I'm not going to debate the "engineer" part of the "software engineer" title but... Some people aren't aware there are restrictions around this title depending on where in the world you work! When I was in Canada, "engineer" was classified as a licensed profession that required: - An education from an accredited university - An ethics exam - Accumulated working hours signed off by an engineer - Yearly dues to the governing body of engineers Literally -- you could not call yourself a "software engineer" and there are many cases of the governing engineering body going to companies to tell them to adjust their job titles. We were allowed to say we were "doing work in the field of software engineering", but we could not claim we were engineers unless we met the conditions I listed above. Tough love, eh? So by Canadian standards, I'm still not a "professional" to this day. - I never accumulated the hours under another engineer - I never wrote my ethics exam I only had the schooling as part of my experience. All of this just to let people know that there are different perspectives to take -- even when we're all talking about the same things and using the same words. Are you a professional software engineer in Canada? Has anything changed since I've been there? (How about that iron ring?!)

Imposter Syndrome doesn't magically disappear forever. I'm well past my twenties now and a decent way into my career. I've been managing engineering teams for over a decade. But imposter Syndrome still shows up. I was having a review about my first paid course that I released to the public. There was lots of feedback for me. And if you're like me, the thought of getting feedback is both scary as hell but powerful. It's like this mixed fear of dread and opportunity because you know you'll be able to improve. So I get the feedback... And it's all super actionable. Mostly technical things that can be tweaked and easily improved. But partially out of fear and partially because my Imposter Syndrome was running high I had to ask: "But... was the teaching style okay? Did anyone complain about it being bad?" I've been doing some form of tutoring or teaching since I was 14. That's over 20 years of my life (yikes, that sucks to write). I've even recently volunteered at a high school to help with computer science. I should feel CONFIDENT teaching concepts. But here I am, an imposter. Am I good enough? Did people hate me? Do I even know what I'm talking about? Why did I ever sign up for this? I'm embarrassed now. All thoughts that were running through my head waiting for feedback. "No! I haven't heard anything like that. I think the teaching style was on point." (not a direct quote but paraphrased) ... and in the moment I get a bit of relief from external validation. But we always need to keep pushing the self doubt out of our minds. I share Imposter Syndrome scenarios because I find my imposter syndrome subsides more when I hear that other people go through it as well. I hope this helped you realize you're not alone when these thoughts creep up.