[alsetmusic]

After landing a highly prestigious position at a company with a great reputation, I spent the first months thinking that every person I spoke to, worked with, or passed on my way to lunch knew I didn't belong. I thought I would be found out at every turn. This added to an already stressful transition. Only gradually did evidence from positive interactions with others chip away at my self doubt. I never truly believed that I was as capable as my peers, but then again they were some of the most intelligent people I've ever met.

Truthfully, I'd rather face perpetual self doubt than be overconfident. People who consider themselves exceptional usually turn out to be under delusions of grandeur and the truly gifted are often surprisingly humble. Wanting to catch up to the latter group creates the drive that keeps me learning new skills rather than coasting.

[QuercusMax]

I totally agree. We just finished our perf cycle here at the Goog, and in my self evaluation I rated my impact as "medium" on the various projects I worked on. (I started back in June, so I haven't been around very long, and I'm very much still ramping up.)

The peer evaluations I got all rated my impact as "important" to "critical". I don't feel like I did anything too outstanding; just doing what anybody would do, and I feel like I still have a tremendous amount to learn, and the senior personnel are still way ahead of me.

I definitely feel like a touch of impostor syndrome can be a help toward excelling, as long as it doesn't cripple you.

[bkjelden]

A little imposter syndrome keeps you hungry. A lot of imposter syndrome is paralyzing.

I had a very similar experience to you during my first performance review at Microsoft. Thought I was just scraping by, ended up getting a promotion.

[agumonkey]

The 'lack of confidence' led me to mentally enjoy competitions because I then don't have to query people to know my place.

[illumen]

A very interesting humble brag thread. I'm not sure it's imposter syndrome if you think you're doing well when presented with evidence and then believe it. Not by definition anyway.

The performance reviews remind me of this little joke (actually a common real experience) -- "I got rated Above Average!" 'What was the average rating?' "Let me check... Oh. It's Exceptional".