Started my new role six weeks ago. On paper: great. Company is solid, team seems warm, the work is actually interesting. And yet.
Every time my manager says something like "great thinking in that meeting" I have this immediate internal response of: she doesn't know yet. She'll figure it out.
I know this has a name. I know it's common. What nobody told me is how persistent it is even when you're not new to the industry. I have seven years of experience. I've shipped campaigns that moved real numbers. I've led teams. None of that seems to matter to the part of my brain that is absolutely convinced I lucked into this.
What I've noticed: it's worse on async days when I can't read the room. Worse when I'm on a Zoom with someone two levels above me. Worse right before I share any written work.
What's helped a little: keeping a "receipts" doc. literal folder of compliments, metrics, positive Slack messages. sounds embarrassing to admit. it works noticing that nobody else looks like they feel like they belong either. first few weeks, everyone is performing competence remembering that the people who hired me saw something. they're not idiots. I wouldn't have hired myself if I didn't think I could do the job
But I want to be honest: those things help "a little." The feeling doesn't just go away because you name it.
Anyone else navigate this in a new senior-ish role? I feel like the more senior you get, the more people assume you have it together, so the more alone you feel when you don't.
What actually helped you. Not platitudes. Actual stuff.
5 replies
marketer_mei
The "receipts doc" is real. I call mine the "evidence folder" because receipts felt too informal for my brain that needed to take it seriously. Same concept. I go back to it when the spiral starts.
Also: seven years and still feeling this means it's not a knowledge gap. It's a self-perception gap. Those don't close the same way. Therapy helped me more than any career advice on this one.
laidoff_lena
"self-perception gap" is a useful reframe actually. makes it feel less like a problem with my skills and more like a separate thing to work on. therapy is on the list, keep hearing this.
firsttime_mgr
I became a manager 14 months ago and the imposter thing went from "occasional" to "constant" overnight. The weird thing about senior roles is you're suddenly making decisions that affect other people's careers and you can't A/B test your way to certainty.
What helped me: talking to other new managers who were also faking it. Realizing that confidence is mostly just a posture a lot of people have learned to hold. That sounds bleak but it was actually reassuring. Nobody is as certain as they look.
consultant_cam
Small reframe that helped me when I moved from consulting to corp strategy, where I felt like I was suddenly supposed to know how things actually worked: imposter syndrome means your self-assessment is lagging your actual capability. The lag shrinks. Give it six months, not six weeks.
veteran_vance
Coming from the military, nobody talked about this stuff. You were just expected to perform. I spent my first year in tech convinced I was one bad quarter away from being found out. Four years in and it's not gone but it's quieter. You learn to recognize the voice and not obey it.