It took writing a programming book, speaking at 20+ confs, leading eng at a billion-dollar startup, having some OSS projects people use, getting invited on podcasts, starting a company, hanging out with smart / successful people who seemed to think I knew what I was doing …
… before accepting maybe it wasn’t all a fluke
you don’t understand, i’m the world’s best imposter, absolutely world class imposter skills, a lifetime of developing them to be so convincing, i’ve somehow accumulated promotions, references, a career, and a body of work purely as supporting evidence for the bit.