Why Would I Be An Imposter
I have been seeing more and more articles being written about this imposter syndrome going on around the web development community of late. I have wondered where this came from. Has it always been there? Did it come to light lately with the wide use of social media? Who coined this phrase? I have so many questions with no answers. Why? Because there is no such thing as imposter syndrome.
Let me make sure I have my facts straight before I move forward with my hypotheses that there is no such thing as imposter syndrome when it comes to being a web developer. Ok. First, I need to know what the definition is of an imposter.
a person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others, especially for fraudulent gain.
Hmmm. I think I need to break that down a bit to understand this in more detail.
a person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others
How in the world could someone in web development be able to accomplish this? Why would someone want to? I have a great deal of respect for all web developers, so what is it that would have me wanting to deceive any of them? How would I do that? Go to StackOverflow and steal/copy some code and say it is mine? Maybe. What else? Oh, I could talk on Twitter like I know something or someone that would make others think I am someone who I am not. No, that does not make sense. I still can’t figure this out. Someone help me. I am not looking at this right? When someone says they are feeling like they have imposter syndrome, are they really meaning something else, or do they intentionally mean to deceive others? Hey, I got it. I could be looking at this all wrong. Follow me here.
a person who pretends to be someone else to get people to like them, so they have more friends on social media
Now that could potentially work. I can say that this was something I did. A few years ago I spent $10 for 1,000 followers to be added to my Twitter account. At the time, I thought this was going to make me look special and that others would want to follow me because of the amount of other people that follow me. Did not work out that way.
I still can’t wrap my head around the part where a person pretends to be someone else. Why would you do this, and how would you do this? I clearly don’t understand. Does this mean that you are acting like someone else. Doing things the way someone else is doing it? That I think is more along the lines of mimicking. Now I can see this being more along the lines of the web development community. Here is the catch though …. this is a good thing. There is no doubt in my mind that learning is done this way. You have to start somewhere. When you are a baby, how is it that you start to learn? You mimic. Everything that I have learned in web development has been mimicking other people. I have mimicked the likes of Kyle Simpson and Wes Boss. I can’t tell you how many times I have changed my code editor to something I saw someone else using because I thought it was the code editor that made them good at what they did. It was trial and error, and has been every day that I have been at this. If you want to say you have a syndrome, say you have a mimic syndrome, and be proud of it. It is better than sitting on your butt watching TV.
I have not touched on the word syndrome yet. One second while I look that word up.
a characteristic combination of opinions, emotions, or behavior.
I am afraid right now I am not able to understand this enough to put it together with someone thinking they have imposter syndrome. Is this saying that this is trying to be someone else based off of your opinions, emotions, and behavior? Like you are trying to walk the same way, talk the same way, etc. ? Ok, that sounds about right to me. Sorry, not buying it. Well, wait a second, the part I will buy into is the behavior. But I am not sure it goes along with the context that developers are using it. I can’t tell you how often I have seen developers self promote themselves on social media. Some of those people are the same people that others are probably trying to be an imposter of. When I see this, I think to myself how it is that they have so much time to post 10 times a day on social media and also get their work done. Could just be me. I know with my lack of ability to stay focused, if I did that I would never get anything done. Even when I don’t I still don’t get anything done.
I think I have cleared this up for myself now. People must be using the phrase wrong. No, maybe I am not understanding the context correctly. There are no imposters in web development. There are those that mimic others. They do a very good job at it. So well, that eventually they are being mimicked. Through the years I have watched this and have been part of it. You know when it started? When the movethewebforward movement started. It was the most prolific movement that I have seen in my 13 years of mimicking others. The group of people that decided to take their time to share their knowledge to others, and then ask for others to return the favor was incredibile. It was a very positive time that has had a lasting effect on me. At tha time there were no imposters. Only thing that was happening was that everyone was mimicking everyone. And because of that, everyone was getting better and better to the point where we are today with the web technology moving faster than every before.
So for those that have put the label of “imposter syndrome” on themselves …. drop the label. Untag yourself. I don’t mind seeing someone say that he/she is feeling like they are mimicking other people. That is a powerful place to be. That is how learning happens. I have a feeling that until I decide to power off the computer for good, or the good Lord takes me, I will always be one who mimicks others.
I feel better now. Before I started writing I could not fully understand this phrase that people have been giving themselves. Only now I feel sad that they do such a thing. Who knows, maybe some day I will see someone write on Twitter that they are in “mimick mode”, and feeling good about it. That is the way that the movethewebforward movement was meant to be.
If you are one that feel that you have this syndrome, feel free to head on over to https://movethewebforward.org and find out how you can be who you want to be, and do it however you want to do it.