http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome
(Not, as the name might initially suggest, the Capgras delusion)
Impostor Syndrome is a remarkably common phenomenon where highly qualified people feel like frauds who don't deserve their achievements.
> "I can't believe I made it past the interviews. Surely someone will figure out I'm wildly incompetent and fire me soon!"
> "Everyone here is so much smarter than me. I got in on a fluke."
It seems to be especially common in high-achieving women and people who may have been the target of affirmative action programs - believing that they were hired/selected/etc to promote workplace diversity, instead of for their competence (which is of course a necessity).
Graduate students and scientists beginning tenure track positions (of both genders) also frequently report similar feelings.
The treatment, luckily, is simple: recognize that it is an illusion, and stop thinking that way. Well, not quite that simple. But that's the gist of it.
I personally used to feel like this pretty often, but then I made a thing and I couldn't deny that it was pretty awesome when someone smacked me upside the head (figuratively) about it.
What about you.
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