Denise Paolucci is a self-taught programmer who works at Dreamwidth Studios. She's been talking about a cultural trend nearly everyone experiences, but few want to talk about: impostor syndrome.

According to Paolucci, "Impostor syndrome is that feeling that you don't know what you're doing, that you're not as competent as everyone around you, and that at any minute everyone around you is going to figure out that you're faking and and expose you as a fraud."

When you're suffering from impostor syndrome, you convince yourself that you're the only person who feels that way, so it's spread through a vicious cycle of silence. Denise is trying to change that by providing a forum to discuss the issue, and to help people understand they're not the only ones experiencing impostor syndrome.

Denise said about three-quarters of the room raised their hands to say that they've experienced one of these common impostor syndrome thoughts:

• "I'm a failure"

Denise says that the more people talk about impostor syndrome in public, in person, and within the context of a safe group, then the more people will want to discuss it, and learn how to cope with it. It's part of demystifying the taboo around how people experience impostor syndrome, and the impact that it has on a culture -- like making it impossible for you to take pride in your work or to admit that you don't know something.

Denise provided some great guidance for how to deal with impostor syndrome:

• First off, be willing to talk about the issue with others and check in with your friends to get more perspective.

Impostor syndrome is really difficult to change if there's not leadership and buy-in from the top. If you work with a management culture that doesn't accept failure, then it can create an environment where people try to cover up or ignore their mistakes and breeds a culture of only having overly confident people or people who are really good at faking it.

Denise suggests that you talk to your managers, show them the evidence, and encourage them to do the following things:

• Be willing to help other people out and don't be dismissive of questions, especially if you're in a position of power.

For even more, be sure to check out her deck:

Let us know if you've experienced impostor syndrome, and how you dealt with it.

• Learn how to impostor syndrome-proof yourself and your community from Mary Gardiner and Valerie Aurora of the Ada Initiative