My first manager at the current company was American. One day we were having dinner with the team. He was saying something in Thai and I was really impressed by how well he nailed the pronunciation and the tones. Thai is a tonal language and it has short and long vowels, and multiple combinations of vowels. I told him his Thai was very good. He thanked me and said, “like what they said,"
"Fake it ‘til you make it.”
That was not the first time I heard this phrase, but it was the time it struck me, maybe because it came at the right time.
As a software engineer, it is easy to compare yourself to others and find that you are not doing as good. Well, I think that applies to any profession actually. Comparison is the thief of joy, but it’s hard to not compare.
Sometimes I doubt how I am going to do this or that, but this phrase keeps reminding me to just fake it ‘til I make it. Last year, especially, I was promoted to a senior software engineer. I didn’t know what exactly I should do to be worthy of the senior title, but I kept on pretending—manifesting—to be my imaginary senior software engineer.
It worked, or at least I believe that it worked.
If you are doubting your ability or maybe you are just trying to be someone better, try to fake it ‘til you make it.