Introduction
Imposter syndrome is a common challenge where high achievers doubt their abilities, and feel like a fraud. I've been feeling impostor syndrome at my data analyst job. Why? Even though I’ve delivering insights and answering questions, I’ve been relying on my manager’s detailed requests. Because of this I’ve second guessing myself. Asking if I’m really a data analyst, if I haven’t been the one coming up with questions to investigate. But I realized I’m only a few months into my role, and there’s plenty of time to grow and improve. I’ve taken the first step to overcome it: identify the problem. Next is creating actionable steps to do.
Next Steps
Below is my plan to help beat my impostor syndrome:
Meet with stakeholders - Be more proactive and meet with different teams and departments to understand their challenges and goals. By getting more background on what they do, I can translate these into data driven questions.
Read business documentation - Read everything I can about the company like the processes, products, or services. Also look into specifics about my team and department. Just getting as much knowledge and background as I possibly can about the entire company. This will help me identify key metrics and performance indicators.
1:1 with my manager - Schedule a 1:1 meeting with my manager talk about my progress and areas in which I want to grow. Look for feedback and guidance on what I can do better to grow as a data analyst. Also give me some ideas on what to ask stakeholders and other things to look into. Meeting with my manager lets me know my next steps.
Research industry trends - Stay up to date about not only data analytics news and tools but also what's happening in the industry. This can help me anticipate trends and what to look for in my analysis. And generally improve my business/industry knowledge.
Be kind to myself - Remember to celebrate the wins and understand that this takes time. Also be happy with the skills I have built. This is one of the big factors on helping me beat my imposter syndrome, realizing it happens to a lot of professionals and trying to be kind myself.
Conclusion
It's natural to feel some insecurities about a job, especially if you recently transition to a new career or started a new job. But it's important to not dwell on it and work on improving it. Hopefully with these next steps I'll be able to work on beating my imposter syndrome. And in the process become a better data analyst.