How I Overcame Imposter Syndrome While at Meta

I’ve been reflecting on the time I spent at Meta. In particular, how far I’ve come since my initial Imposter Syndrome when I first joined. I want to share what that experience was like for me and how I was able to overcome it (spoiler alert: it took a year of being there). I’ve written this with the hope that it helps anyone who is facing a similar situation to what I did — especially those who have recently joined a new company or have a new hire on their team.

TLDR & Key Takeaways

• Trust the people around you. Open up about how you are feeling and ask for help. Everyone at your company wants to see you succeed and is more than likely willing to help.
• Find a good mentor in your team, preferably someone who is not your manager. This way you can establish a strong relationship with someone on your team who can help onboard you and answer your questions.
• Give it time a.k.a trust the process. It will take time to ramp up and find your place in your team where you are most effective and most enjoying yourself. You are not a “hiring mistake“ (whatever that means), you’re there for a reason.

Background

I never studied Computer Science or programming at university. It was only after I graduated that I became interested in making apps and so I taught myself iOS development. As a result, I always felt uncertain about myself and my lack of foundational CS knowledge. I was intimidated by other “real” programmers. They knew things like Test-driven development, VIM, fancy terminal commands, and a whole bunch of other things that I didn’t know. So it’s no coincidence that when I joined Meta with all the “real” programmers I would have doubts about myself.

Before joining I remember watching several Facebook tech talks and not having any idea what they were talking about, so I was pretty sure that once I joined I would have no idea what anybody was talking about and wouldn’t be able to keep up with all the “real” programmers. And of course, my biggest fear was that it would only be a matter of time before somebody realized it!

Joining Meta

During onboarding at Meta, you’re bombarded with messages of “Have Impact” and “Move Fast”. This was compounding my doubts about myself and whether I would be able to keep up.

Before joining Meta I had only ever done iOS development and only ever worked in Objective C and Swift. “Real” programmers knew multiple languages and could develop on multiple platforms, so how would I be able to keep up with them? I remember overhearing fellow new hires talking about the tasks they have completed and I remember thinking to myself that I’m falling behind.

My First Few Months

Fast forward a few months into my first team and I was onboarding fine. However, the doubts remained. Despite having shipped a few things, I still wasn’t sure of myself. Was I having enough impact? Was I moving fast enough? Did my coworkers appreciate me joining the team? Or had they figured out that I didn’t belong there? I was feeling unhappy and anxious.

Eventually, I opened up to my manager about how I was feeling and this became a turning point for me. He put some of my concerns at ease by telling me I was onboarding fine, giving me feedback on my progress as well as collecting feedback for me from my teammates (both positive and constructive!). This helped me feel better about my ramp-up and progress at Meta.

I was also lucky to have a great mentor on my team who was very approachable and taught me how to navigate Meta. This allowed me to seek answers to my questions (technical or otherwise) and helped me progress in my career.

First Year at Meta

After opening up to my manager I was feeling better but still not feeling that I 100% belonged there. I would say it took me about a year before I really started feeling 100% comfortable and got over my Imposter Syndrome.

During my first year at Meta, I’d had a chance to work on and successfully deliver a handful of projects. This made me feel that I had consistently shown myself that I could perform. With each project, my confidence grew. During this time, I also had a chance to build good relationships with everyone on the team which helped me feel more comfortable with them and made me less intimidated.

Conclusion

I hope this note will help others facing similar experiences with imposter syndrome. If you are having doubts and/or feel unsure of yourself and would like someone to talk to, feel free to reach out to me! I would be more than happy to chat.

Also published here.