Slides of the opening talk in Track1 at DevOpsDays Warsaw 2022

1. IMPOSTOR SYNDROME IN THE IT WORLD
FROM A CONFERENCE SPEAKER’S PERSPECTIVE
Antonio Cobo • Principal Consultant

2. 2
Antonio Cobo
Principal Consultant at Contino
Convinced that 95% of problems in IT are due to
a bad communication or the lack of it
@Mind_of_AC

3. LET ME TELL YOU A
STORY…

4. FEELING ANXIOUS WORKING LATE DEPRESSED
OUT OF PLACE
OTHERS ARE AMAZING
I’M ONLY BEING LUCKY

5. INTERNAL CONFERENCE DAY

7. LET’S LEARN
MORE
7
● Pluralsight
Scott Hanselman’s course
● Submit ideas…
… not talks

9. SO DON’T WORRY, IT WILL BE GREAT
YOU SUBMITTED YOUR TALK LIKE I DID
THE PROGRAM COMMITTEE THINK IT
WILL BE GREAT

10. ALL THIS TIME I WAS FEELING LIKE A FRAUD

11. HAVE YOU EVER COMPARED YOURSELF
WITH OTHER TEAM MEMBERS AND FELT
LIKE A FRAUD?

12. HAVE YOU EVER FELT UNWORTHY OF
YOUR JOB PROMOTION?

13. HAVE YOU EVER DOUBTED OF YOUR
SUCCESSES?

14. DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO
COULD HAVE ANSWERED “YES” TO
ANY OF THOSE QUESTIONS?

15. IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
It is a psychological pattern in which one doubts
one's accomplishments and has a persistent
internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud”.

16. OCCURRENCE
New environment
• New city
• New university
• New company
• New country
70%of individuals experience impostor syndrome at least once
in their lives
Underrepresented gender or ethnicity

17. POSSIBLE SYMPTOMS
• Afraid (or feel shame) to ask for help
• Having an unfinished project cause it’s not perfect
• Can’t start a project cause don’t know how to start (procrastination)
• Other people are talented, I am just lucky
• Looking for external validation
• Disregarding positive feedback and only looking for negative feedback

18. EXPRESSIONS OF THE SYNDROME
“I have been
coding more than
20 years, my code
is good, no need to
review it”
“You want us to
Opensource this… what
if they find bugs?”
“I’ll go home later, just
let me finish this”
(most evenings)

19. FOUR
HORSEMEN OF
IMPOSTOR
SYNDROME
Self doubt
Perfectionism
Fear of failure
Anxiety

20. SELF DOUBT
• You feel you will never know enough
• Constantly seeking out training or certifications to improve or succeed
• Being in the role for some time but feeling you don’t know “enough”
• Feeling pressed to work harder and longer to prove your worth

21. WHAT
I
KNOW
WHAT I THINK OTHERS KNOW WHAT I KNOW
WHAT
OTHERS
KNOW
Imposter Syndrome Reality

22. PERFECTIONISM
• Do you feel like your work must be 100% perfect, 100% of the time?
• Setting excessively high goals for yourself, and when not reaching it
you experience a major self-doubt.
• Having difficulty delegating… because it will not be perfect
• Success rarely satisfying, I could have done better!

23. BINARY THINKING OF IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
PERFECT OR BAD

24. PERFECTION IS THE ENEMY OF GREAT

25. FEAR OF FAILURE
• Asking for help reveals their playing
everyone
• Not applying for a job unless you meet every single
requirement
• After being faced with a setback your confidence goes low
with a feeling of shame

26. ANXIETY
• Isolating from others
• Trouble sleeping
• Working more hours
• Reducing social life

27. HOW DO I FIGHT IT?
• Facts vs feelings
• Save the positive feedback and check it from time to time
• Stop comparing
• Have someone to talk to
• Set yourself goals and deadlines (step by step)
• Be kind to yourself
• Walk (maybe with music)

28. REMEMBER YOU ARE YOUR WORST CRITIC
YOU DESERVE YOUR SUCCESS

29. IT IS LIKE A POISON…
A LITTLE BIT WILL HELP YOU DEVELOP
IMMUNITY AND BE BETTER

31. Dziękuję!
Antonio Cobo • Principal Consultant @Mind_of_AC