Am I just Lucky?
Imposter Syndrome striking with Luck, Privilege, Hard and Smart Work!
When I’m stressed about work, I remind myself that someone else might not even have a job right now..
When life feels like a mess of to-do list items, I think about how someone else might be dreaming of the life I live.
A question often comes to my mind: “Am I just a lucky, privileged guy?”
Last week, in collaboration with
, I shared my journey through struggles and how I overcame obstacles with dedicated efforts to change my life.But isn’t it just that things worked out in my favor? Or, Did I work hard or Smart?
It's not just me. Many in the workplace experience Impostor Syndrome. It's the persistent doubt about whether their accomplishment is deserved or legitimate.
To understand what contributed to my journey, I researched and deeply reflected on the role of luck, privilege, hard work, and smart work. I discovered some guiding principles that consistently apply.
Today, I’m sharing these principles to help you separate noise from the signal when Impostor Syndrome strikes. They will give you a clearer view of your achievements and success.
👋 Hey there, I am Gourav. I write about Engineering, Productivity, Thought Leadership, and the Mysteries of the mind!
Thank you for all the support, love, and motivation on my previous article.
Guiding Principles
Luck And Privilege play a huge role in one’s life and career.
Smart work is the key but it isn’t possible without hard work first.
Find the balance between Imposter Syndrome & “Successful Man Fallacy”.
1. 🍀 Luck And Privilege play a huge role in one’s life
Luck — the random entropy of the universe showering unique positive situations and events on you from birth and beyond.
Privilege — an unearned, significant advantage like generational wealth that you are born with.
Yes, I was lucky. But NOT privileged. You must have heard this saying:
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
This is true most of the time, but sometimes favorable, non-privileged things happen naturally beyond your control.
There are things I took for granted but were sheer luck:
Personally:
I was born and married into a loving family. 👪
I was naturally good at academics and deep dive. 📚
I am spiritually sound which helps me alleviate stress. 🧘♂️
I have supporting friends who are always there for me. 🤝
I achieved everything I worked towards without unsolvable setbacks. ✔️
Professionally:
I had a knack for writing clean code and solving business problems. 💻
My coding interviews went well and I didn’t get any unfair interviewers. ✅
I was fortunate to have good managers who helped me improve further. 📈
I did not face discrimination based on religion, color, or ethnicity at work. 🌍
I cannot imagine the struggles I would have faced without these fortunate traits and events. I call it God's grace or simply blessings.🙏
🌟 Key-Takeaways
Luck factors can significantly impact one's opportunities and outcomes.
I highly recommend you do self-introspection. Recognize their role to be more fair and empathetic to progress.
2. 🧠 Smart work is the key but isn’t possible without hard work first
I define hard work as applying brute-force solutions to problems.
Smart Work is about finding efficient and effective ways to achieve a goal. This is done by using existing knowledge, people, tools, and technology.
We, as humans and software engineers, often have the instinct to apply brute force when we first encounter a problem.
I still remember when I started my career and used to face a complex bug in the code. My first reaction and action was to throw hours of debugging at it by just reading tons of code and testing every possible scenario. However, as I gained experience, I started to recognize patterns and develop smarter approaches. I began using efficient debugging tools, taking thread and heat dumps, and writing automated tests. 🛠️
As I became a leader, I learned to delegate tasks and to teach. I also learned to force-multiply. In software engineering, this is a great example of smart work. So, I worked hard first and then became a smart worker organically.
🌟 Key Takeaways
Hard Work:
It's necessary for building skills and achieving initial breakthroughs. 💪
It laid down the foundation for where I am right now.
Smart Work:
Involves strategic thinking and leveraging tools and techniques to work efficiently. 🔧
As my experience grew, my ability to work smartly led to greater wins with less effort.
3. Find the balance between Imposter Syndrome & “Successful Man Fallacy”.
Imposter Syndrome is when people doubt their skills. They feel unworthy of their achievements, despite being capable.
The "Successful Man Fallacy" is a wrong belief. It holds that success comes only from personal qualities and actions, like hard work or intelligence.
Geoff Charles, a writer on Medium, described how different identities try to make sense of their circumstances in one of his articles:
When someone feels like an imposter, they might be acting as a Lucky or Privileged one.
But also, successful software engineers often credit hard work and smart thinking. Admitting that luck is a factor is difficult because it challenges their notion that they fully deserve victory.
When I read about Equalitarian, I found the answer to my question. My success wasn’t just luck; it was a perfect blend of hard work, smart work, and good fortune.
While I can credit my long hours of coding, continuous learning, and strategic moves, I must also recognize the role of access to education, great mentors, early opportunities, and supportive leaders.
This made me embrace the identity of an Equalitarian. I understood that my growth came from both my efforts and the opportunities I received.
❌ I worked hard throughout my next jobs, always taking on more work to get more responsibility, and rose through the ranks
✅ I got referred to another company. I practiced the interviews to get the job and built upon my brand on paper. I got mentorship from senior leaders because they liked me.
🌟 Key Takeaways
Embracing an Equalitarian view helped keep a balanced perspective. It recognized the roles of hard work, smart strategies, luck, and privilege.
I learned that not everyone has the same opportunities. This taught me to empathize with those who may be struggling. It made me a more kind colleague and leader.
Parting Note
To all Software Engineers facing layoffs and economic challenges, I say:
When you’re working both hard and smart, and it feels like a stroke of bad luck has derailed your path - keep your spirits high and dive back into your efforts. Remember, true success is born at the intersection of perseverance, intelligent strategy, and a bit of good fortune. Embrace the journey. Stay resilient. Your dedication will match the opportunities that come your way.
Shoutouts
The biggest-ever global outage: lessons for software engineers by
3 steps to write messages that people will enjoy reading by
From Lead Engineer to Software Engineer II by
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Gourav Khanijoe