Why High Achievers Always Have Impostor Syndrome

More often than not, when I get to know someone on a deeper level at work, they confide in me that they feel like an impostor, around 90% of the time. I've always wondered why this is the case. Could it be we're all just pretending to be software professionals, one step away from being discovered, but the people who would uncover our secret are themselves ill-equipped to detect it and are also attempting to disguise their incompetence?

It won't surprise you, then, when I also confess my feelings of being an impostor. I don't have a computer science degree. I've only ever worked at Amazon, so I know how this company works, but do I know software engineering? Comparing myself to others always compounds these feelings. He got promoted to Principal Engineer five years earlier than I did at the age of 34. This guy has double the patents I do. She worked for Microsoft, Meta, AND Google. Who am I to make YouTube videos? This guy invented Java. Of course, when I vocalize this, it compounds you…