Imagine, if you will, the following scenario.
I was sitting in Buddy’s cube at work the other day, and he was forwarding me some information via e-mail. Our worldwide address book is integrated into Outlook through an Exchange server. So he put my name in the “To” field, then double-clicked it to make sure it was correct. Up popped my address book information which includes things like my cube, and my phone extension. However, in the “Title” field, something was amiss. Before that day, it had always said “Software Engineer I” (except for the couple of days where it said “Intern”, but that’s a different story.) However, on this day, it said “Tools SW Engineer II.”
Hmm… this was curious indeed. I e-mailed my manager and this was his
response:
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 8:21 PM
To: Chu, Sha Sha
Subject: RE: question
Doh.. Cat’s out of the bag. I’ve got some good news. Let’s talk
tomorrow.
Jim
So I met with my manager Jim, and it turns out that I was indeed promoted
to Software Engineer II. Along with this comes a pay increase, which is always a Good Thing. Of course, this also means higher expectations and more responsibilities, as well as greater scrutiny of my work. As I am no longer a “Junior Engineer”, this greatly increases my fear that I am getting ever closer to the day when I am exposed as a programming fraud, and promptly fired. Oh well.
Woo! Congratulations, Sha Sha! =)))
ROCK ON! Awesome.
I realize I have little context in that I don’t know who you are or whether you really are a “programming fraud”, but I too have fears about being caught as an imposter. Here is a quote that I love and hold very close. I can only hope that it brings you some nugget of insight or comfort. Good luck in your new position.
“I have never fully escaped the imposter complex, the fear that I would one day be found out. Even though my knowledge was by some standards considerable, it was outweighed by my awareness of my ignorance. But the discovery that no matter how little I know, I probably knew more than my students helped me contain the imposter complex.”
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
paraphrased from An American Life
That’s fantastic news, Sha! Congrats!
n
Woo! Congratulations!!
Well deserved. What can I say – I hire well!
What’s even more ironic is that sometimes managers labor for literally months getting IT to change the business title in Outlook…
I wouldn’t worry about the scrutiny thing. I hear that you can hide incompetence all the way to becoming a manager.
Did I type that out loud?
.S