
Fixing Impostor Syndrome in Coding Interviews - hokustalkshow
https://www.interviewcake.com/impostor-syndrome-in-programming-interviews
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ravenstine
Serious question: Could it be that imposter syndrome isn't real, but what
people are actually experiencing is imposter syndrome-syndrome?

I don't think there's a person whom I've known who hasn't claimed to have
experienced imposter syndrome. It seems like everyone has this feeling when
they're engaging in something they have don't have complete experience or
confidence in. This is a _normal_ way to feel, but some people are better at
overcoming it than others. The people who don't seem like they experience
imposter syndrome are either well settled into their roles or are simply good
actors who can handle pressure. At some point or another, we decided that this
state of being had something to do with being an "imposter" rather than being
a human being lacking experience. Unless you outright lied about who you are,
you're not an imposter.

This reminds me how everyone says they're an "introvert". Even the people I
know who are party animals say they're introverts because they need time to
"recharge". We throw around these terms like "imposter syndrome" and
"introvert" because they make us feel better, even though they describe most
people, in which case they're really not that useful. Sometimes you've just
got to buck up and not waste time overthinking, descriptions of one's self
being one form of that.

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anonytrary
Let X = "the natural feeling of inadequacy that pretty much everyone feels
when learning new things".

Your question is a bit confusing. It sounds like you acknowledge X's
existence, but are mostly unhappy with the naming, since "imposter" implies a
negative connotation (which X isn't), and "syndrome" implies that it is some
sort of exceptional condition (where X isn't). I agree with you on that _about
X_.

That said, I think imposter syndrome isn't about X _per se_. I am more
interested in the case where X gets into smart people's heads and prevents
them from being as successful as they can be (projecting a bit, because I too
have imposter syndrome). In these cases, it makes sense to not only label it,
but also give it a slight negative connotation. At that point, X becomes a
phenomenon that is worth talking about.

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jghn
The impression I got from the GP wasn’t that it wasn’t a negative thing but
rather that it was so ubiquitous that we should just think of it as normal and
not the special case

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allovernow
>It's a fluke that I got this job interview...”

>“I studied for weeks, but I’m still not prepared...”

>“I’m not actually good at this. They’re going to see right through me...”

>If any of these thoughts resonate with you, you're not alone. They are so
common they have a name: impostor syndrome

I mean it's clear that their secret sauce is just instilling confidence in
everyone, and it's great to have such an optimistic view, but reality is that
these things are often true and happen to everybody. Sometimes you're just not
good enough, sorry.

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JoeMayoBot
While it wasn't said, this somewhat implies that people are faking their way
into companies, guessing and pulling other tricks to get through an interview.
The simple solution is for people to be honest with themselves and their
interviewer about their capabilities. This is my approach and it sometimes
means that I don't get work because I flat out said that I know nothing about
a certain technology or don't have mastery over something yet. Today, someone
must have thought I had excellent SQL skills and I clearly let them know that
I can do CRUD and stored procs (the typical developer toolset), but much of my
recent experience is with ORMs. The gig might not come through, but I don't
have to worry about imposter syndrome or my relationship with the other
developer.

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knzhou
Impostor syndrome is a real phenomenon, but contrary to what everybody
studying it says, the strongest counter to it is more emphasis on objective
and impersonal evaluation criteria, not less. In my experience, much of it is
_created_ by initiatives that ostensibly try to fight it.

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adamredwoods
I don't understand this article as applied to the interviewing experiences
I've just had. The wide berth of interview questions I've had in the past does
suggest that I do need to know quite a bit, and in addition, the slight
mistakes I've made have led to many rejections.

It's not just knowing your comp sci basics such as recursion or closure or
BigO, but knowing quirks in multiple languages, and know them well enough to
catch them in a coding interview. If you don't get everything exactly correct,
then you are rejected and labeled an imposter (and labeled so much so, Amazon
will block you from any further interviews for one year).

It also takes knowing as many platforms as possible if one wants to be as
employable as possible. The current hotness is React, but I've still seen some
good Angular jobs out there, and knowing both to a high degree will make one a
tad more employable. How much of an imposter am I if I know React, MVC
patterns, but just a little Angular, and apply to an Angular job?

None of the jobs I've applied to are senior level, yet it makes me shudder in
fear to ever interview again beyond the entry level. The imposter syndrome is
real, not because of my insecurities, but because of the outcomes of the
interviews I've had.

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eximius
It sounds like you've had some bad interviews - that is, that your interviewer
did a poor job.

Small nitpicks should not disqualify you, small mistakes should not disqualify
you. In fact small mistakes are expected and can be used as part of the
interview to see if the interviewee can identify their mistakes when hinted
at.

I've never been required to know a particular platform before. I HAVE been
asked to do a small API project in Go prior to the interview, which is
similar, but it was an excellent take home problem in scope and completeness.
Something like a TodoMVP in React. Something that doesn't require mastery,
they just want to see that you can do something that takes more than an hour.

It is reasonable for a company to decline to hire if they cannot afford for
you to train in a new technology on the job. But this is a failing in the
company and NOT a rejection of you.

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pmoriarty
Something related to but much less well known than impostor syndrome is the
so-called Jonah complex[1], which is _" the fear of success or the fear of
being one's best which prevents self-actualization, or the realization of
one's own potential. It is the fear of one's own greatness, the evasion of
one's destiny, or the avoidance of exercising one's talents."_

[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_complex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah_complex)

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crimsonalucard
People talk about imposter syndrome without thinking about the other side of
the coin. There are actually tons of actual imposters in our midst as well.

Inept and incapable people often get promoted because they either know how to
play the political game or are perceived not to be a threat. A great number of
these people are aware they are imposters and they are actually right.

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hanoz
I frequently get imposter syndrome, or terrible realisations that I am in fact
an imposter, I'm not sure which, but one situation in which I would be
supremely confident that the imposter was the one sitting on the other side of
the table would be if I were being judged by my (in)ability to perform
leetcode tricks unrehearsed.

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palisade
I have imposter syndrome, and what's worse I'm really shy and have trouble
looking people in the eye which makes me seem like a liar. What helps me a lot
is the move companies are making towards remote interviews. For some reason
with skype I can look people right in the eye, it's probably because they're
off-center visually or because I know they're not really here. However, that
only helps with the shyness it doesn't really solve the imposter part. And,
it's not because I'm not competent, I've successfully shipped every project
I've ever been part of.

~~~
rcurry
There's a great line in Glenn Gary Glenn Ross where one character says "I
always get nervous when I talk to the police." and the other character says
"Yeah, you know who doesn't get nervous when they talk to the police...
criminals."

It's perfectly normal to be a bit nervous or shy during interviews, so don't
sweat it so much. A decent interviewer isn't going to hold that against you.
I'm more suspicious of people who aren't a bit nervous, and am inclined to
interview them more thoroughly because most of the time when companies I've
worked for have hired someone who's slick, they've turned out to be an
imposter.

~~~
bitwize
> It's perfectly normal to be a bit nervous or shy during interviews, so don't
> sweat it so much. A decent interviewer isn't going to hold that against you.

An interviewer held it against me. Said I did well technically but didn't seem
confident enough.

In order to ace the interview you pretty much have to be the perfect candidate
-- technically, socially, emotionally.

~~~
imsofired
Yikes. I've done the opposite. A fully qualified candidate was so satisfied in
his competence that he was absolutely insufferable.

As he was completing the coding portion of his interview, I broached the topic
of comments. "Nah, this is an interview, it doesn't matter."

This was back in 98 and he had a little personal website with a discussion
board for his friends. He whined there about not getting the job, so I
explained that it was his attitude, and not his skills, that made him a bad
fit. His friends seemed to agree with me, that getting taken down a notch was
a necessary step in his emotional growth.

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sys_64738
It all depends on the need for a successful outcome. I talk confidently when
there’s no real pressure for me to get the job. But if I need a positive
outcome it is less so. Maybe it’s nerves but interviews are stressful.

~~~
octorian
Yeah, the more necessary you feel the job to be, the worse the nerves are.
Many years ago I was desperate to escape my job to one better suited to my
skills. Did fine on the phone screens.

However, the nervousness of the whole in-person interview situation caused me
to basically blow it. Stuff I knew like the back of my hand, or would get
almost instantly under calmer circumstances, I simply kept stumbling on.

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larnmar
> Here’s the good news: you’re not an impostor

Some people are, though. Sometimes, “impostor syndrome” isn’t really a
syndrome, but an appropriate way to feel when you’ve been Peter-Principled
your way into a position that you’re not competent in.

~~~
randallsquared
One of the reasons imposter syndrome is so prevalent in the tech industry is
that everyone with more than a few years of experience has worked alongside
people who talked their way into the job but cannot code their way out of a
wet paper bag. It's directly related, in my opinion, to the terrible state of
interviews in this field.

~~~
AlexCoventry
Can't people reassure themselves by picking a wet paper bag to code themselves
out of?

~~~
cdwhite
Yes! My last year in grad school, this is part of how I kept my sanity: random
little side-projects on which I could make concrete progress in a couple of
evenings.

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Tade0
I know that I'm somewhat of an impostor because interviews don't test for
what's really important in this field - namely grit - and rely on gut feeling
in this regard instead.

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valleyjo
Couldn’t one say that sticking it out to study and practice for interviews is
itself gritty?

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Tade0
Kinda, but what I'm talking about is more along the lines of pushing through
months of hard work to deliver a project on a hard deadline.

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alkibiades
am i the only one that _doesn 't_ experience imposter syndrome? i actually
feel highly qualified and good at my job.

~~~
shantly
I feel that way almost all the time—mostly due to client and co-worker
feedback—except when interviewing. Interviews are far more demanding and
stressful than any dev job I’ve had. Even the bad weeks.

