Have you ever experienced Impostor Syndrome? It happens to PhD students a lot: the feeling that all of one’s accomplishments are the byproduct of luck and happenstance, not the skill and hard work that one actually put in. It’s most acute when you’ve devoted yourself to one thing, where turning back would mean years of your life wasted[1]Or feel wasted, at least. Very rarely is that true..
I used to experience this, a bit, when I was in my own PhD program, and then when I was part of Replica Labs. In my case, sadly, this feeling wasn’t just a product of my imagination. My Impostor Syndrome was confirmed by a veritable panel of experts, and it took everything I had to get out of the hole I had dug myself into. It was one of the most stressful, make-or-break moments of my life, and I struggled to develop something that I never even knew was lacking: my memory. My Ignite Boulder talk, here below, tells that story.
I will admit, I had never been to an Ignite show before I was in an Ignite show, but the premise was always curious to me: speakers have 5 minutes to tell the best story they can. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about technology, or startups, or be inspirational in any way (though most are), but they should have a message or a moral of some sort.
I didn’t have anything clear in mind when I was thinking about my talk; I had talked about VR before, and my PhD experiences were somewhat interesting, but nothing about them was particularly… gripping, at least not to a large audience. I also could have talked about the time that I broke my face in a mountain biking accident, but what was the moral there? That I do stupid things sometimes?[2]This happened. Intelligence comes in many forms. My form is just a little more beat up than most..
What I eventually settled on, the talk you see here, is not the classic tale of the hero. It’s more like the parable of the Prodigal Son: coming back to what knowledge truly is after years of shortcuts through my intellectual life… at least, that’s how it felt for me[3]…it’s a loose metaphor.. I’m sure my account doesn’t get nearly that dramatic. I hope you enjoy it, though. I thank Ignite Boulder for giving me the chance to tell a small part of my own story.
This is my site, so of course I’m going to promote my talk, but Ignite Boulder 31 had wonderful speakers all around. I would highly recommend looking through more of the talks from this year by either going to the Ignite Boulder website or maybe through the YouTube page. They are all highly entertaining, and hey, you might learn something new!