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Everytime I start working on something new, it takes me some time to wrap my head around it. I found that this gets better over time (especially if the new thing you're learning is similar to something you've done before). And of course, even for new technologies, there will always be people who just seem to be able to understand it in a breeze. But you have to keep in mind that they might have invested a lot more time to dive into this. So - try to not get overly nervous about the fact other people seem to know more than you. If you invest time in learning, you'll eventually get there as well. Also, I find that it helps me to keep in mind that my value is not purely based on my work. People also see you for the person you are :-)

When I feel like an impostor I just think about how little I knew a few years ago and how quickly I am learning! I can really laugh at some of my old StackOverflow posts now, and that means I am getting better at this stuff. I don't think you can be an impostor if you're always improving (or trying to).

Also something I tell myself a lot when I feel like I am not smart enough to solve a problem: humans made computers, they have to listen to us. If you're determined, the computer always does what you tell it to do :-)

Yeah, when I started at Google, I had come from a game design background and hadn't written a line of production-level code in years. So it was kinda intimidating to be grouped in with a bunch of engineers who knew what they were doing. :) I think what helped me was that I eventually came to the realization that when people seem to know more about you, it's usually not that they're significantly smarter than you, it simply comes down to the fact that they just have spent more time with a certain technology than you have.

In terms of practical advice, there's a lot of videos, books, TED talks, etc. about establishing a growth mindset. I might take a look at one of those, because I think that can really be helpful. (In fact, if any of you have good recommendations there, add 'em to this thread.)

I'm pretty sure everyone in tech, and definitely everyone at large tech firms, suffers from imposter syndrome regularly. On my third day at Google I wondered why on earth they hired me, and that feeling never completely disappears. :) I find it most helpful to think of it as a journey. Some of my answers on Stack Overflow from years ago look so silly and naïve to me today. But then again: they often were useful to developers already. And I could never have helped so many developers today, if I hadn't answered those questions years ago. That'd also be my advice if you're struggling with something that you want to become better at. Keep at it, and you'll get better at it over time.

This is really helpful, thanks for sharing! Peter Friese

This is really helpful, thanks for sharing! Samuel Stern

Thanks for sharing! Todd Kerpelman

This is really helpful, thanks for sharing! Frank van Puffelen