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Many young adults, women, and older adults newly getting into IT often face impostor syndrome. What is it? It’s a feeling of self-doubt, worry of inadequate performance, and fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. In a lot of cases, impostor syndrome is unwarranted.

I’ve dealt with it myself through several different IT jobs, but finally found a way to overcome impostor syndrome. It’s my hope that this post helps anyone worried about their own abilities in IT roles overcome their self-doubt.

Everyone deserves to feel like they belong in their job.

Step 1: Be Confident

Confidence is key when adapting to a new role. Sometimes, you have to fake it until you make it.

The best way to build confidence is to accept praise from bosses and coworkers when they thank you or tell you that you’ve done a good job.

If you have a hard time accepting praise, try to build your confidence by listing your achievements and accomplishments. Were you made the leader on a project? Did you deploy hardware or software that made a user’s workflow smoother? Take credit for what you’ve done that’s benefited your workplace.

Step 2: Take Time to Learn

Something that’s easy to forget is that people with seniority or more experience than you still don’t know everything. If you’re intimidated by how much you think another person knows that you don’t, put that intimidation to rest by learning something new.

There are countless resources both free and paid that will help you learn valuable IT skills. A search on Google–or even Spiceworks, better yet–will fill your screen with tutorial videos, text-based how-tos, recommended books, and more.

If you take the time to learn something new every day, your career is unlikely to stagnate, and you’ll become an even more valuable asset to your employer.

Step 3: Realize that not Everyone can do I.T.

Assuming that everyone has the same baseline knowledge of IT is an easy mistake to make when you’re suffering through impostor syndrome. Odds are if you’ve kept your IT job past the probationary period that your knowledge surpasses that of quite a few of the other employees at your company.

Realize that you’re in IT because your employer thinks you belong in IT. After all, Dennis in Sales probably doesn’t know how to build or set up a computer, troubleshoot network connectivity issues, or update security software. You’ve got this. Your employer knows you have things handled–so let yourself believe it.

Step 4: Find a Peer Group

Finding and talking to peers in the workplace will likely show you that other people are experiencing impostor syndrome just like you are. Network with your peers inside and outside of your own department. You’ve probably heard Mandy or Craig say they’re worried about a project, or don’t know if they’ve done a good enough job on something.

Knowing that you’re not alone should help you realize that it’s normal to feel like you’re not 100% capable, even if you’ve proven time and time again that you can do your job well.

Step 5: Ask a Mentor for their Opinion

If you have a coworker on your team who you think is more skilled than you are, ask for their opinion. What do they think of your plan to set up automatic updates? Do they think you did a good job expressing yourself in a meeting?

People who are now skilled in IT were as new to the field as you were once. If they think you’re doing a good job, accept it!

Step 6: If all Else Fails, Talk to a [Mental Health] Professional

Sometimes hearing rational advice, positive comments, and praise doesn’t help to quiet irrational feelings and fears. When talking to peers and mentors, receiving praise from coworkers, and learning something new doesn’t quiet your fears, seek out a mental health professional to talk to. You don’t have to suffer from a mental illness to seek mental health help. Even people who are perfectly healthy in your eyes would probably benefit from a mental health pro’s pep talks and advice.

You’re in IT, and you’re good enough for your job. But let the pros in other fields help you where you can’t help yourself. You aren’t a failure or a fraud. You’re just human. (See the SAMHSA link in the references to find your nearest mental healthcare location.)

If you’re early on in your IT career, or feel like you’re overlooked for being a minority in the field, don’t let anything scare you away from advancing! Take a moment to slow down and list your achievements. Think of all the times a coworker has thanked you. Recall all the new things you’ve learned in the past week.

You don’t have to feel like an impostor. You can do IT!

286 Spice ups
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This can also lead to avoiding applying for jobs you want, or even making the effort to improve your skills and experience in order to qualify for those jobs, because you’re concerned more with “I’m not good enough to do this” or “I’m just going to embarrass myself” or “they’re not even going to consider me for this, so why bother?”

And then you get back to work the next day, still dissatisfied with the status quo.

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It sure helps to work at a place that isn’t festered with “know-it-alls” too… Find yourself a place where knowledge isn’t held hostage. Too many IT gods unwilling to share their knowledge is not healthy for the industry… Don’t be afraid to fail either. If you’re in a place that doesn’t allow you to make mistakes, find a new place.

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Love this! I didn’t realize the reason I was holding myself back from opportunities was because of imposter syndrome. We’ve got this!

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Some of the best are filled with self-doubt; some of the worst have delusions of adequacy.

One of the greatest Oracle database gurus I ever worked with once said to me: “We are all struggling with our own computer illiteracy.”

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I wonder if this is because so many people just kind of “end up” in IT somehow…

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I really needed to read this. I have been struggling with this for a while. Thank you.

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Thank you for posting this. I’m still at my first IT job and this has been bothering me for a while.

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My therapist mentioned this to me at one point, but I kind of overlooked it. Reading this helped a bit, although I’m still probably just going to keep the advice in my head and never be able to act on it. Nevertheless, I’m definitely glad I read it so thanks!

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I’ve been a system administrator in the past. I learned a ton about the AS/400 while others were working on Windows NT. Sure, I learned a bit about NT as well, but my focus was elsewhere. I was fluent in 7 programming languages, and some variants of those languages. I understand networking, security, etc. I have a TON of skills.

That said, I don’t know everything about anything. And some of what I do know has gone the way of the dinosaur.

I’m back in a IT position (sort of) and have been overwhelmed by all that has changed. I’m surviving, but it’s hard.

I never heard of “Imposter Syndrom”, but I can assure you it is real. And it is crippling.

All I can say is you sometimes need to ride it out, take notice of what you did right today, and keep on keeping on!

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You don’t know how helpful this was was. Thank you very much

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I have also seen those trying to get into IT that seem to have the qualifications, but can’t even answer the basics. I worked at an ISP that the new HDesk Mgr decided she knew better than the supervisors and hired a guy just because he showed up in a suit, and another one got hired as he was the buddy of a guy in the local volunteer fire dept, both supposedly “knew what they were doing” … NEITHER should have been allowed to do more than plug in a USB cable … and were unleashed on the clients … had a horrible FCR, often broke so much stuff we would spend hours cleaning behind them, BUT the mgr wouldn’t let them go as they ‘looked the part’ … yeah great. I transferred out of there … very quickly afterwards.

As for your points in here, they are very valid … and one of the points I like to bring across is … you are often customer facing in IT, you need soft skills or you will not go far … 6 months of kudos will be overshadowed by one complaining user, so you need to have somewhat thick skin and be able to stick up for yourself … own failures and learn from them … IT is an ever changing field, so you need to be flexible … change in inevitable, except from a vending machine!

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This was exactly what I needed to hear. I just graduated, and all I can think about is whether or not I’m good enough to get a better job in IT.
Thank you, Monica.

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This has always been a problem for me as far back as I can remember.

I made the comment to my new boss yesterday that my IT job is 99% research and planning and 1% action.

I find that because of the research and planning; a) I’m more prepared to make the actions correctly and b) I’m more confident and I worry less about failing or doing a poor job.

With all of the research and planning, I learn at least 1 new thing every day and usually more like 5 to 10.

Edit: Oh, and mental health counselors ARE a great resource.

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I feel this too, I’ve been focused on my IT career since I started at a PC shop in 1998 and it’s pretty much all I’ve ever done to support myself. One of the biggest things that I’ve had to overcome was my fear of applying for jobs because I never got a degree. I have a wall full of certifications but no degree. Not to say I’ve not been to college, I just never finished. I now have one of the best jobs I’ve ever landed because I threw caution to the wind and decided to let my experience speak for itself.

Now if I could just get over the fear of decreasing wages that the last 10 years of being stuck working for MSP’s has conditioned me to, I’ll be in good shape.

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Love this article. This “imposter syndrome” feeling is unavoidable at first. I fell victim to this. I did not want to ask questions or ask for help. I just cheated my self out of learning faster. If you are learning and new you are just that. I feel very lucky for my first job not being a toxic " read the manual" type of place. Glad i am not the only one to feel this.

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One of the best jobs I ever had, I was an imposter. I knew my job, previously worked for a bank and some Government contracts, I was 22 and I knew everything, then I moved to a company where I was probably in the bottom 10% of skills! I overcame it by asking people for help, great thing here is that you don’t get a reputation for being a know it all, and people love to help and feel valued. I learned a tonne whilst working there, if I had been the best at my job, I’d have missed so much education from some of the smartest people I’ve ever known!

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My last job took me up to about my last few weeks to really get over this feeling at it. I’m glad to say that at my current job i’m just starting to notice this feeling going away. These points really helped my day after an a series of meeting where my one thought was “they think i don’t know anything, I should know everything they are talking about already”
I feel that things like this are often overlooked in technical fields since we get the “are you a wizard?” expressions from users, so the moment I can’t do anything I feel like I’ve let them down.

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I agree with most of this. However, no one should let themselves get caught in the trap of intending to portray confidence without the experience. You have to earn that experience and do not be afraid to ask questions. For myself, and I am sure others, not asking enough questions has gotten me in some tough situations.

It pays to ask for help and ask questions, especially when you are the ‘new person’ in IT—that’s when it is most expected and take notes (I know I had to take lots of notes).

From my very first temp IT job, I had a small notebook (still have it somewhere) with notes about nearly everything. I find that notebook every now and then when I am searching for other things—and flip through it. Brings back some memories.

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I feel like impostor syndrome is a side effect of working in this field. You’re asked so often to understand something you didn’t realize existed until the beginning of the conversation…and then you fix it (hopefully)! There’s so much work that involves logical extensions and improvisation that half the time you’re FORCED to act like you know what you’re doing…
Still… kind of exciting, right?