A Measurable Increase in Ability

This is something I've been thinking about recently. Something super common that's found in academia and even more so in tech is imposter syndrome. Where essentially you believe your abilities to be less than they really are. You don't deserve your position and your success, you are an imposter in a room full of experts.

What happens is that people have this really strong feeling of not belonging. I think that this usually stems from a mindset that is overwhelmingly comparison based. You go into work and instead of seeing yourself as a crucial part of your team, you're just someone who managed to squeak by. As you see more and more of the triumphs of your peers, you get more and more of a warped view of what you should know. Your shortcomings are now amplified because now you're thinking your coworker didn't have to ask about this specific problem, why don't I know this information already?

What I think is difficult to grasp is that we don't ever see the full picture of those around us. We only see a slice even that is biased towards what people want to show. The only person in which we see the full picture, the strengths AND the weaknesses, is yourself. The dangerous part about this is that we start to attribute our own triumphs to luck or just circumstance. We are harsh and downright unfair to the amount of hard work we have put in.

Even if you have imposter syndrome and you wield it as a motivator for self-improvement, it is so difficult to reach the standard that we set for ourselves. The growth that you may undergo is usually gradual. No one becomes an expert in a matter of days.

An example I was thinking about regarding the measurability of growth is an athlete. I don't know about how other people view athletes, but I view them as some of the most driven types of people. A theory I have regarding the drive is that they have such an easy goal in sight. They want to run a faster time, lift a heavier weight, beat their opponent in a match. These are hard, unmoving, concrete goals. If you compare that to a tech worker, what a dev has as a goal is so much more nebulous. I want to become more proficient with X technology, I want to learn about Y framework. We don't have nearly as easy of a time setting measurable goals.

I don't how to end this. I suppose you should just keep it in mind whenever you are beating yourself up for no reason.