Fake it Until You Become It

Fake it until you make it is a terrible saying.

It implies that people who have “made it” were faking the whole time, diminishing their accomplishments, sacrifices, and discipline. Sure, there are exceptions, but in my experience, most people I’d call successful worked their tails off to get there.

A better saying?

Fake it until you become it.

When learning a new skill, it’s normal to feel like an imposter. But if we imitate those who are already proficient, we slowly grow into the role we want.

Want to become a developer? Great! Start doing the things developers do:

• Read tech blogs
• Write small programs
• Create a GitHub profile
• Argue (within reason) about which code editor is better
• Run Linux on your personal computer

Keep faking it, until you’re no longer faking.