grow your community: inspire an impostor
TRANSCRIPT
Grow your community:Inspire an Impostor
Major Hayden@majorhayden
Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts (Wikipedia)
Major HaydenPrincipal 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)
Impostor syndromeis difficult to define
Photo: Buddy_Nath
Impostor syndromeaffects different people in different ways
Photo: Negative Space
For a deeper dive into impostor syndrome, review my slides from a previous talk:
Slides:http://bit.ly/2qM3CLy
Video:https://youtu.be/GlqOMItiHhg
Humans love stories,so let’s use one.
My epiphany arrived aftera promotion at work
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)
What do you call someone with:
CONFIDENCEup here
COMPETENCEdown here
“A pain in my butt*.”
* His language was much more colorfulthan what I’ve featured here.
What do you call someone with:
COMPETENCEup here
CONFIDENCEdown here
“THE SAME FREAKIN’* THING!”
* Again, his language was much more colorfulthan what I’ve featured here.
IMPOSTOR SYNDROMEis a psychological phenomenon that occurs when your competence and confidence are not aligned.
It’s a form of cognitive bias.
COGNITIVE BIASrefers 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)
Long story short,your brain is biased.
This time,it’s biased against you.
Photo: sbtlneet
“Nothing is so difficultas not deceiving oneself.”
-- Ludwig Wittgenstein“Culture and Value”
Photo: Austrian National Library
Being humbleis somethingentirely different.
HUMBLE:“This is a great accomplishment, but I couldn’t have done it without the support of my team!”
IMPOSTOR SYNDROME:“I’m not worthy.”
Impostor syndrome
is not limited to any:
AGERACEGENDERCOMMUNITYOCCUPATIONNATIONALITYEXPERIENCE LEVELSOCIOECONOMIC STATUSPROGRAMMING LANGUAGESELINUX STATUS PREFERENCE
Photo: NASA Earth Observatory
Impostor syndrome drives diversity away from your community.
Photo: Prinzip3d
Imagine a future where we stop fearing it.
Imagine yourself as a catalyst* for changein your community.
Photo: Alejandro Hernandez* Science nerd moment: catalysts are never consumed in a reaction.
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.
Competence
Con
fiden
ceDunning-Kruger
effect
Impostor syndrome
Unsure
Just right
“Fake it ‘til you make it”
Competence
Con
fiden
ceDunning-Kruger
effect
Impostor syndrome
Unsure
Just right
“Fake it ‘til you make it”
SAFE ZONE
A constant state of “just right” is
UNATTAINABLE.Just focus on being in the safe zone.
Lucky for us, we have a framework that
makes it easier to stay in the safe zone:
OODA
Photo: USAF
OBSERVEHow do the people you trust
react to your ideas, plans, and performance?
Photo: Unsplash
ORIENTIs their confidence in your abilitywildly different than your own?
Measure the difference.
Photo: MaxPixel
DECIDEWhat part of your behavior
will you change?How will you make it a habit?
Photo: Unsplash
ACTCommit to the plan.
There is no turning back.Funnel the feedback into the loop.
Photo: Unsplash
Good news.The OODA loop works great
for helping others, too.
What does successlook like?
We cannot eliminate impostor syndrome.
“Pain is inevitable.Suffering is optional.”
-- Haruki Murakami
Photo: Unsplash
Recognize it.Embrace it.
Own it.
Only you can choose to stop the suffering.
REALITY CHECK:Not everyone will be
thrilled about helping.
“I write code. I don’thave time for this.”
Your code is worth nothingwithout the community
of users and contributors.Make investments in those people.
“I’m not a psychologist.”Nobody is asking you to be one.
Be a human. If someone looks like theyare struggling, throw them a line.
Keep it simple.
BE A HUMAN.
Just ONE emailJust ONE IRC messageJust ONE code review comment
might be all that someone needs.
It’s time for you tobuild a path for yourself
and for othersin your community.
Photo: picjumbo
Thank you!Major Hayden
@majorhayden
Photo: Emmanuel Huybrechts (Wikipedia)