What made you finally get over your imposter syndrome?

[-]

LBTMKR@reddit

We’ve all been there, hope you wrote down the process/steps you took to fix this. One of the issues I had was that I rarely documented the processes or steps taken for these fixes right, thinking that “oh I’ll remember how I did it and it’s easy enough to not write it down” but time would pass and of course I’d forget something and had to spend time remembering and figuring it out again, losing time etc. So I’ve been writing down these “how-to’s” which has not only helped me but whoever I’ve worked with as well by sharing these with them. Especially for servers or apps that are critical for ops, networking especially. I've worked with companies that had poor to almost no documentation from previous admins and been in your same spot. my takeaway, document everything.

[-]

LostCarat@reddit

Funny enough.. I worked my ass to get to where I’m at and I still don’t feel like I do anything.. yet complain that like 90% of people in the dept are a bunch of idiots.. weirdest thing… because I’m definitely an idiot.

[-]

sofakingWTD@reddit

Meeting the director and listening to them constantly parrot buzzwords out of context, to try and make themselves seem relevant. Listening to the VP regurgitate the exact same bullet points Lumburgh style on each monthly meeting - and I realized he spent more time planning & talking about the Cornhole tournaments than helping his team align resources for the impending data center migrations.

[-]

Repulsive_Ad4215@reddit

For me it was years ago with my first major outage. Communication was key to the stake holders and remaining calm and effective during the sh-tshow. Years later we had a very capable sysadmin who was terrified about rebooting anything. We had installed redundancy throughout network and power so he didn't feel the need... until one morning a thunderstorm blew through and lightning hit a tree just outside the building. Turnout that high voltage hit the underground conduits and straight to our ups. All low voltage in the building was fried. The ups did its job and protected the data center... but everything went dark. He called me in a panic, terrified that everything went down. An hour later we bypassed the ups and started our restore of power to everything. This poor guy worked his ass off as I restored the network and Telcom he did the servers. At two am we met in the parking lot and shared a drink. It all came back but he truly lost any imposter syndrome that day!

[-]

themuntik@reddit

I always feel it, but I get over it when I delegate a 'simple' task to people and they manage to mess it up.

[-]

WhAtEvErYoUmEaN101@reddit

People come to me if they need help, i managed to fix everything in my career one way or another and i occasionally express glimpses of a god complex

[-]

Common_Dealer_7541@reddit

Being surrounded by complete goons that have no idea what they are doing.

[-]

whatzrapz@reddit

I tell myself im not paid enough for that job and walk away lol

[-]

IT_Muso@reddit

I don't think you do get over it, you get used to it.

It'll click at some point too that basically no one really knows what they're doing, some people just make blagging it look easier!

[-]

No-Difficulty9846@reddit

Started my own company and did it for myself. Sink or swim.

[-]

BarefootWoodworker@reddit

Wait, you guys and gals get over that shit?

I still just think I’m a lucky fucker. shrug

[-]

Nurgle_Enjoyer777@reddit

star trek(TNG). good lessons on leadership and decision making and life in general.

[-]

syberghost@reddit

I've been doing this for 32 years. I'll try to remember to come back and find this thread some day if I get over my imposter syndrome.

[-]

crypto64@reddit

23 and recently diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder after a lengthy psych eval. I still feel like a child in a room full of adults, but I wouldn't dare admit that.

[-]

Whyd0Iboth3r@reddit

avoidant personality disorder

Sounds like me, except the longing for meaningful connections with others. I have my wife, and that is enough for me.

I hope the best for you.

[-]

crypto64@reddit

longing for meaningful connections with others.

I get that. It's like looking through a pane of glass at a happy group of people and wanting to be part of it, but you're stuck like a goldfish. My wife is a saint and it's not fair for me to put so much of a burden on her, but I'm awful at maintaining friendships.

[-]

demonthief29@reddit

Wait this is a thing ? Explains why I haven’t had friends since highschool lol

[-]

EvandeReyer@reddit

25 years. I look back at work I’ve done in the past and can’t believe I did it because it seems to be competent. Even good. Colleagues rate me way higher than I rate myself…I’m sure they’re going to find out I’m a total fraud soon.

[-]

Ur-Best-Friend@reddit

When I first started in IT and struggled with this, my boss basically told me "the best IT guys never get over their impostor syndrome. We never have enough people to do everything perfectly, we never know everything, our systems are never as secure as they could be, we never have the money to actually set everything like we know they should be set up. That's the nature of the job. All you can do is keep learning, keep being as diligent as you can, and if something goes to shit, well, it goes to shit."

I'm heavily paraphrasing of course, but that stuck with me ever since.

[-]

lordkappy@reddit

Came here to say this. Shocked it goes away for anyone. I need proof that it's even possible.

[-]

dodgy__penguin@reddit

20 years here, still have it.

[-]

blackwingsdirk@reddit

25 years.

[-]

Immortal_Tuttle@reddit

36 years here. I was close once when I rebuilt main corporate SAN that had 7 years of data on it. No backups, no mirror. And someone pulled all the drives from chassis and put them neatly in 5 disks high stacks. It took me around 70 hours to figure out what was wrong, replace it with parts from the switch in the test lab and carefully solve which disk goes where. Even got a company paid dinner for two in a posh castle for that.

[-]

RandomSkratch@reddit

Worst game of Mastermind (Codebreaker) ever! How the hell did you manage to do this without it auto rebuilding over wrong disks?

[-]

anonpf@reddit

22 yrs here. Same. I think the biggest takeaway from this experience is learning how to navigate people. How to talk to them, explain things plainly, and know how to give them the answer they requested. The hardware and software side is almost always the same. Effective communication has always been the key.

[-]

crypto64@reddit

This should be voted higher up. I interviewed for an 80k director position yesterday. My last interview question for the panel was "What qualities or trats would the ideal candidate have for this position?"

Apart from experience, education and technical acumen, the number one desire for that position was someone who was personable. The existing director was present and seemed like a pretty cool dude.

I get along with C-level executives, the folks on the plant floor, the environmental services contractors and everyone in between. I hope I make the cut. The only downside is that I need to move halfway across the country if I accept an offer.

All that to say you are absolutely right. All that knowledge is useless if you can't communicate it effectively or at least break it down into pieces that a non-technical person can understand. They don't pay me to be polite. I throw that in for free like Billy Mays.

[-]

anonpf@reddit

I’d like to hear the results either way if you dont mind. Good luck.

[-]

blckthorn@reddit

31 for me. Still secretly terrified they'll "find out".

[-]

sephresx@reddit

22 years here. While I know I know more than my team, if I get into a meeting with people from other organizations (MSP, higher level support from places like Cisco, or Microsoft) I feel like I know absolutely nothing, and can maybe recognize a few words.

[-]

mycatsnameisnoodle@reddit

25 and same

[-]

igaper@reddit

We're ERP providers and I'm the only sysadmin in our company. So it's on me to provide admin support for our clients.

The moment my fellow admins from other companies started calling me for advice and support directly, was the moment I went "hmm I might have something going on".

But the real break was when an experienced admin who's in his 60s called me because of some weird mail issue and asked to be a part of a meeting where 5 companies were trying to solve the issue. He said "your experience might help us". Ever since then I feel like I'm in the right place.

[-]

Ordinary-Dish-2302@reddit

Every role I moved into so far I start with this and then when I find out that I have the willingness to learn and figure out things others struggle with I eventually realise I belong.

Hardest part is if you ever start as a Jr and then find out you are the Sr

[-]

VNDMG@reddit

Focusing on a couple disciplines within IT and becoming an SME in those areas. One your skill set is so specialized and no one you work with knows what you know, the imposter syndrome dissolves quite a bit.

[-]

GhostInThePudding@reddit

I just saw how bad everyone else is at their jobs, particularly end users I've had to deal with over the years and I realised that I had too high standards for myself. All I need to do is show up and not shit my pants in public and I'm in the top 10% of competent employees in the world. If I occasionally fix something and don't break more than I fix, I'm in the top 1%.

[-]

AspiringMILF@reddit

damn, you've got some insane perks. I have to not shit my pants in private either.

[-]

throwawayskinlessbro@reddit

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

[-]

simulation07@reddit

Melt down. Stop caring.

[-]

fadingroads@reddit

Failing fast. Seriously.

I was surrounded by people who were too afraid to interrupt the ebb and flow of things because things 'just worked'.

In a bubble of time, sure, it worked but almost everything was a CVE hotbed. It wasn't immediate but bit by bit, things were eventually modernized and automated. It wasn't 'roll up and forget it' but learning several systems, gotchas, disaster recovery procedures, migration and repurposing, even a cyber attack or two.

I got really good at 'setting expectations' and getting things out of critical states. Took some lumps but it created trust between my and other departments.

Now I'm more of a teacher/deligator but the desire for knowledge and modernization keeps me humble (and failing gracefully in a controlled environment).

[-]

Lower_Fan@reddit

My first week when users asked me to help them on their job, it made me think hmm maybe I do know what I'm doing.

Also I actually have the contrary of impostor syndrome because developers who are paid a lot more than me keep filing at basic windows shit.

Doing something new feels pretty good too.

[-]

ohiocodernumerouno@reddit

Working with 3 people with more experience and watching them turn down jobs constantly because they don't know they can just google it.

[-]

ChiefBroady@reddit

I thinking’s slowly getting better by realizing that there’s nobody at work who actually could do my job half as good as I. But it’s still there.

[-]

c_loves_keyboards@reddit

I’ve never understood how many system administrator has imposter syndrome. Either the server is up and doing what it is supposed to or it is not.

If up: you not an imposter.

If not up: you may need more training.

If never up: you may be an imposter.

[-]

Talenus@reddit

I've never gotten over mine, no matter who many times I figured it out and fixed the issue no one else could.

I'm glad you did though!

[-]

ShoeBillStorkeAZ@reddit

Realizing that everybody don’t know how Google better than me

[-]

redmage07734@reddit

Good paying or shrink, also basically being management and witnessing my teammates incompetence

[-]

DaemosDaen@reddit

Will let you knoe when I figure that out.

[-]

punkwalrus@reddit

I had it for maybe the first 20-25 years, but then I just started encountering people who were far worse than even my own self image. And not just "doesn't know stuff" because book knowledge can be learned. I am talking about basic troubleshooting and common sense. Like a theory of how to approach and troubleshoot problems.

People joke about "I just Google answers, lol," but seriously, I have met more and more people who can't even do that. Because they can't even describe the problem they are having, and wouldn't know what to do with an answer even if you gave it to them. No matter how much step-by-step and handholding you do, some people just don't have the mental bridges to go anywhere they aren't dragged.

For example, say you can't reach a website. Times out. What's the first thing you do? Right, try another website. But I met some people who would swap out their LAN cable. You reach a web server, and get a "503" error. Right away, you know that you reached something, which means it's not a networking block on your end, and something replied, so it's not a "downed server" facing you. A 503 means something behind the facing server is broken. But time and time again, I have met "senior technicians" who ask you to clear your cache, restart Windows, check your network switch, remove your firewall, and stuff that is the LEAST likely problem. "Did you try the website yourself?" even? If you AND the tech get a 503, it's probably not just you. That's a BASIC step of logic and troubleshooting, and only half the people I encounter have that. I realize some of them are enforced scripts they would get fired if they veered away from, but not always.

Tell someone that there is a room with two people: Sally and Ann. Sally puts a toy away in a toybox and leaves the room. Ann takes the toy out of the box and puts it under the bed. When Sally returns, where does she think the toy is? This is not a trick question, not a question that looks for a clever answer. Sally has not seen Ann move the toy. I have encountered techs who will think that Sally thinks the toy is under the bed. Why? Because they don't have "theory of mind." These are adults. They drive cars and vote. This is a test given to young children, and some adults still fail.

I have learned that some people have skills, and are unable to communicate it, or teach it well to others. Or are unwilling, because they see it as "special power I have over others." I don't do that, but sometimes I am forced to navigate those who do. "I don't have the time or crayons to explain this to you," they might say with a grin. "Thankfully, I brought my own crayons," I have thought.

So I may not be "the best" and would feel sad if I was, because then I won't have anything new or exciting to learn. But damn, it's hard to hate yourself effectively when it's proven you're better than at least HALF the techs out there, and not just WHAT you know, but HOW to figure it out. In fact, that worries me. I kind of wish I was the dumbest motherfucker in the room at times. "Just let the adults handle it." I hate being an adult.

[-]

punklinux@reddit

Sally and Ann. Sally puts a toy away in a toybox and leaves the room. Ann takes the toy out of the box and puts it under the bed. When Sally returns, where does she think the toy is?

This is an actual thing: my mom used to tell my sister and I about this as part of cognitive learning she had to take to become a teacher.

I encounter a lot of "college programmers" as of late. From your posts, you are probably as old as I am, maybe older, but you and I have run into people who were pushed through college to become programmers, and programmers alone. Anything that programming touches, they know little beyond their stack, and some don't even care to learn it. I came from a networking background, and time and time again, I run into "senior developers" who work on networked applications who don't understand anything about networking and even less about security. This is what frightens me so.

It's like learning a foreign language but learning nothing about the culture. You could learn Spanish phonetically, and translate from English to Spanish and back again, but never understand idioms, colloquialisms, or how language actually manipulates your perception. "What do I care about Ecuadorian Spanish versus European Spanish? It's just fuckin' Spanish in the end." But you know, Spanish you learned growing up in Spain will have a different environment than those who grew up in Ecuador.

You could say "Java is Java and python is python" but how they interact with the underlying system and networking topology is very important, too.

"What port is this on?"

"What do you mean, what port? If you turn off the firewall; it doesn't matter."

Yes, buddy. It kind of does. And no, I am not turning off the firewall so you can "test" it. Because when I turn it back on, you will complain about that. I was in a meeting last month where the client's management wanted me to shut off SELinux and the firewall "for now" to appease this guy's whining that without those "obstacles" his application will work. Thankfully, my boss said, "if you do that, you will have to sign a waiver that you were advised not to do this, and it needs to be signed off by the company owner knowing full well the risks as stated in our contract." They backed down.

So, I get you. I understand that, after a while, you wonder why you're one of the few smart ones left. But also, the DUMB mistakes you made early in your career.

[-]

punkwalrus@reddit

Yep: from here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally%E2%80%93Anne_test

[-]

klathium@reddit

Take the time to document what you did so when it happens again it will go much smoother.

[-]

WorkFoundMyOldAcct@reddit

Part of me knows everyone is stupid, but that includes me, so... Sometimes I just have to tell myself that EVERYONE IS STUPID IN THEIR OWN WAY, and maybe my way, in this particular situation, is less stupid than the other person.

[-]

tvveeder84@reddit

You don’t. Imposter syndrome drives you to keep learning, at least it does for me. If I always feel like I don’t know enough, then it motivates me to develop a deeper understanding and forces me to learn more.

[-]

JamesArget@reddit

Two weeks after the previous network engineer quit, and I was fully elevated from Help Desk to Engineering, a major client had spanning tree lock up their whole network at the largest site. Wasn't the first time this happened, and my predecessor booked a flight to go there to resolve it the last time.

I did a staged reboot of each network element, got them back up in an hour, then found the port misconfiguration which was the root cause and remediated.

Knowing I fixed in an hour what had cost the other guy a round trip flight and a day of downtime definitely made me feel like I wasn't just filling the space.

[-]

georgiomoorlord@reddit

What cured it for me was realising even senior engineers crash the server sometimes. Some of those times are on purpose, other times not.

[-]

airinato@reddit

Working with support teams from vendors. I'll never know for sure where I sit, but compared to them I'm a fucking genius.

[-]

wasteoide@reddit

I wanted to be trained but turns out I ended up training several members of my team

This. This, and idiotic software support, is what killed my imposter syndrome.

I also worked hard on shifting my mindset - I don't judge success by what I know, I judge success by how quickly I can pick up new ideas. That's the more important piece in technology. Nobody can know everything, but the ability to adapt and learn is priceless.

[-]

ms6615@reddit

The 79th or so time I realized that the business was doing exactly as I had been recommending for years…except they were not doing so at my recommendation but because someone with a VP title is under the impression that they invented the idea 5 minutes ago and were the first person to ever consider it… I spent years thinking I didn’t understand the business or what it needed but it turns out I know it better than the people who own it, their heads are just so far up their asses that they only think an idea is good if they shat it out personally.

The best part was that I just stopped caring about my job and started blindly doing whatever random crap is assigned to me. That’s what they actually pay me for. Not to be an expert. Not to do anything safely or securely or correctly. They pay me a good sysadmin wage to be what amounts to an L1 ticket monkey. Fine. Stupid, but fine. Nobody is administering anything and our network is full of tech debt and ancient vulnerabilities but it’s been made clear it’s not actually my job to deal with any of it unless a user points it out to me in a ticket.

[-]

UraniumBums@reddit

My perspective is that there are going to be people at different skill levels, but ALL OF THEM have imposter syndrome at every level. Technology moves fast, you never really know everything and sometimes it surprises you.

[-]

Relevant-Team@reddit

When I was a Novell NetWare guy and people from all of Germany started to call me and ask for help. And my colleagues started to call me "Dr. Novell".

[-]

vawlk@reddit

i never did.

Still not sure why they hired me...

I have 3 years left until I can retire lol

[-]

Humble-Plankton2217@reddit

There's a networking guy I worked with adjacently that I always believed was basically a tech-god and knew everything about everything.

Then one day I worked with him directly on a project, witnessed first hand his process for problem solving and saw with my own eyes that his process was very similar to my own. In fact, just like me, he doesn't know everything.

It helped a lot. We're all running around with clay feet. Are there exceptional techs full-stack-front-to-back that do know damn near everything about everything? Sure, but they are rare and often unaffordable.

[-]

Plantatious@reddit

I get a free trial of imposter syndrome whenever I change jobs.

[-]

DiligentlySpent@reddit

Look closely at other people - do they instantly know the solution to everything in their job either? It's fine

[-]

ILikeTewdles@reddit

20 years in, haven't yet.

What I have realized over the years though is that the IT space is so complex and vast that I can't possibly know every detail, even in systems I deal with every day.

Nothing wrong with saying "I don't know off the top of my head but I'll figure it out and get back to you".

I use that line a lot and no one has ever given me crap for it.

[-]

MidnightAdmin@reddit

That's the fun part, you don't.

Experience will help you get over general imposter syndrome, but you will never get fully over it.

Suddenly you start overthinking a simple problem, you start second guessing yourself and get stuck in a loop.

With experience it will get better.

[-]

quazywabbit@reddit

Never have gotten over it. I just embrace it and tell people I have no idea about whatever new thing I’m doing. They seem to brush that off and then start asking what I need to get things taken care of because they realize me not knowing something doesn’t mean I can’t/won’t figure it out.

[-]

Turgid_Thoughts@reddit

I just got let go recently and have jumped into the job search pool.

My imposter syndrome is off the charts right now.

[-]

ITRetired@reddit

42 years on the job. And early retirement. Yes, that was the latter, I'm sure.

[-]

stereomanic@reddit

man, i've been doing this shit for almost 20 years and despite it all, i do feel that imposter syndrome from time to time - like i'm not as technical as i want to be.

[-]

BrokenPickle7@reddit

By dealing with sys admins from other companies. Sometimes I’ll walk away from a meeting and say “wow that guy knows a lot” but most the time I walk away thinking “how the hell did this guy talk his way into this position?”

[-]

agent-squirrel@reddit

When you are meeting with another sysadmin or network engineer and start talking about a concept that you assume they should know and they just glaze over.

I was having a drink with some local IT people from the council and mentioned that our org is rolling out Aruba Colourless Ports. Their network guy just stared at me. I continues with "You know, dynamic VLAN assignments with 802.1x and such?" Silence...

I'm not a network engineer but man if that didn't make me feel like I knew what I was doing.

[-]

throwawayskinlessbro@reddit

If I’m having a drink and out and somebody starts talking work I’m glazing over 100%, feel like Einstein all you’d like, lol

[-]

agent-squirrel@reddit

I should have clarified this was a local IT meetup where everyone talks shop. Not some random pub.

[-]

Aim_Fire_Ready@reddit

Same here except it’s managers and directors, not others sysadmins.

[-]

timinus0@reddit

Jesus. It feels like that last part is about me.

[-]

Turbulent-Pea-8826@reddit

And sys admins from my own company.

[-]

Redacted_Reason@reddit

Realizing that everyone else is also suffering from imposter syndrome. Reading posts from people on here or LinkedIn makes it seem like everyone else is miles ahead, but in reality…when you start working with people and realize everyone is actually just googling and GPT-ing their responses to make sure they’re not saying something dumb, you also realize that you’re not alone.

[-]

SaucyKnave95@reddit

Ha! My dumbass coworkers who continuously prove themselves to be incapable of the smallest and simplest tasks. Eventually, you realize that being half asleep with both hands tied around your back still makes you smarter and more capable and THAT'S when you realize that you are OK and fit to be in the "techie"-type position you're in.

[-]

IT-DanS@reddit

Glad to see I'm not alone in this.. the imposter syndrome is a killer. It doesn't matter how much people tell you you're doing a good job. Once that feeling is in your head its near on impossible to shift

Following in case anyone has some wizard skills to rid it

[-]

No-Cauliflower-308@reddit

I remember these things. - None of you know everything? And for everything I don’t know there is something I do. - Nobody in IT got to there current spot without being helped. No one. - Lastly and most importantly. No one has read every manual! When somebody says RTFM, or learn how to research, don’t feel bad. Sometimes, more times than not, we need an answer, not a class. Every one of us has just needed an answer at some point.

Once I realized everyone being an ass simply forgot where they came from, I got over imposter syndrome.

[-]

julioqc@reddit

When I realized everyone around is an incompetent imbecile

[-]

Maxplode@reddit

For me, it's just about getting 'stuck in'. Not to be egotistical but seeing a colleague you regard as more senior fucking up from time to time reminds me that we're all human.

I admit that there is always something I fail on. But you have to drive yourself into knowing why it failed.

I honestly don't know how something works until I've broken it and then fixed it.

[-]

pertymoose@reddit

Only people who have imposter syndrome are those who have unrealistic expectations of themselves.

Accept that you don't know everything, but you're a reasonably smart guy and with time you'll figure it out.

Repeat after me:

"I don't know, but let me see if I can figure it out."

...

[-]

SomeoneDidntLearn@reddit

A question i read on some board some time ago..

"Are you even good enough to have imposter syndrome" 😔

[-]

celtictock@reddit

When you know the answer to a complex problem before the person finishes explaining it.

[-]

redditinyourdreams@reddit

I’ve noticed I’ve started treating everyday conversations like this as well, and I get frustrated knowing where it’s going but having to wait to be polite

[-]

adhocadhoc@reddit

I started doing this as well. It just bleeds over into everything if you let it. I even regretfully did this to my ex which I’m sure is part of why they are now my ex. It’s nice that our minds are able to build these processing shortcuts for work but boy howdy is it toxic. I’m working on allowing space within me to listen fully and intently to people again, especially those dearest to me. I feel like I’ve seen this issue become more talked about in our circles and I wish I had a mentor that could have called this out to me when I was getting started in this career path. I hope to be able to do that for someone else in the future.

[-]

AviN456@reddit

Have you tried turning it off and back on?

[-]

crypto64@reddit

Did you see that ludacris display last night?

[-]

lemon_tea@reddit

The thing about Arsenal is, they always try to walk it in.

[-]

AviN456@reddit

gif

[-]

rayjaymor85@reddit

Lmao, I still haven't

[-]

DaNoahLP@reddit

My god complex

[-]

coukou76@reddit

I climbed to a senior system engineer to a world top 5 companies but after a decade of hard work, I still feel like I am too slow or not smart enough etc. I just feel like I am JUST smart enough to understand that I am not smart. I know so many fucking genius and I am not one of them

[-]

therealmarkus@reddit

I think imposter syndrome will never truly leave. But situations like having a call with a customer who is “Head of IT” (in a technical role, larger company) and didn’t know the most basic concepts of what a static routing entry is, helps me put my knowledge into perspective.

I know everyone is specialized today, and I know that this person probably knows a lot of stuff I have no clue about, but I think some of the core concepts of what makes a simple network work should be known by someone in a senior IT role. I hope I don’t trigger imposter syndrome for anyone here 😂

[-]

sir_mrej@reddit

You're the network admin and you're fixing a finance server? I'm confused

[-]

agent-squirrel@reddit

Might be a small org.

[-]

tuommy@reddit

I just retired after 34 years of servers and networks. No degree, no certifications and very little training. There were several times along the way I was humbled, scared, nervous and seemingly in over my head. People who have good troubleshooting skills and are able to figure things out can make it fine in the industry.

You restored a server, that's big. As you said, research and conducting tests are what will get you through it. I had stuff on the bench all the time just playing and trying things.

Good job and good luck.

[-]

Impossible_IT@reddit

Currently 26 years in. No degree, a few college classes and the Network+ cert from 2008. People and troubleshooting skills. Maybe someday I’ll get my bachelor’s in IT from WGU lol!

[-]

techierealtor@reddit

10 years, same boat. Still happens to me. I’m in charge of escalations too.
The drive and desire to keep chugging along but knowing when to say “I need a second set of eyes” or “I need help” is important too. Many times issues I’ve been fighting with for an hour can be fixed just by having someone to bounce back and forth with or someone to look over your shoulder and say “that doesn’t look right” after you have skimmed by it 10 times.
Oh, always double check IP addresses when things don’t make sense. Never be afraid to triple check. Don’t be afraid to review every step the last person did either. I don’t trust anyone, not even myself.

[-]

adamphetamine@reddit

When I set my rate at $3300 a day and people paid it without blinking.
(settle down people, this is for projects with 1-2 days work. If I got paid this much regularly I wouldn't be on Reddit)

[-]

zhinkler@reddit

You think it’s left you. You’re wrong.

[-]

painefultruth76@reddit

Clapbacks on reddit, then counter checking my intuition and suspicions with AI.

[-]

Blue-Purity@reddit

Take a short break and watch everything fall apart

[-]

anonpf@reddit

I look at it the opposite. If I take a short break and there are no fires, or the emergencies have been taken care of, then I’ve done my job well.

[-]

Blue-Purity@reddit

But it also increases the chance they’ll forget you’re the reason it is that way.

[-]

anonpf@reddit

That’s where communication is key. Always being a face to the customer helps them not to forget. I communicate with my team the list of tasks I want/need to have done, let my customer know the same, trust my team to figure out how fix the fires. As a last resort, they have my number (I rarely get called).

[-]

meatballthequeer@reddit

Coming back from holiday to see 20 missed calls, 100 tickets with my name on it and the directors on damage control with customers.

[-]

jenscottrules20@reddit (OP)

Small victories buddy. I celebrate wins when I can. Stuff WILL break in the future. That's the job.

[-]

Master_Direction8860@reddit

Make sure to grab your popcorns, plopped down a chair. Eat and watch..

[-]

PerthMaleGuy@reddit

The fact that you spent time researching and testing before making the change puts you above 80% of IT techs out there

[-]

meatballthequeer@reddit

Having one guy in our team that is the epitome of brain-dead. I thought I was under qualified for the role until I met this guy. "IT professional" who still has to go through the start menu to find task manager and thought pagefile and hiberfil were viruses.

[-]

getoutnow2024@reddit

I have simply accepted that I have no idea what I am doing, and I am simultaneously the best man for the job.

[-]

angrypacketguy@reddit

I might suck, but most other people suck worse.

[-]

lifeonbroadway@reddit

Posts like this. We all apparently feel the same way so who are even imposters to, end users?? They think we are wizards so, we must be wizards. Self-conscious wizards.

[-]

ABlankwindow@reddit

21 years, I'll let you know when I stop feeling like an imposter. Probably will be when i stop regularly searching for answers online and just start being able to intuit the answer automatically. Maybe 22 will be the year.

[-]

pegz@reddit

It never really goes away it just ebbs and flows.

[-]

lemon_tea@reddit

More imposter syndrome.

[-]

pertexted@reddit

Rationalizing that i might always be tested, that technology may eventually outpace me, and that no matter how much i know, mistakes are still possible.

[-]

grouchy-woodcock@reddit

Describing and offering solutions off the top of my head to an incident that happened ago.

[-]

nmonsey@reddit

I think when DOS 3 first came out and people didn't know how to set up autoexec.bat and config.sys.
I vaguely recall having a disk case with PC Tools and Norton Utilities.
I think this would have been around the mid to late 1980s.

Most people didn't even have computers back in the 1980s.
It sure seemed like everyone was older than me, but I was teaching people how to use computers, install and configure programs.

[-]

petiepb@reddit

It was so much easier back then!

[-]

TwilightKeystroker@reddit

Wait... Some people get over this?

[-]

scriminal@reddit

Realizing the other people are worse.

[-]

Chance_Mix@reddit

A lot of people I respect told me what a good job I was doing.

[-]

boopboopboopers@reddit

It’s part of the role. And honestly I think it also has to do with empathy. You’ve met or seen people who know far more than you but you know far more than some others. It’s a role of constant learning and experience.

[-]

giovannimyles@reddit

Never had imposter syndrome. I simply know what I know, and don’t what I don’t. The goal is never to know everything. It’s to know what it is your job does. So assume that when you walk in the door of a new gig you are supposed to not know anything. The goal is to have an idea of everything you are supposed to do within 6 months. Then the next 6 months get better at those things. Then by month 18 be a master of just the things your job entails. Then I work to stabilize what I can, set processes to automate what I can and figure out what I can do to make what I own be more value add to the business.

[-]

timinus0@reddit

27 months in, and I barely have an idea about what I'm supposed to do.

[-]

ryoko227@reddit

I don't think I ever will. I feel like I should know things that I don't, or remember things that I know I knew, etc.

For me at least, it's just the nature of the business. As long as you are still willing and able to learn new stuff, have a general idea of where to find answers, and can communicate effectively with those around you, you're golden imho.

[-]

therankin@reddit

Honestly, not much.

I think it was me, consistently delivering solutions, for over 10 years; that helped me believe.

[-]

Stephen_Dann@reddit

Over, what is this over.. I am good at what I do, run a tight ship. Every day I think I am out of my depth. I also know I shouldn't be.

[-]

jfoughe@reddit

When I realized everyone else suffers from the same

[-]

rra-netrix@reddit

[-]

Safe_Ad1639@reddit

After awhile you learn to have faith. You make it through so many incidents where you have that imposter feeling that you develop a faith in yourself that you'll make it through the next one too. Been doing this 25 years and just now getting used to the feeling of having wisdom. You just have to be able to keep a level head and put one foot in front of the other.

[-]

datagoon@reddit

meeting actual imposters.

[-]

post4u@reddit

Time

[-]

ftoole@reddit

Well, i don't think you ever get over it, but i will say it sort of got a lot less as more and more people started acting like I was an expert at things.

[-]

Superb_Raccoon@reddit

I have convinced the Imposter it is a phoney...

[-]

TinderSubThrowAway@reddit

We’re supposed to get over it?

[-]

sambodia85@reddit

Usually working with other people helps combat it. It works in 2 ways, if they are smarter than me, I learn more, but more often I realise they know much much less than they should and feel better about myself.

[-]

stufforstuff@reddit

When you're the boots on the ground, you are the defacto expert, it's the superior that sent you there that has to worry if you're the best for the job or the only available boots.

[-]

DistributionFickle65@reddit

Truth here: you never get over it. 40 years in the industry and I’m still waiting…

[-]

stephendt@reddit

I got over it after about 11-12 years personally. Once I had everything running smooth, had gone through the trenches doing all-nights pulling miracles out of my hat - yeah, imposter syndrome gone

[-]

yoloJMIA@reddit

When my IT coworkers started coming to me for help rather than the other way around. When I could provide them the answer that I created rather than the one I googled.

There's a confidence to experience correlation, there's a point where the imposter syndrome... Mostly... goes away. You must always work to improve your skillset in this industry otherwise it will come back to haunt you.

[-]

renzok@reddit

I've got two answers

You don't... I don't trust anyone who doesn't have it
I see my impostor syndrome as the secret of my success... I know how incompetent I am, so I have to work harder than others to overcome I am

https://ashleyjsumner.substack.com/p/imposter-syndrome-is-the-secret-to

[-]

hypnoticlife@reddit

Realizing that some specific projects made me feel like an imposter, I can think of countless other projects where I am the expert. Really that my skills are not knowledge of specific systems, but a general skill of being able to learn and figure out problems. And some problems I am going to fail at or not given enough time, and that’s okay.

[-]

Darth_Noah@reddit

Everyone else on the team was laid off…

[-]

palonious@reddit

gif

uhhhh

[-]

OmegaNine@reddit

One day you are going to be the person saying "For fucks sake" three times a day under your breath and other people are going to be making the mistake you see from miles away. That's when its time to study for a promotion to your next challenge.

[-]

JerRatt1980@reddit

When I was a teenager doing computer and network administration, and the 40+ year old "network professionals" couldn't figure out things that were very apparent to me and would argue with me simply on the basis of years of experience instead of the issue at hand.

[-]

ProgRockin@reddit

It comes and goes, but realizing noone really knows wtf is going on helps the most.

[-]

wanderinggoat@reddit

Worked in some msp's

[-]

kilkenny99@reddit

On the one hand, it never really goes away, on the other hand realizing that most other people don't know what the fuck they're doing either.

[-]

hardingd@reddit

Get over?

[-]

alberta_beef@reddit

When you realize no one truly knows what they're doing and we're all collectively winging it.

[-]

SevaraB@reddit

I haven’t gotten over it. It’s what keeps driving me to keep improving, so I hope I never do.

[-]

LoornenTings@reddit

Worked with enough idiots.

[-]

dwarftosser77@reddit

My first 5 years were at an MSP. That's when I realized the "experts" googled everything too. That job gave me the confidence to know I can do anything IT related.

[-]

Weird_Presentation_5@reddit

Lots and lots of home labs.

[-]

PenlessScribe@reddit

Nothing deflates you faster than being laid off in a force reduction plan. Getting great reviews and bonuses every year and suddenly they decide you're in the bottom 10%.

[-]

Break2FixIT@reddit

Going through a ransomware event, and utilizing all the skills I have learned over the years to essentially rebuild a domain, network, security posture that is better than what it was ...

[-]

Otto-Korrect@reddit

I don't think you ever get over it completely. But one big step was when I started realizing that the vendors and MSP's knew a LOT less than I did. Most times they didn't even know the right questions to ask.

[-]

sonicc_boom@reddit

When i retire

[-]

seaefjaye@reddit

Speaking for myself, you don't. What you need to do is reframe it. The imposter syndrome causes you to doubt your abilities, and as a result you are hopefully using that anxiety to develop your skills. The end result is good, just try not to be too hard on yourself.

One of the alternatives is ignorant confidence. I've run into that a lot, it's less desirable.

[-]