to, and whether it was actually verified.
It made me wonder: what would the equivalent of temporal provenance look like in personal growth? How do you tag your feedback so you know you're measuring the right thing?
The title about AI boundaries got me thinking, but the content on impostor syndrome and strategy was really valuable. It's so true that just pushing harder isn't always the answer. Good reminder to check if our approach is right before doubting ourselves.
Reading through the article and the comments here, this post hits on a really important nuance that often gets lost in career advice.
We’ve normalized telling people to "just keep pushing" or "believe in yourself," but without a clear diagnostic of why something isn't working, that advice can easily turn into a recipe for burnout. It was so refreshing to read your honest take on speaker anxiety alongside the reality that sometimes, we simply need a strategy pivot rather than a confidence boost.
Loved the advice on setting smaller, iterative goals instead of trying to plan out 10 years in advance. Fantastic read!