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What is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter Syndrome is a psychological phenomenon that occurs most commonly in people who are skilled, high achievers, and academics. One of the more predominant symptoms are feelings that no matter what a person archives, they are inadequate, that their achievements were not through the skill of their hands and minds. Those with Imposter Syndrome have great difficulty internalizing their successes and achievements, as if they don’t deserve their success.

–https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK585058/

Have I experienced this?

I am not sure either way. I do not think that I personally have Imposter Syndrome, but I have felt aspects of it before. Especially in the computer science field, I have, for a long time, felt like I do not know what I am doing. I feel as though no matter what I learn about coding, cybersecurity, or data science, I am still only a neophyte. This sometimes terrifies me because I realize that I am going to enter the work force in about a year, a work force that is highly competitive and constantly changing. I often feel like my computer science knowledge and skills are lacking.

Dealing with Imposter Syndrome

– https://www.turing.com/blog/programmer-imposter-syndrome-tips

This article specifically talks about imposter syndrome for software developers, and how one might mitigate it. The author talks on length about the potentially debilitating effect IS has on developers, so much so that they often quit their jobs, or their work stagnates as they feel frozen in their inadequacy. He offers some very grounded solutions, ones that I should consider in the future, or even now. He talks about how to recognize IS inside oneself, and that if there are signs of it, accepting that one is suffering from IS. For those who are, they must realize that most of their peers are of the exact same skill level, and that instead of comparing oneself to others, one should focus on what they can do, and can do well.

How else to combat Imposter Syndrome?

In my specific case, I feel like my academic knowledge is much less than it should be given how soon I will graduate. But I should realize that I am a transfer student, my first two years of college were at a community college receiving my associates in general studies, so it is only fitting that my computer science knowledge is only based on this past year. By the end of the next school year, I have confidence that I will have gained the knowledge and skills needed and expected of me as a computer science professional.

Coding Conventions: Common formatting guidlines when writing code to maintain readability.

Questions:

• What is the benefit of everyone in a team adhering to a convention like this?
• Is there any benefit to sticking to a convention even when you’re working alone?
• Is there any downside to coding conventions?
• What are the areas addressed in the Google guide that you are most surprised are specified?
• In what areas does your own code not meet these standards?
• How would you feel about being forced to use this style for the programs you write?

Answers:

• Without standardized formatting, coding style is completely up to each coder and how they see fit. This lack of consistent style may make other’s code unintuitive, or even unreadable, which is a problem for a collaborative coding team.
• Sticking to best practices at all times helps to reinforce their usage. Additionally, a coder may use past projects to help code future ones, but they become much less useful if the author cannot even read their own work.
• It can be restrictive, there may be those coders who just do not mesh well with this standardized format and their code may suffer for it.
• Part 5.1.2 is a definite surprise for me; it seems like a relative non-issue in my opinion. The difference between numlist, numList, and num_list is so unproblematic to me, all three are readable and convey the same meaning.
• Coincidentally, it is the above guideline, among many I am sure, that my code does not heed, normally I capitalize each packaged word after the first one, like numList.
• I am fine with it, I think coders are better off for having it. Just because I may not agree with a few small parts of the greater guideline does not mean the whole thing is useless. Who am I to go against this flow, especially when this is a valued skill to educators and employers.

A few short answers as to why I decided to become a computer scientist and what I do and do not like about it.

• I long ago decided that I would follow in my parent’s footsteps and become a computer scientist. Back then it was a much safer career choice and wasn’t so flooded as it is now. I began coding early in highschool, I might’ve been 16 or so, and suffice to say I hated it much more than I do now.
• These days I actually enjoy coding, there is a certain thrill to seeing a program work more or less perfectly after being built up from nothing. There is never a clear cut way to achive the desired output, that sure there might be common factors between me and my peer’s work, but my thought process and code works just as well as anyone else’s regardless of form.
• What I cannot stand about coding is actually starting to code. I will drag my feet for days before even thinking about how I will put together a program, much less actually sit down and begin putting my thoughts into code.