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UbiquitousWobbegong t1_j1m50p7 wrote

I embraced this concept a few years ago when I went back to school. It worked great, at first. But very quickly I found that if I didn't fake confidence and knowledge, people started to treat me like an idiot.

Coming out of school my options for employment ended up being very limited because I couldn't get any recommendations, and my employment I did manage to get has been threatened because my coworkers see me as inadequate, even though I see them make their own mistakes all the time.

Sometimes perception is everything. If people see you as confident, they tend to believe you actually know what you're doing. I've seen people fail upwards into promotions just because they were good at faking competence.

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Phoenyx_Rose t1_j1mtidx wrote

Came here to say this. Being afraid to look stupid helps with keeping a certain image for employers. If you aren’t afraid to look stupid but end up failing a lot and don’t try to fake that confidence and knowledge after while you’re still working things out, you end up with the devil effect unfortunately.

Also, if you end up in a position above others, their trust in you often relies on how confident you act, even if you’re not sure of yourself.

So I guess the takeaway tends to be: don’t be afraid to fail so you can learn, but don’t be too obvious about that failure.

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opolaski t1_j1nssgw wrote

That's a great point. But I think you fundamentally have to start with the willingness to personally (or within a small group) express in a way that looks stupid. Then it's important to learn how to present once you're no longer a perfectionist, which ironically, is the presentation of being faultless.

It doesn't work the other way around, otherwise you end up unhappy.

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