Impostor syndrome stifles individual performance but it also has a big impact on open source communities. This talk explains how to recognize impostor syndrome and reduce its impact on software communities.

1. Grow your community:
Inspire an Impostor
Major Hayden
@majorhayden
Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts (Wikipedia)

2. Major Hayden
Principal Architect at Rackspace
● Builds OpenStack private clouds
● OpenStack contributor since Diablo
● Fedora Linux Security Team / Server WG member
● Actually one of the few people who likes SELinux
● Owns far too many domain names
● This is the only slide I have with bullets (seriously)

3. Impostor syndrome
is difficult to define
Photo: Buddy_Nath

4. Impostor
syndrome
affects different
people in
different ways
Photo: Negative Space

5. For a deeper dive into
impostor syndrome,
review my slides from
a previous talk:
Slides:
http://bit.ly/2qM3CLy
Video:
https://youtu.be/GlqOMItiHhg

6. Humans love stories,
so let’s use one.

7. My epiphany arrived after
a promotion at work

8. T-shirt-wearing, Python-wielding, GIF-sharing,
Linux nerd
Button-shirt-wearing, HBR*-wielding, meeting-sharing,
Director & Chief Security Architect
* HBR == Harvard Business Review (it’s worth reading)

9. Meeting with the boss
Photo: Unsplash

10. What do you call
someone with:
CONFIDENCE
up here
COMPETENCE
down here

11. “A pain in my butt*.”
* His language was much more colorful
than what I’ve featured here.

12. What do you call
someone with:
COMPETENCE
up here
CONFIDENCE
down here

13. “THE SAME FREAKIN’* THING!”
* Again, his language was much more colorful
than what I’ve featured here.

14. IMPOSTOR SYNDROME
is a psychological phenomenon that occurs
when your competence and confidence are
not aligned.
It’s a form of cognitive bias.

15. COGNITIVE BIAS
refers to the systematic pattern of deviation
from norm or rationality in judgment,
whereby inferences about other people and
situations may be drawn in an illogical
fashion.
(Thanks, Wikipedia)

16. Long story short,
your brain is biased.
This time,
it’s biased against you.
Photo: sbtlneet

17. “Nothing is so difficult
as not deceiving oneself.”
-- Ludwig Wittgenstein
“Culture and Value”
Photo: Austrian National Library

18. Being humble
is something
entirely different.

19. HUMBLE:
“This is a great accomplishment,
but I couldn’t have done it without
the support of my team!”

20. IMPOSTOR SYNDROME:
“I’m not worthy.”

21. Impostor
syndrome
is not limited
to any:
AGE
RACE
GENDER
COMMUNITY
OCCUPATION
NATIONALITY
EXPERIENCE LEVEL
SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
SELINUX STATUS PREFERENCE
Photo: NASA Earth Observatory

22. Impostor syndrome
drives diversity away
from your community.
Photo: Prinzip3d

23. Imagine a future where we stop fearing it.

24. Imagine yourself as a
catalyst* for change
in your community.
Photo: Alejandro Hernandez
* Science nerd moment: catalysts are never consumed in a reaction.

25. Starting line:
Master the confidence
and competence
alignment spectrum*
* There is no scientific or medical basis here. However, calling it a
spectrum makes it sound much more trustworthy and academic.

26. Competence
Confidence
Dunning-Kruger
effect
Impostor
syndrome
Unsure
Just right
“Fake it ‘til you
make it”

27. Competence
Confidence
Dunning-Kruger
effect
Impostor
syndrome
Unsure
Just right
“Fake it ‘til you
make it”
SAFE ZONE

28. A constant state of “just right” is
UNATTAINABLE.
Just focus on being in the safe zone.

29. Lucky for us, we have
a framework that
makes it easier to
stay in the safe zone:
OODA
Photo: USAF

30. OBSERVE
How do the people you trust
react to your ideas, plans, and
performance?
Photo: Unsplash

31. ORIENT
Is their confidence in your ability
wildly different than your own?
Measure the difference.
Photo: MaxPixel

32. DECIDE
What part of your behavior
will you change?
How will you make it a habit?
Photo: Unsplash

33. ACT
Commit to the plan.
There is no turning back.
Funnel the feedback into the loop.
Photo: Unsplash

34. Good news.
The OODA loop works great
for helping others, too.

35. What does success
look like?

36. We cannot eliminate
impostor syndrome.

37. “Pain is inevitable.
Suffering is optional.”
-- Haruki Murakami
Photo: Unsplash

38. Recognize it.
Embrace it.
Own it.

39. Only you can choose to
stop the suffering.

40. REALITY CHECK:
Not everyone will be
thrilled about helping.

41. “I write code. I don’t
have time for this.”
Your code is worth nothing
without the community
of users and contributors.
Make investments in those people.

42. “I’m not a psychologist.”
Nobody is asking you to be one.
Be a human. If someone looks like they
are struggling, throw them a line.

43. Keep it simple.
BE A HUMAN.

44. Just ONE email
Just ONE IRC message
Just ONE code review comment
might be all that someone needs.

45. You now have the tools.
Photo: picjumbo

46. TOOLBOX RECAP:
Recognize the signs.
Photo: picjumbo

47. TOOLBOX RECAP:
Live the OODA loop.
Photo: picjumbo

48. TOOLBOX RECAP:
Stop the suffering.
Photo: picjumbo

49. It’s time for you to
build a path for yourself
and for others
in your community.
Photo: picjumbo

50. Thank you!
Major Hayden
@majorhayden
Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts (Wikipedia)