Kalie Knecht, CMC
Kalie is a 1st year PhD student in Nuclear Engineering at UC Berkeley. You can find her on Twitter.
The short answer - YES! However, no matter how many times you tell yourself this, it can be hard to truly believe it.
Imposter syndrome is nicely explained by this quote from Neil Gaiman - award-winning author of American Gods, Coraline, The Sandman, and many more:
Imposter syndrome is nicely explained by this quote from Neil Gaiman - award-winning author of American Gods, Coraline, The Sandman, and many more:
Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things. And I felt that at any moment they would realise that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things.
On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”
And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”
And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for [1].
Nobody is immune to imposter syndrome, but women and under-represented minorities in STEM may be more susceptible to it due to a sense of not belonging and the additional worry of only being in a space because they are a 'diversity pick' [2].
Imposter syndrome is a battle that we are always fighting, but now that much of life is at a standstill due to Covid-19, it has space to be amplified. Grad students may normally feel like they aren't performing highly enough, but this is magnified now that many of us find ourselves struggling to work from home productively.
Imposter syndrome isn't something that we will one day conquer - it is a conversation that we will have to revisit many times over our careers. It is important to be compassionate with yourself and remember that you are enough. This can be challenging, but here are some tips that may get you into that mindset.
Imposter syndrome is a battle that we are always fighting, but now that much of life is at a standstill due to Covid-19, it has space to be amplified. Grad students may normally feel like they aren't performing highly enough, but this is magnified now that many of us find ourselves struggling to work from home productively.
Imposter syndrome isn't something that we will one day conquer - it is a conversation that we will have to revisit many times over our careers. It is important to be compassionate with yourself and remember that you are enough. This can be challenging, but here are some tips that may get you into that mindset.
