The Impostor's Syndrome: what it is and how it affects students, faculties researchers, and why it should matter more in Computer Science

1. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
1 / 40
Impostors and Computer Science
Vittorio Scarano
Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Salerno (Italy)
vitsca@unisa.it
ISISLab Seminars
Università di Salerno (Italy)
February 25th, 2021

2. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
2 / 40
LESSON PLAN
1 Impostors
2 A study on IP in CS
3 What to do
4 Conclusions

4. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
4 / 40
MAP
1 Impostors
2 A study on IP in CS
3 What to do
4 Conclusions

5. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
5 / 40
WHAT IS AN IMPOSTOR?
Impostor’s Syndrome
“The Impostor Phenomenon/Syndrome is the experience of intellectual
phoniness as perceived by high achieving individuals. ””
• A fear that others might discover that they are not as competent
as they appear
• The success? Only matter of:
• luck,
• knowing the right people,
• being in the right place at the right time,
• personal charm
• Belief that IP is more prevalent in Computer Science than other
fields

6. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
6 / 40
THE IMPOSTOR PHONEMENON: WHERE
• Appears to be prevalent among underrepresented populations in
a particular field
• Also evidence that both underrepresented and represented groups
are affected
• In Computer Science, prevalent among students
• Albert Einstein was reportedly suffering the IP

7. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
7 / 40
SOME EXAMPLES: JOB REQUIREMENTS
• Requirements in the job
description as a developer:
several technologies . . .
• AngularJs, Agile
methodology, Git, Python,
Javascript, SASS, Build
tools (Grunt, Gulp, NPM
Scripts), flux, React . . .
• Heavy Keywords: kickass
developer, energetic developer,
evaluating new programs,
strong fundamentals,
analytical mind, innovator
• Result: “I don’t fit in this
job role”

8. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
8 / 40
SOME EXAMPLES: A SEMINAR
• Attending a seminar where all
the others are active and
asking questions and
commenting
• Attending a training or tech
meetup where all the
developers are debating on the
latest technology and some
popular tools
• You are silent. . .
• Result: “no idea about what
they are talking about”

9. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
9 / 40
A ”NON-SCIENTIFIC” REPORT (2018)
• Blind’s blog
• According to a 2011 paper (International Journal of Behavioral
Science), an estimated 70 percent of people experience impostor
syndrome at one point in their lives.
• No distinction: women, men, finance executives, marketing
managers, and physicians.
• Even software engineers and product managers sometimes feel
undeserving of their roles.
• A survey: 10,402 participants (August-Sept. 2018)

10. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
10 / 40
RESULTS - 1

11. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
11 / 40
RESULTS - 2

12. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
12 / 40
A SIGNAL: GOOD OR BAD?
• You’re doing something outside of your comfort zone.
• Which is good sign, not a bad sign.
• “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong
room.”
• (Confucius, Michael Dell, Lorne Michaels, Marissa Mayer, and
others!)
• Embrace the problem, and act
• by acquiring more knowledge and skills, and expand yourself and
you try to do something you’re not comfortable with.

13. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
13 / 40
OFTEN IN COMPUTER SCIENCE!
• ICT industry is very different and diverse
• A lot of developers enter in the industry and have to stay updated
with the latest technology, frameworks, language, tools, practices
and a lot of things.
• Constantly in a constant learning phase, with different kind of
expertise in different tools, language or technologies.
• Result: pressure to learn something new every time
• If unknown is found then doubts about their accomplishment, feel
insecure, compare themselves and suffer from this problem.
• Understand that it’s impossible for any developer to know
everything.

14. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
14 / 40
A SHORT HISTORY OF IMPOSTOR PHENOMENON
• In 1978, Clance and Imes defined the term Impostor Phenomenon
to designate an internal experience of intellectual phoniness
• The sample was a made of high achieving women where, despite
numerous achievements, the women did not experience an
internal sense of success.
• These women persisted in believing that they were not really
bright and had merely fooled anyone who thought otherwise
• Accompanying features: dread of evaluation, fear of failure, guilt
about success, and cycle of belief that the person must suffer in
order to succeed and that self-doubt can be crucial to ensuring
success
• In the 80s, it was also proved that men experienced it with just as
much frequency as women (for example, male faculty members
exhibited higher feelings of IP than their female counterparts)

15. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
15 / 40
EFFECTS
• IP contribute negatively to an individual’s life
• IP often corresponds to increased levels in depression and anxiety
• IP is found to be stronger than perceived discrimination and
minority status stress
• A significant part of medical students, experience IP that was
found to be significantly associated with burnout indices.

17. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
17 / 40
MAP
1 Impostors
2 A study on IP in CS
3 What to do
4 Conclusions

18. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
18 / 40
A SCIENTIFIC STUDY IN CS
• A validated metric of measuring the preva-lence of IP, the Clance
IP Scale (protected under copyright!).
• A survey of 203 computer science students (graduate/undergrad)
at a large, public, research-intensive university (UC San Diego,
probably)
• Research questions:
• (a) How prevalent is IP among CS students?
• (b) What differences are there between sub-populations within CS?
• (c) How does the prevalence of IP in CS compare to other
populations?

19. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
19 / 40
THE METHOD
• Udergraduate classes were an upper division Data Structures
course (2nd and 3rd year students), and an upper division
Natural Language Processing course (3rd and 4th year students).
(Many CS Majors)
• The graduate class selected was a graduate level class in Natural
Language Processing.
• Following the protocol, a brief introduction about the survey, then
filled-in online
• No mandatory, nor compensation
• Students were not told about the nature of study

20. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
20 / 40
RESULTS
• ANOVA found a statistically significant difference between male
and female responses

21. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
21 / 40
THE ANALYSIS OF THE SCORE

22. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
22 / 40
INTERPRETATIONS
• Data validates that the female students had significantly higher
levels of impostor feelings than the male students.
• The Gender Gap hit again: the lack of representation of women in
computer science
• Lack of significant differences of IP between students who
identified as White/Asian and those who identified as members of
underrepresent groups
• probably due to our low sample sizes of underrepresented students
in the dataset

23. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
23 / 40
COMPARISON IN OTHER FIELDS
• Compared to other fields, it appears like CS students suffer more
of IP

24. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
24 / 40
WHY MORE ”IMPOSTORS” IN CS?
• Imbalance in access to K-12 computer science courses: formal
classes offered in higher income neighboroods.
• The ones who had early access have some ”geek-gene”
• Message conveyed by faculties: ”CS is not for all”
• Defensive climate in classroom because of show-off of knowledge
by some students
• Content: the idea of a black-box inherently suggests that there is
a part of the work you know nothing about.
• The culture in CS of preconceived notions about who is ”fit” for
CS: ”I do not belong here”
• The inherent multidisciplinarity of CS: applied CS to X

26. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
26 / 40
MAP
1 Impostors
2 A study on IP in CS
3 What to do
4 Conclusions

27. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
27 / 40
TREAT YOURSELF WELL
• Prioritize your whole self and your overall well-being: you are
more than what you do in your course, in your team, or in your
organization.
• Recognize internal monologues of failure or less than optimal
performance.
• Don’t get into unhealthy competition with yourself.
• Laugh at yourself with compassion.
• Allow yourself to brag about your successes, and don’t take
anyone who teases you about it seriously.

28. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
28 / 40
MANAGE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS
• Remember why you got into your line of work and if you were
”told to do” and you really don’t care, change your line of work.
• Some of the most successful people have thrived in multiple areas.
• Establish realistic yardsticks and take input from others on
whether goals are achievable.

29. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
29 / 40
NATURAL CYCLES OF KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE
• Know that knowledge shifts and morphs: you’ll know more about
some topics tomorrow, and you’ll forget some things you knew
before.
• Let yourself be a novice when you approach a new topic.
• Ask for help: the keenest minds and deepest domain experts are
the ones who truly enjoy sharing their knowledge and inviting
others to the party.
• The dismissive people may themselves be suffering from impostor
syndrome.

30. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
30 / 40
UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF CULTURE
• Note your cultural programming—are you really feeling like an
impostor, or are you afraid to admit you’re good at what you do for
fear of being called arrogant?
• Look for personal cultural differences around bragging,
self-promotion, competition, and contribution, including taking
responsibility for an honest audit of your own cultural or personal
biases.
• Don’t introduce unhealthy competition into your teams, whether
you are a manager or a peer.
• Introduce play and playfulness into the work world.

31. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
31 / 40
STRESS MANAGEMENT
Yerkes-Dodson law
Performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only
up to a point
• So, when the stress is just right, people will grow by leaps and
bounds: positive stress.
• As stress increases, there is a point of diminishing returns.
• At high levels of stress, the person will become debilitated.
• IP is probably spun from such heightened stress and anxiety

32. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
32 / 40
MAKE A HABIT OF BEING UNCOMFORTABLE
• Software development is a field where nobody knows everything.
• Accept that you, like everyone in software development, needs
help from StackOverflow or other resources: you’re not alone
• Accept the truth that you can not be an expert in software
development
• There is no endpoint of being completely knowledgeable and
comfortable in software development.
• Nobody can learn everything all the time so you need to make a
habit of being uncomfortable.

33. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
33 / 40
MAKE YOUR FUNDAMENTALS CLEAR
• Think to the moment you entered in programming and kept
learning you start realizing how far you’ have come.
• You can plan a career goal and decide what you want to learn
every month.
• Make a calendar for every month, learn the skill and keep track
of all the accomplishments.
• Check your past accomplishments, take inspiration from there
and feel positive for everything you have achieved.
• helps to overcome imposter’s syndrome but also boost your resume

34. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
34 / 40
THE ENVIRONMENT IS CRUCIAL!
• The environment will trigger, feed, and exacerbate impostor
syndrome.
• Triggered by noticing one ”does not belong” in other ways—being
part of a minority group
• The culture of an organization or institution is a big factor in
whether people feel like they belong and can take risks.
• Be aware of diversity in many cultures: bragging about your
achievements may be considered impolite

36. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
36 / 40
MAP
1 Impostors
2 A study on IP in CS
3 What to do
4 Conclusions

37. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
37 / 40
WHY IT MATTERS
• As a person
• As a professional, about your peers
• As a teacher/educator, with regards to students
• As PhD advisor, toward PhD Students

38. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
38 / 40
READING MATERIAL AND CREDITS
• ”Identifying the Prevalence of the Impostor Phenomenon Among Computer Science Students”,
Adam Rosenstein, Aishma Raghu, Leo Porter. SIGCSE ’20: Proceedings of the 51st ACM Technical Symposium on
Computer Science Education, February 2020 Pages 30–36,
https://doi.org/10.1145/3328778.3366815
• ”Is there a fix for impostor syndrome?”,
Elizabeth F. Churchill, Interactions, April 2018, ACM.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3197577
• ”Impostor syndrome and burnout: some reflections”,
Elizabeth F. Churchill, Interactions, April 2019, ACM.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3320107
• ”58 percent of Tech Workers Feel Like Impostors”,
Blind Blog-Workspace Insights, Sept. 2018.
https://www.teamblind.com/blog/index.php/2018/09/05/
58-percent-of-tech-workers-feel-like-impostors
• ”An antidote to impostor syndrome”,
Dean Jackson, Taliver B Heath. XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students, December 2014.
https://doi.org/10.1145/2685027
• ”Imposter Syndrome In Software Developers: Am I A Fake Developer?”
GeeksforGeeks, Dec. 2020.
https:
//www.geeksforgeeks.org/imposter-syndrome-in-software-developers-am-i-a-fake-developer/
Some figures by Pixabay.com

39. VITTORIO SCARANO
Impostors and
Computer Science
Impostors
A study on IP in CS
What to do
Conclusions
39 / 40
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? ANYTHING?