Ask HN: How to get rid of impostor syndrome?
A few things I do:<p>1. I recall to myself that the stuff I do is hard. If I feel like I&#x27;m in over my head, it&#x27;s because most people would find what I do challenging.<p>2. I also look back on things accomplished. Imposters, by definition, haven&#x27;t accomplished the things they say they have. Engineers with imposter syndrome worry that their accomplishments are somehow insufficient, but they have accomplishments to point to. There is a big difference.<p>3. Something I learned from a math professor of mine: ask simple questions about a new topic to check your understanding. The act of asking a simple question can help you validate that you actually understand what you&#x27;re learning.<p>4. I tell people &quot;I don&#x27;t know&quot; when I don&#x27;t know. I&#x27;ve found that almost always, when you say you don&#x27;t know something, the person will acknowledge that&#x27;s reasonable. (That person might still want you to come back with an answer later though :-) ). The education system serves us poorly in training us that saying &quot;I don&#x27;t know&quot; is somehow a bad thing.