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Imposter Syndrome in COBOL Programming
Imposter Syndrome is “a psychological condition that is characterized by persistent doubt concerning one’s abilities or accomplishments accompanied by the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of one’s ongoing success.”
— definition from Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Specifically, in terms of software development, imposter syndrome is a common psychological phenomenon where professionals feel like intellectual frauds even though there is evidence of their success.
COBOL (Common Business-Oriented Language) programmers face a distinct set of psychological pressures in this area. Working in a mainframe environment that powers banking, government, or insurance systems means COBOL developers often work with code that involves millions, sometimes trillions, of dollars. Yet, the code they are maintaining has been written in an over 65-year-old language.
These are 5 ways I have experienced imposter syndrome in my 30+ year career in COBOL programming:
1. Comparing to Modern Programmers:
As a COBOL programmer over the years, I have often found myself wondering if I should switch to a more modern programming language. In fact, I did learn and program in Java mid career. As a result, I can relate to the feeling of inadequacy that…
