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RESEARCHERS

The Science of Imposter Phenomenon in Software Engineering: Why It's Not Just Self-Doubt

4 the researchers behind it — 'Everyone here is smarter than me and it's only a matter of time before they notice.' That thought — or something close to it — is so common among sof

Georgia State University

Pauline Rose Clance

Known for:Naming the impostor phenomenon and developing the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale

Key findings

  1. 1978

    High-achieving women in a clinical sample of over 150 persisted in an 'internal experience of intellectual phoniness' — believing they had fooled anyone who thought them intelligent — despite earned degrees, honors and professional recognition. ↗

  2. 1985

    The 20-item Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale operationalized the construct around fearing evaluation, discounting praise, and attributing success to luck — and it remains the field's most widely used and best-validated measure. ↗

  3. 1985

    Clance described the 'impostor cycle': anxiety before an achievement task drives over-preparation or procrastination; when success follows, it is credited to effort or luck rather than ability, so the underlying self-doubt survives to start the next loop. ↗

University of Michigan

David Dunning

Known for:Co-author of the Dunning-Kruger effect study, showing that low performers systematically overestimate their competence while high performers underestimate theirs — a finding with direct implications for understanding why skilled engineers feel like impostors

Key findings

  1. 1999

    With Justin Kruger, Dunning demonstrated that incompetent individuals suffer a dual burden: they reach incorrect conclusions and make poor choices, but they also lack the metacognitive skills to recognize their own incompetence — while highly competent individuals underestimate their relative performance. ↗

Research group presenting at ICSE-SEIS 2024

Abrar Guenes

Known for:Lead researcher on the first large-scale empirical study of impostor phenomenon specifically in software engineers, examining prevalence across seniority, team size, and educational background

Key findings

  1. 2024

    The first empirical study specifically targeting software engineers found measurable impostor phenomenon scores in a majority of practitioners, with seniority, team size, and hiring pathway (self-taught vs. CS degree) all accounting for variance — establishing imposter phenomenon as an occupational pattern in software engineering. ↗

Research team publishing in Empirical Software Engineering (EMSE), 2024

Soyon Lee

Known for:Lead researcher on the first quantitative study of code review anxiety in software engineers, demonstrating it is a distinct, measurable construct that predicts avoidance behaviors and correlates with imposter phenomenon

Key findings

  1. 2024

    Code review anxiety is measurably distinct from general social anxiety, predicts concrete avoidance behaviors including delayed code submission and reduced commenting, and is significantly correlated with imposter phenomenon scores — and can be partially mitigated through structured review norms and explicit framing of code review as a learning practice. ↗

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