Promoted, Still Feel Like I Know Nothing.

Hey everyone,

As the title suggests, I was promoted to Senior Software Engineer at the beginning of the year. On paper, it sounds amazing, right? But honestly, I feel like I don’t know a thing.

I work as a contractor for the government. And while I understand that I'm not necessarily competing against the cream of the crop SWEs you’d find at a FAANG company (or whatever they’re calling it these days), that doesn’t change the fact that I feel completely out of my depth.

I’ve spent most of my career in web development. Sure, I know how to create an API, set up endpoints, secure it, and make everything work on the surface. But ask me to solve a LeetCode easy, and I’m toast. I see posts all the time about people grinding through hundreds of coding challenges, mastering algorithms, and nailing technical interviews. Meanwhile, I’m over here feeling like I’ve just been winging it.

I can’t help but feel like this title of “Senior” comes with expectations I’m not ready to meet. Shouldn’t I be some sort of coding wizard by now? Someone who can architect complex systems in their sleep or solve coding challenges without breaking a sweat? Or explain to customers how to architect a solution? Because that’s not me. At all.

I want to do my job well. I want to earn my worth. But right now, imposter syndrome is hitting me hard. Has anyone else gone through this? How did you get over the feeling that you’re not good enough? Did you grind through LeetCode? Focus on system design? Or just fake it until you made it?

I’d love to hear your experiences, advice, or even just some reassurance that I’m not alone in feeling this way.

Thanks for reading.