Silly, but some self assurance. I'm mostly anonymous here, so my job history / pedigree doesn't weigh into anything.
But, I still manage to be in the middle of meaningful discussion, and contribute something worthwhile here and there. Even got a few thank-you notes over a 2 year period.
For me, its the other way around: I think I'm ok with my job history/pedigree, and when I check HN, it feels like I'm the dumbest person in my area. It seems like I'm not even trying.
I probably should have considered that perspective. To be clear, I often feel behind on my current state vs HN comments. Was mentioning that, for certain topics, I felt like a big contributor. I don't expect to always be on top, but (very) occasionally feeling like a thought leader here was encouraging.
I absolutely relate to this. But hey, knowing that there are other engineers out there feeling the same thing when they read HN makes me feel better. So, thanks.
I feel the opposite, but I am in a different position.
I am a hobby programmer. I spend quite a lot of time doing programming challenges (Euler, cryptopals, advent of code) and amateur robotics.
Most of the programmers I meet are a result of a shorter non-CS education focusing on getting them employable, which means they know .net and not much more.
So far I have only met one person in real life that understood anything of what I am doing, even though I have met several people that make a living coding.
Hadn't it been for HN I would believe that undergrad maths from old schoolbooks is actually advanced programming or that moderately advanced scheme macros are dark magic :)
Being here is somewhat good for my hubris, but also pretty often makes me realise I could have a career doing programming if my current line of work doesn't work out.
But, I still manage to be in the middle of meaningful discussion, and contribute something worthwhile here and there. Even got a few thank-you notes over a 2 year period.
Tldr: Helps with imposter syndrome.