Feeling behind never left me, even after 16 years and four titles

Short summary

A software engineer with 16 years of experience reflects on persistent imposter syndrome, arguing that feeling behind is not a personal failing but a rigged comparison — you compare your inside to everyone else's outside. The author stopped treating the feeling as an emergency and now accepts it as a normal part of the career rather than a verdict on worth.

• •Feeling behind is common even among highly experienced engineers
• •The comparison is rigged: you compare your internal doubts to others' visible successes
• •The author's shift was treating the feeling as normal rather than an emergency to solve

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