mhoyeDec 23, 2023

If you're feeling any sort of impostor syndrome, watch this presentation where the guy leading the team that's invented just-in-time optimizing-for-parallelism shell script recompilation admits at the end that after having done all that he still has to look up the bash "if then else" syntax every time.

Maybe you're not an impostor, maybe you're succeeding even though all this stuff is genuinely hard to use.

https://www.usenix.org/conference/osdi22/presentation/kallas

Practically Correct, Just-in-Time Shell Script Parallelization | USENIX

Show threadCanageekDec 23, 2023

@mhoye There was a thread on Twitter a few years ago where a Nobel prize winner talked about how it was a full year before he stopped worrying that people were going to realize he wasn't a very good scientist and take his award away.

Last summer I went to a lecture with another Nobel prize winner and he talked about how he still had imposter syndrome and worries everyone else is doing better science then him.

Show threadSarcastiCanadianDec 23, 2023
@Canageek @mhoye I think the most successful people often have a touch of what we call imposter syndrome. People with no questions about their own abilities are insufferable and really hard to work with - which limits their success in any collaborative field. People who question everything about themselves are high maintenance, and also really hard to work with. My entirely unscientific assertion is that the sweet spot is 10-15% imposter syndrome.
Show threadCanageekDec 23, 2023
@Plumbert @mhoye That second Nobel prize winner ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venki_Ramakrishnan ) talked about how you should be worried if you ever have to work with someone with no imposter syndrome
Venki Ramakrishnan - Wikipedia

Show threadBen Rosengart
@Canageek @Plumbert @mhoye oh my god … what if the person in my circle with insufficient imposter syndrome is *me*?!
Dec 23, 2023 at 3:55amWeb
Show threadmhoyeDec 23, 2023
@fivetonsflax @Canageek @Plumbert If that question matters to you, it's not you.
Show threadBen RosengartDec 23, 2023
@mhoye @Canageek @Plumbert But if the question is just an excuse for a silly joke about meta-imposter syndrome, maybe … ?