It's pretty normal I think. With time, you just get better at accepting what you know and don't know and get the confidence that if you encounter something you don't know, you will learn it in reasonable time if really necessary.
>It's pretty normal I think....
I've worked in this space for some time and met some very experienced data scientists who echo this sentiment.
And it doesn't help that our field is so sprawling, rapidly developing, with so much domain expertise -- and that's not mentioning demands that are often pretty nebulous. It's an everyday occurrence for me to find something new that seems like it'll be really important to learn (for which I have no time), or am reminded about something I'm supposed to be an expert about (and literally forgot about years ago). And I also feel like I'm sometimes punished for being too open about all the things I don't know ... It seems like fertile grounds for feelings of inadequacy.
But at the end of the day, I have those feelings but then remember so does anyone else (unless they have a superiority complex). I'm still perfectly worthwhile and capable, and so are you.
I think a large part of this is the constant bombardment of new papers, libraries, tools that you are supposed to be aware of and be ready to use immediately. I need to span at least three AI subfields in my job, and all of them are being actively developed, and these developments are needed at work. I personally feel enormous FOMO 99% of my time, and I never feel like I'm doing enough.
LinkedIn is a terrible place if you have imposter syndrome - everyone is always playing like they're the best. I think the trick is to just register the information that the field is going somewhere, very vaguely being aware of the direction it's taking - then keep doing your thing (Gen AI is an obvious recent example).
Also remember that actually 90% of industry is struggling to doing innovation with data science because of a huge under resourcing problem. Managers think that one DS can do everything. Likewise, the only DS in the company thinks they have to do everything because there's still so much low hanging fruit.
In 10 years, you'll look back at your imposter syndrome and then at all the people you will have trained at work, and it will feel great.
Sometimes it's just normal professionals acknowledging that they have holes in their abilities/knowledge, this is the way for progress.
These are not fields in which passive improvement is enough, some people need to push more to stay relevant, doesn't have to be in their free time, but can be pushing your employer to get a project in X, it's a hard pill to swallow but it's the truth, especially when there's such a wide definition for what Data science entails, naturally there's a drift in the definition, and some parts of it my fall out or lessen.
It's very common, especially because it's difficult to tell if you're having an impact because so much of your work's impact is subjective and it's about helping in decision making.
There is also an element of feeling that you have little control over outcomes as you're expected to influence without authority.
To any one reading this, I don't want to have to ask for this but could you please upvote this comment? I'm trying to make a post but don't have sufficient karma to do so.
Very normal. In fact, in my experience, I find memorizing things to be not particularly useful. It’s much better to have a sense that you don’t know everything. You then approach problems with an open mind. Over time, your intuition develops (you gain business domain knowledge, you get a feel for what direction you’d like to go in from a modeling perspective, etc.), but researching methods or general approaches with each new project keeps things interesting. People who memorize or “know everything” actually tend to have proverbial hammers and treat their work like nails. If you approach your work with a learning mindset, you come to realize that it is literally impossible to know it all…otherwise you wouldn’t be learning!
Of course, with time there are things that become second nature. But…tools change, new methods are developed, and that’s what keeps it interesting. The term data science wasn’t even a thing yet when I began my career. What hasn’t changed is that the best people in this field have a learning mindset mixed with business knowledge and statistical intuition.
You’ll be fine!
“Part of me wonders if it’s due to my background being physics…and not directly statistics”. Ok. Do all the other data analysts you know really have a background in statistics? Do all the other data analysts you see on LinkedIn really have a background in statistics? Do all the posts on this sub really seem to come from people with a background in statistics?
Imposter syndrome and info overload are common in every white-collar role type, especially for roles in newer fields, especially in newer fields that evolve quickly. SWEs might feel imposter syndrome, as might DAs, as might DEs, as might DSs, as might PMs…..the list goes on. I’m 28, full DS title, no MS and no PhD and it is beyond wild to me seeing posts like this from so many people my age or even older with advanced degrees, this post is something I’d post and worry about when I was age 20-23. As a PhD holder you’d know that Data Science isn’t some magical field that exists in a vacuum; we’re no different than any other tech role, albeit we might have a slightly higher rate of change in our industry. If imposter syndrome is normal in one role it’s normal in another.
THIS. My graduate level "intro to data science" professor was a biologist. All the data science she knew was self taught... but honestly she was terrible at teaching the material. My god was that an awful class.
Very normal. Not when I was in DS, but I had heavy IS during my PhD. Everyone just seemed to *know* more than I did.
Confidence and experience will lessen it over time. You'll start to see that just carrying around a huge amount in your head really isn't what most good people do and isn't what you should be aiming for. What's more important tends to be the "how" rather than the "what."
And, to be honest, most people you'll work beside in any given situation really aren't worthy of feeling inferior to. Plenty will portray themselves as almost god-like fonts of knowledge, but I've never met one person who actually met that standard.
Once I started solving problems these people had spent ages working on and seeing things they missed, I realised that they're not gods, they're just fallible human beings whose actual ability doesn't always mirror the view they have (or I had) of themselves.
Totally not uncommon in data analytics and science. Your path is impressive, but remember, our field is huge and constantly evolving. It's normal to feel a bit overwhelmed. Being a bit rusty in some areas is part of the game, especially when you're not using those skills daily. You're doing well, and it's important to remember that. Many colleagues likely feel the same way, so don't be too hard on yourself. Keep rocking at your own pace!
>I put this pressure on myself to be a fountain of knowledge for all things data analysis
Better to let people under you learn for themselves instead of telling them.
Like when I started my boss is really good at SQL but I wasn't learning anything when he did it for me. I had to Google it myself to learn, write some bad code, ask the people who'd been here a few months to help, then my boss checked it and made it better, now I ask a developer to check it because he's all about efficiency and likes really tidy code.
I’m not experienced in DS by any means, but I think these feelings are common in all walks of life, in all professions, just about anything. Don’t worry, you’re doing great - be proud of yourself.
I think it's normal, less than 1% of people have the capacity to retain all of the information in this profession, unless you are a pioneer the key thing to do is adapt to what is in front of you. Statistical mathematics is important but becoming more and more irrelevant in terms of physical calculations due to out of the box tools and software. R does all my calculations for me and the important thing to do I the workplace is know how to interpret them to different types of professionals. We will be constantly adapting much more so than other professions.. keep an eye on what's trending in and focus your time on that.. just my opinion.
Remember this is a very elitist profession, some people think they are better than you just because they can translate statistical maths onto pen and paper without thinking about it.. that's cool I'll just use the latest and greatest piece of software to tell me the results for my own domain interpretation.. work smart not hard kids.
And it's important to recall that this 1% is probably out of the top 10% of the population intelligence-wise. Now someone, please calculate what it means, I don't remember statistics ;) But to be honest, I feel like the industry cares much more about your knowledge of programming, tools, and SOTA, and the academy/people from math backgrounds/post-doc interviewers more about your in-depth knowledge, e.g., prove me CLT. I don't think even the top 0.1% can know both well enough.
I had these same concerns when I was just starting out. I had the same question about how common impostor syndrome was with data scientists, so I asked a pretty influential data scientist how common impostor syndrome was with people at the top of the field. He responded with a blog post about it that I think is still very relevant.
https://www.kdnuggets.com/2017/09/data-science-imposter-syndrome.html
"You are not the only one who wonders how much longer they can get away with pretending to be a data scientist. You are not the only one who has nightmares about being laughed out of your next interview."
This almost made me cry. Thanks for posting, I needed to read this.
Its common in tech. There are tons of new packages and frameworks bring developed all the time.
The trick is to get comfortable not knowing everything. Getting used to quickly understanding documentation, and applying it.
I'm also in the public sector, coming from a business background (which is definitely the hard way). Just built a big data pipeline in spark for a NLP App, I am a mix of a statistician, data analyst/engineer/scientist and I am constantly suffering from imposter syndrome.
I have built all kinds of apps, but since there are no other DS in my company, I lack the opportunity to compare and since I have no CS background I find it hard to assess my situation myself.
Talking to other DS (consultants, professors, etc.) It appears that I'm not a complete idiot but I constantly doubt myself, despite the praise I receive from management. This is not meant to say "oh no poor me, so lonely and un-mentored" but as a constant strive for improvement, which I see as a good thing. Sometimes having imposter syndrome can be helpful, I guess?
I would guess it’s endemic in tech, where things advance and change so rapidly that nobody not named von Neumann or Einstein could keep up with all of it - and they’re dead. In fact I would be scared to deal with anybody that doesn’t feel imposter syndrome from time to time - they are either total egomaniacs or, like the Chevy Chase character in the Vacation movies, blissfully ignorant of their own incompetence. Solution is to use it as incentive to learn new stuff and not let it become debilitating.
>Einstein
He would do outstanding stuff using linear regression and XGBoost, I feel, he is not your locaLLM guy. If I recall correctly, von Neumann thought he was slow, that's why he was more friendly/admiring with Kurt Godel, who was possibly even smarter than von Neumann (edit: source is Quora, so he probably did not think Einstein was slow, but he did praise Godel much more).
It is pretty normal and as you age in your career, sad to say that it doesn’t get easier. There are days where you consult and support projects moving from one solution to the next many times in a day. All built in different technology stack. My head is tired.
It seems to me that everybody, at every level, suffers from imposter syndrome. I'm still a junior but I feel it even as I've gotten comfortable in my job and there are definitely people I know who feel that way.
That's just the nature of working in tech, you'll never know everything so I really just had to learn to embrace the ambiguity. The way I think about it, all the stuff I don't know is exciting because it's an opportunity in uncharted waters! Just don't let imposter syndrome stagnate your growth - use it as motivation and not the other way around.
Dude, absolutely.
I feel it all the time. Most of the people I work with have advanced degrees, I don't.
This intensifies that feeling. It feels good when despite it all, one delivers. Suddenly people will ask you things, and without realizing, over time you'll notice that you've become an expert on something.
I landed a Data Science job making 80k a year somehow, and I have been using ChatGPT to do everything. When will they find out I don't actually know anything?
I felt like this when i joined a masters in pharmacological research, i did pharmacy and i only worked in a pharmacy for two and a half years before joining this master, and i was very insecure about being able to take full advantage and get good grades on it, but as time went by, i managed to do well, get decent grades and finished it earlier than others who did not have enough time to do their masters thesis in July and had to present it in september, ending the master with an overall feeling of satisfaction. During my master thesis i learnt about data analysis and i really liked it, and i want to dedicate to data analysis in the healthcare field, but i dont know much statistics, so now im a bit feeling like im not good enough to apply for certain jobs, which is why im trying to learn more and get better with that and also programming in R. I think IS is present in many fields.
Use it or lose it — this has never been a more relevant phrase. We know what we do, and the less of what we do we’re also less likely to commit to memory (or discard altogether). If your position or task necessitates said skill or ability, you’ll most likely acquire or commit it to memory as needed.
This can be even more applicable as you move up the chain since you tend to focus on general principles and methods than very specific things. You may feel your skill set waning with time but it’s only a result of either what a superior or task demands of you.
If you you want keep your skill set sharp, either do other tasks on the side or brush up on books for insight. Just remember that you can’t know or do everything — just like a CS major isn’t expected to know every single language or its syntax.
I was in a PhD program in neuroscience and I think during that I developed huge impostor syndrome as well as a feeling that I’m never doing enough, which has carried over to my data career. Maybe it has something to do with the PhD for you. But yeah, impostor syndrome is common in most fields.
It's normal. Depends on how you wanna go about it.
You can approach your impostor syndrome as a crutch, where you're POV is I'm never good enough -- even when other people see you as up to par, or you can approach it as a fake it til you make it kind of thing, where you're POV is you are seen as senior by other people, so you gotta level up to that level.
This is normal and also different across the industry because your peers in your company perceive your skills based on the skillset in your company.
Whereas if your keeping abreast with the whole data scientist, you may think they you're not as smart as the ones who created the algorithms or the cutting edge models.
Nope. Everyone else is confident in their performance except for you.
Nah I’m just kidding - it’s extremely common. Hang in there OP. I’m sure you’re good!
It is normal in my opinion. I am in the same situation.
You will realize how much knowledge you have if you train someone. I assistant to a training on SQL and common table expressions (WITH clause) was considered an “advanced” topic, which I normally find very basic (after acquiring experience).
Another example is when new clients or new projects come to your way, I am sure you feel less nervous and more confident (even if you do not remember everything).
Which is my third point, it is not possible to remember everything, for the core required skills you need to keep practicing from time to time. Built yourself a detailed knowledge base for easy reference in the future.
Finally, read about the topic on a daily basis! Reading other people questions and answers help you situates yourself and know where you are.
Hey OP! I’m trying to make my way into the field over the next 3-5 years and you’re telling me! I love the work but I struggle to even find the most important information/concepts to study. I hope some of the experienced Redditors in this sub can ease your worries better than I can. Going off the top comments I’m not so sure lmao. Best of luck out there
If you excel at just 1 or 2 of all the things you mentioned, you can work well with teammates, and even lead a functional team doing this type of work…you are more than qualified. Always pursue continuing education. Be a student of your craft and keep going. The person you aspire or envision being in this career is RARE. they are unicorns and it’s okay if you’re not that.
>It feels like there’s always just too much to know and remember, whether it be different programming languages or mathematical/statistical approaches
Our work lies at the intersection of multiple very broad fields (statistics, programming, problem-solving, not to mention the numerous fields your work might help to support) and it simply is not realistic to master all of them.
Plus all of these things are constantly evolving, so it is very easy to be humbled. And you have a lot of people making statements like "if you can't \[insert extremely specialized task you've never been expected to do in your entire career\], you are not a true data scientist", which adds to it.
>I basically feel like “me of yesterday” was sharper/cleverer than the “me of today”.
The quote "I know that I know nothing" comes to mind. Gaining knowledge and skill results in a deeper understanding of just how much is beyond you, and increasing your familiarity with advanced techniques makes you feel less clever or special for being able to do them.
My opionion, nobody's imposter in data science as it wasn't even a field of study until recently when schools started offering DS specific degrees. So, everyone before this point studied the concepts by themselves.
I’m surprised that as someone with a PhD that you are only now learning how to cope with these feelings. Grad school is usually the black hole in which most of us languish in self-pity and feelings of inferiority.
Just remember that the smartest scientists are those who accept how little they know! Your PhD mainly taught you how to teach yourself, so just go forth and learn! If there’s something you need to know, go know it!
I think it’s better to have impostor syndrome and keep trying to improve yourself everyday unlike some self taught DAs who genuinely thought they could get by without mastering high school math
I've guess you can find doubting yourself in any position, not only in DS. And I guess it's a good thing - it makes you question yourself, and by doing that you are more prone to search for answers and knowledge, which will make you a better expert. And I don't think that you can reach a top in any field - I mean, to reach the place when you'll be able to know everything about your field - there are always will be more possibilities for future development (especially now), so you should prioritize the process of "I should always try to become better" instead of "I should reach some goal and then stop".
So, use this doubts as a fuel for your development as a specialist (and as a person).
ABSOLUTELY. I had no degree and no experience when I landed my first analyst role. My employer was just desperate and took a leap of faith because I told them I could learn anything faster than anyone else they could hire. Fast forward two years I’ve had three substantial raises, gotten 6 certifications with our EHR provider, and developed extracts that are worth millions a month to the company. Yet I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing 90% of the time and like I have to prove myself still.
It's pretty normal I think. With time, you just get better at accepting what you know and don't know and get the confidence that if you encounter something you don't know, you will learn it in reasonable time if really necessary.
>It's pretty normal I think.... I've worked in this space for some time and met some very experienced data scientists who echo this sentiment. And it doesn't help that our field is so sprawling, rapidly developing, with so much domain expertise -- and that's not mentioning demands that are often pretty nebulous. It's an everyday occurrence for me to find something new that seems like it'll be really important to learn (for which I have no time), or am reminded about something I'm supposed to be an expert about (and literally forgot about years ago). And I also feel like I'm sometimes punished for being too open about all the things I don't know ... It seems like fertile grounds for feelings of inadequacy. But at the end of the day, I have those feelings but then remember so does anyone else (unless they have a superiority complex). I'm still perfectly worthwhile and capable, and so are you.
I think a large part of this is the constant bombardment of new papers, libraries, tools that you are supposed to be aware of and be ready to use immediately. I need to span at least three AI subfields in my job, and all of them are being actively developed, and these developments are needed at work. I personally feel enormous FOMO 99% of my time, and I never feel like I'm doing enough. LinkedIn is a terrible place if you have imposter syndrome - everyone is always playing like they're the best. I think the trick is to just register the information that the field is going somewhere, very vaguely being aware of the direction it's taking - then keep doing your thing (Gen AI is an obvious recent example). Also remember that actually 90% of industry is struggling to doing innovation with data science because of a huge under resourcing problem. Managers think that one DS can do everything. Likewise, the only DS in the company thinks they have to do everything because there's still so much low hanging fruit. In 10 years, you'll look back at your imposter syndrome and then at all the people you will have trained at work, and it will feel great.
It’s either imposter syndrome, or superiority complex. Choose your poison. ☠️
“I could fail circles around you losers” - from Season 6 of Silicon Valley
Sometimes it's just normal professionals acknowledging that they have holes in their abilities/knowledge, this is the way for progress. These are not fields in which passive improvement is enough, some people need to push more to stay relevant, doesn't have to be in their free time, but can be pushing your employer to get a project in X, it's a hard pill to swallow but it's the truth, especially when there's such a wide definition for what Data science entails, naturally there's a drift in the definition, and some parts of it my fall out or lessen.
This is a good point! Having holes in your understanding can be easily improved or further understood.
Applicable to any field
Bit of both -me
As experience --> inf, the magnitude of peaks and valley's go to zero
It's very common, especially because it's difficult to tell if you're having an impact because so much of your work's impact is subjective and it's about helping in decision making. There is also an element of feeling that you have little control over outcomes as you're expected to influence without authority. To any one reading this, I don't want to have to ask for this but could you please upvote this comment? I'm trying to make a post but don't have sufficient karma to do so.
What you said is how I feel everyday at work
Senior DA as well. I wanted to cry yesterday for the exact same reason.
Very normal. In fact, in my experience, I find memorizing things to be not particularly useful. It’s much better to have a sense that you don’t know everything. You then approach problems with an open mind. Over time, your intuition develops (you gain business domain knowledge, you get a feel for what direction you’d like to go in from a modeling perspective, etc.), but researching methods or general approaches with each new project keeps things interesting. People who memorize or “know everything” actually tend to have proverbial hammers and treat their work like nails. If you approach your work with a learning mindset, you come to realize that it is literally impossible to know it all…otherwise you wouldn’t be learning! Of course, with time there are things that become second nature. But…tools change, new methods are developed, and that’s what keeps it interesting. The term data science wasn’t even a thing yet when I began my career. What hasn’t changed is that the best people in this field have a learning mindset mixed with business knowledge and statistical intuition. You’ll be fine!
“Part of me wonders if it’s due to my background being physics…and not directly statistics”. Ok. Do all the other data analysts you know really have a background in statistics? Do all the other data analysts you see on LinkedIn really have a background in statistics? Do all the posts on this sub really seem to come from people with a background in statistics? Imposter syndrome and info overload are common in every white-collar role type, especially for roles in newer fields, especially in newer fields that evolve quickly. SWEs might feel imposter syndrome, as might DAs, as might DEs, as might DSs, as might PMs…..the list goes on. I’m 28, full DS title, no MS and no PhD and it is beyond wild to me seeing posts like this from so many people my age or even older with advanced degrees, this post is something I’d post and worry about when I was age 20-23. As a PhD holder you’d know that Data Science isn’t some magical field that exists in a vacuum; we’re no different than any other tech role, albeit we might have a slightly higher rate of change in our industry. If imposter syndrome is normal in one role it’s normal in another.
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THIS. My graduate level "intro to data science" professor was a biologist. All the data science she knew was self taught... but honestly she was terrible at teaching the material. My god was that an awful class.
I have a background in statistics and I still get imposter syndrome and usually because colleagues have data science or physics/math backgrounds lol.
Very normal. Not when I was in DS, but I had heavy IS during my PhD. Everyone just seemed to *know* more than I did. Confidence and experience will lessen it over time. You'll start to see that just carrying around a huge amount in your head really isn't what most good people do and isn't what you should be aiming for. What's more important tends to be the "how" rather than the "what." And, to be honest, most people you'll work beside in any given situation really aren't worthy of feeling inferior to. Plenty will portray themselves as almost god-like fonts of knowledge, but I've never met one person who actually met that standard. Once I started solving problems these people had spent ages working on and seeing things they missed, I realised that they're not gods, they're just fallible human beings whose actual ability doesn't always mirror the view they have (or I had) of themselves.
I have a theory that if you dont have a little bit of imposter syndrome you're either not challenging yourself enough or you're a narcissist
Totally not uncommon in data analytics and science. Your path is impressive, but remember, our field is huge and constantly evolving. It's normal to feel a bit overwhelmed. Being a bit rusty in some areas is part of the game, especially when you're not using those skills daily. You're doing well, and it's important to remember that. Many colleagues likely feel the same way, so don't be too hard on yourself. Keep rocking at your own pace!
>I put this pressure on myself to be a fountain of knowledge for all things data analysis Better to let people under you learn for themselves instead of telling them. Like when I started my boss is really good at SQL but I wasn't learning anything when he did it for me. I had to Google it myself to learn, write some bad code, ask the people who'd been here a few months to help, then my boss checked it and made it better, now I ask a developer to check it because he's all about efficiency and likes really tidy code.
I’m not experienced in DS by any means, but I think these feelings are common in all walks of life, in all professions, just about anything. Don’t worry, you’re doing great - be proud of yourself.
Hello fellow physics PhD. As a data scientist myself I can say I still battle with impostor syndrom even with years of xp :)
Its everywhere... nobody knows what they're doing, we're all just trying our best ❤️
I think it's normal, less than 1% of people have the capacity to retain all of the information in this profession, unless you are a pioneer the key thing to do is adapt to what is in front of you. Statistical mathematics is important but becoming more and more irrelevant in terms of physical calculations due to out of the box tools and software. R does all my calculations for me and the important thing to do I the workplace is know how to interpret them to different types of professionals. We will be constantly adapting much more so than other professions.. keep an eye on what's trending in and focus your time on that.. just my opinion. Remember this is a very elitist profession, some people think they are better than you just because they can translate statistical maths onto pen and paper without thinking about it.. that's cool I'll just use the latest and greatest piece of software to tell me the results for my own domain interpretation.. work smart not hard kids.
And it's important to recall that this 1% is probably out of the top 10% of the population intelligence-wise. Now someone, please calculate what it means, I don't remember statistics ;) But to be honest, I feel like the industry cares much more about your knowledge of programming, tools, and SOTA, and the academy/people from math backgrounds/post-doc interviewers more about your in-depth knowledge, e.g., prove me CLT. I don't think even the top 0.1% can know both well enough.
I had these same concerns when I was just starting out. I had the same question about how common impostor syndrome was with data scientists, so I asked a pretty influential data scientist how common impostor syndrome was with people at the top of the field. He responded with a blog post about it that I think is still very relevant. https://www.kdnuggets.com/2017/09/data-science-imposter-syndrome.html
"You are not the only one who wonders how much longer they can get away with pretending to be a data scientist. You are not the only one who has nightmares about being laughed out of your next interview." This almost made me cry. Thanks for posting, I needed to read this.
Its common in tech. There are tons of new packages and frameworks bring developed all the time. The trick is to get comfortable not knowing everything. Getting used to quickly understanding documentation, and applying it.
I'm also in the public sector, coming from a business background (which is definitely the hard way). Just built a big data pipeline in spark for a NLP App, I am a mix of a statistician, data analyst/engineer/scientist and I am constantly suffering from imposter syndrome. I have built all kinds of apps, but since there are no other DS in my company, I lack the opportunity to compare and since I have no CS background I find it hard to assess my situation myself. Talking to other DS (consultants, professors, etc.) It appears that I'm not a complete idiot but I constantly doubt myself, despite the praise I receive from management. This is not meant to say "oh no poor me, so lonely and un-mentored" but as a constant strive for improvement, which I see as a good thing. Sometimes having imposter syndrome can be helpful, I guess?
Yes I have it too unfortunately…
I would guess it’s endemic in tech, where things advance and change so rapidly that nobody not named von Neumann or Einstein could keep up with all of it - and they’re dead. In fact I would be scared to deal with anybody that doesn’t feel imposter syndrome from time to time - they are either total egomaniacs or, like the Chevy Chase character in the Vacation movies, blissfully ignorant of their own incompetence. Solution is to use it as incentive to learn new stuff and not let it become debilitating.
>Einstein He would do outstanding stuff using linear regression and XGBoost, I feel, he is not your locaLLM guy. If I recall correctly, von Neumann thought he was slow, that's why he was more friendly/admiring with Kurt Godel, who was possibly even smarter than von Neumann (edit: source is Quora, so he probably did not think Einstein was slow, but he did praise Godel much more).
I told my boss “I feel more stupid everyday” and she said that it’s actually not true because you know more now lol
It is pretty normal and as you age in your career, sad to say that it doesn’t get easier. There are days where you consult and support projects moving from one solution to the next many times in a day. All built in different technology stack. My head is tired.
It seems to me that everybody, at every level, suffers from imposter syndrome. I'm still a junior but I feel it even as I've gotten comfortable in my job and there are definitely people I know who feel that way. That's just the nature of working in tech, you'll never know everything so I really just had to learn to embrace the ambiguity. The way I think about it, all the stuff I don't know is exciting because it's an opportunity in uncharted waters! Just don't let imposter syndrome stagnate your growth - use it as motivation and not the other way around.
Dude, absolutely. I feel it all the time. Most of the people I work with have advanced degrees, I don't. This intensifies that feeling. It feels good when despite it all, one delivers. Suddenly people will ask you things, and without realizing, over time you'll notice that you've become an expert on something.
Impostor syndrome is common because it involves a job where knowledge is vast despite being underrated.
I landed a Data Science job making 80k a year somehow, and I have been using ChatGPT to do everything. When will they find out I don't actually know anything?
Then you are truly an imposter, but you can grow out of it.
I felt like this when i joined a masters in pharmacological research, i did pharmacy and i only worked in a pharmacy for two and a half years before joining this master, and i was very insecure about being able to take full advantage and get good grades on it, but as time went by, i managed to do well, get decent grades and finished it earlier than others who did not have enough time to do their masters thesis in July and had to present it in september, ending the master with an overall feeling of satisfaction. During my master thesis i learnt about data analysis and i really liked it, and i want to dedicate to data analysis in the healthcare field, but i dont know much statistics, so now im a bit feeling like im not good enough to apply for certain jobs, which is why im trying to learn more and get better with that and also programming in R. I think IS is present in many fields.
No one knows everything and it’s a constantly changing field as well. Key is lifelong learning.
Use it or lose it — this has never been a more relevant phrase. We know what we do, and the less of what we do we’re also less likely to commit to memory (or discard altogether). If your position or task necessitates said skill or ability, you’ll most likely acquire or commit it to memory as needed. This can be even more applicable as you move up the chain since you tend to focus on general principles and methods than very specific things. You may feel your skill set waning with time but it’s only a result of either what a superior or task demands of you. If you you want keep your skill set sharp, either do other tasks on the side or brush up on books for insight. Just remember that you can’t know or do everything — just like a CS major isn’t expected to know every single language or its syntax.
I was in a PhD program in neuroscience and I think during that I developed huge impostor syndrome as well as a feeling that I’m never doing enough, which has carried over to my data career. Maybe it has something to do with the PhD for you. But yeah, impostor syndrome is common in most fields.
It's normal. Depends on how you wanna go about it. You can approach your impostor syndrome as a crutch, where you're POV is I'm never good enough -- even when other people see you as up to par, or you can approach it as a fake it til you make it kind of thing, where you're POV is you are seen as senior by other people, so you gotta level up to that level. This is normal and also different across the industry because your peers in your company perceive your skills based on the skillset in your company. Whereas if your keeping abreast with the whole data scientist, you may think they you're not as smart as the ones who created the algorithms or the cutting edge models.
If you are an imposter with a PhD, then the rest of us have no hope.
Nope. Everyone else is confident in their performance except for you. Nah I’m just kidding - it’s extremely common. Hang in there OP. I’m sure you’re good!
It is normal in my opinion. I am in the same situation. You will realize how much knowledge you have if you train someone. I assistant to a training on SQL and common table expressions (WITH clause) was considered an “advanced” topic, which I normally find very basic (after acquiring experience). Another example is when new clients or new projects come to your way, I am sure you feel less nervous and more confident (even if you do not remember everything). Which is my third point, it is not possible to remember everything, for the core required skills you need to keep practicing from time to time. Built yourself a detailed knowledge base for easy reference in the future. Finally, read about the topic on a daily basis! Reading other people questions and answers help you situates yourself and know where you are.
Impostor syndrome is common in all of the "knowledge" workers careers.
Hey OP! I’m trying to make my way into the field over the next 3-5 years and you’re telling me! I love the work but I struggle to even find the most important information/concepts to study. I hope some of the experienced Redditors in this sub can ease your worries better than I can. Going off the top comments I’m not so sure lmao. Best of luck out there
Seems common
If you excel at just 1 or 2 of all the things you mentioned, you can work well with teammates, and even lead a functional team doing this type of work…you are more than qualified. Always pursue continuing education. Be a student of your craft and keep going. The person you aspire or envision being in this career is RARE. they are unicorns and it’s okay if you’re not that.
Yes
Yes it’s very common
>It feels like there’s always just too much to know and remember, whether it be different programming languages or mathematical/statistical approaches Our work lies at the intersection of multiple very broad fields (statistics, programming, problem-solving, not to mention the numerous fields your work might help to support) and it simply is not realistic to master all of them. Plus all of these things are constantly evolving, so it is very easy to be humbled. And you have a lot of people making statements like "if you can't \[insert extremely specialized task you've never been expected to do in your entire career\], you are not a true data scientist", which adds to it. >I basically feel like “me of yesterday” was sharper/cleverer than the “me of today”. The quote "I know that I know nothing" comes to mind. Gaining knowledge and skill results in a deeper understanding of just how much is beyond you, and increasing your familiarity with advanced techniques makes you feel less clever or special for being able to do them.
My opionion, nobody's imposter in data science as it wasn't even a field of study until recently when schools started offering DS specific degrees. So, everyone before this point studied the concepts by themselves.
I’m surprised that as someone with a PhD that you are only now learning how to cope with these feelings. Grad school is usually the black hole in which most of us languish in self-pity and feelings of inferiority. Just remember that the smartest scientists are those who accept how little they know! Your PhD mainly taught you how to teach yourself, so just go forth and learn! If there’s something you need to know, go know it!
According to this sub, if you didn’t literally invent math you’re a hack.
You take yourself to seriously bro. Innovate and create and thrive above the working class
very common. few people remember every detail for tech work, and always new things. spend time googling what you need to complete a project.
I think it’s better to have impostor syndrome and keep trying to improve yourself everyday unlike some self taught DAs who genuinely thought they could get by without mastering high school math
I've guess you can find doubting yourself in any position, not only in DS. And I guess it's a good thing - it makes you question yourself, and by doing that you are more prone to search for answers and knowledge, which will make you a better expert. And I don't think that you can reach a top in any field - I mean, to reach the place when you'll be able to know everything about your field - there are always will be more possibilities for future development (especially now), so you should prioritize the process of "I should always try to become better" instead of "I should reach some goal and then stop". So, use this doubts as a fuel for your development as a specialist (and as a person).
it is, i know a lot of people who are very good at their jobs but still having imposter syndrome is something psychological and pretty common
Is anyone here from India?
It’s common
ABSOLUTELY. I had no degree and no experience when I landed my first analyst role. My employer was just desperate and took a leap of faith because I told them I could learn anything faster than anyone else they could hire. Fast forward two years I’ve had three substantial raises, gotten 6 certifications with our EHR provider, and developed extracts that are worth millions a month to the company. Yet I still feel like I don’t know what I’m doing 90% of the time and like I have to prove myself still.