I recently read David Walsh's excellent post, "<a href="http://davidwalsh.name/impostor-syndrome">I'm an Impostor</a>", and it certainly hit home. I even DM'd him on Twitter to thank him for making me feel less alone:

<em>"Thank you for writing that post. I can relate so much to what you’re going through. I feel it all the time as well. Glad I’m not alone."</em>

Like many others, I've had to cope with Impostor Syndrome and while it's not a great feeling, I've been fortunate enough to have a great support system in the community that has regularly helped me recognize my contributions. But that doesn't mean that I don't suffer self-doubt on occasion, especially in the presence of people I know are amazing technologists. This is especially prevalent because my role at Microsoft puts me in constant exposure to folks who <strong>build a browser</strong> and whose technical understanding is off the charts.

<h2>The Hamster Wheel</h2>

After thinking about this for a couple of days, I've come to realize that these feelings seem to be exacerbated as your influence grows in the community. Some of it is clearly self-imposed self-doubt such as what David eluded to but I also believe that as we gain recognition, we begin to set expectations (sometimes unnecessarily) that we need to know EVERYTHING that's going on within our specific development niches.