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Welcome to episode 10 of the Nerd Journey Podcast [@NerdJourney]! We’re John White (@vJourneyman) and Nick Korte (@NetworkNerd_), two VMware Solutions Engineers who are hoping to bring you the IT career advice that we wish we’d been given earlier in our careers. In today’s episode, we discuss Nick’s first seven months at VMware and Impostor Syndrome.

Original recording date: 2018-07-05

Topics

3:30 – 7 Month Check-In on Nick @ VMware

• Nick describes the transition from IT Operations to the vendor side.
• John and Nick talk about differences between being a generalist and specialist in VMware technologies.
• What’s the biggest surprise?
  • Helpful co-workers
  • Emphasis on training
• What’s better than you thought it would be?
  • Management style of leaders, interaction cadence, emphasis on employee growth
  • Manager 1-1s
• How does it feel to be involved in the sales process?  Many IT pros think it’s icky.
  • How is this job like working the help desk?
  • John shares experience in online forums and its relation to this role.
  • Emergencies still exist but are a little different.
• What could Nick have done to better prepare / short-circuit the process of getting here?
  • More exposure to other technologies in personal time
  • Achieve certifications faster
  • Earlier community involvement – speaking sessions
    • Listen to John’s public speaking experience.
    • Everyone started somewhere.

34:19 – Impostor Syndrome

• What is impostor syndrome, again?
  • John and Nick weigh in on what they think impostor syndrome is.
    • How can seeing what good looks like affect you negatively?
    • How have John and Nick experienced impostor syndrome?
• Homework for the listener
  • Read Cody de Arkland’s post on the subject – https://www.thehumblelab.com/lets-talk-about-imposter-syndrome
  • Nick’s post that was inspired by Cody’s – http://blog.thenetworknerd.com/2018/06/30/fighting-the-impostor-within

• Who feels / will feel impostor syndrome at some point?
• John says being uncomfortable is the only way to grow.
• Maybe setting expectations is the problem.
• John admits he wants to be nerd famous.
• Are we measuring success properly?
• People in software support live with a different level of discomfort than other roles like Pre-Sales, etc.
• Is John an ice man?
• Nick talks about math and problem solving.
• 55:20 Beginner’s Mind
• John shares the birth of the journeyman mindset and then has a mic drop moment.
• 57:20 Smart Kid Syndrome
• Summary Talking Points
  • Growth only comes when you’re uncomfortable
  • Being bad at something is key to getting good at it
  • Avoiding the ego trap of the need to look good at things preventing you from trying new things