Kaitlyn Concilio worked as a newspaper editor despite never having taken a journalism class; she’s taken on a senior Angular job despite having never used the framework before; and she’s made to principal software engineer with a BA in history as her sole official credential.

And while she feels the weight of Imposter’s Syndrome all the time, it’s not always a disadvantage to be an outsider. Having a unique perspective can make you valuable, and you can always learn the base-level skills.

We’ll discuss the upsides of what it means to approach things from a new angle; we’ll talk about some strategies you can use to shore up weaknesses. And we’ll go over some basic dev things that senior devs think everybody knows but no one does unless they actually have a CS degree.