Meet Andy Schneider

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Andy Schneider. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Andy, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

This is a big question, so forgive me if my answer spills into an unsolicited essay 🙂 First off it may seem strange that someone who fits each and every criterion of privilege to the point of being a living caucasian cliche would feel any sense of being an imposter, especially having spent most of their life in suburban Seattle. As far as demographics go, I may as well have been manifested from an Abercrombie catalogue, only if their models were actively trying to discourage favorable attention from females.

And frankly, that was an awesome time. No fucks given, sheltered in a hippie private school where pretty much everyone was friends with each other (and the first-name-addressed teachers), and I was basically allowed to develop into whatever sort of person I wanted. And then college hit. And then internships hit. And then my first job hit. And then everything else that goes with the industrialization complex of mechanized education and vocation, which I had managed to avoid up until those points. Look this way. Speak this way. Behave this way. Care about this. Definitely don’t care about/look like/speak like/behave like THAT. And I was definitely more THAT than this, which made fitting in a bit intimidating at best, or hugely alienating/terrifying at worst.

That first decade from college through my first handful of employed years were a rude awakening from the rainbow utopia of my privilege-born, idealism-distorted early childhood. I think this showed up the worst when it came to the crash’n’burn reality of trying to fit into a capitalist society where everything focused on success (or the appearance of) and this media archetype of “cool” and fitting in, defined in a very (to me) boring, brand label-based, football’n’BBQ, mild bbq sauce, V8 SUV kinda way. Nothing wrong with those things if that’s truly what you’re into, but at the risk of sounding like a self-unaware elitist hipster (guilty, probably), I really struggled to try and not just fit into this world, but be gainfully, dependably employed in it too.

That took quite a few false starts, firings, quittings, lay-off’ings, re-starts, and moments of panic and depression throughout. Where am I going with all of this, and what could I have just simply stated at a direct answer to the question being asked? Only in the last few years, I am able to confidently answer that what made me initially feel like an imposter was actually my greatest asset – individuality. Not just my own, but realizing that everyone around me has their own individuality (often untapped) as well, and stupidly we’re all trying to emulate and conform to this composit of acceptable traits that never existed, and if they did they’d probably be insufferable to spend any long periods of time with (think all the worst attributes of The Office meets Succession meets all the sports betting app ads rolled together).

And as much as I can feign sincerity when I say this, if those things are what someone is into then great, and life will be much easier and simpler for them as well. But that doesn’t mean that everyone needs to follow their lead, even when (for me) it felt that way. And it was a really unpleasant time trying to conform to it. And even though I was okay at it, I was a lot worse/less-happy at being an imitation of a fictional archetype than who I learned was myself – an irreverent, idiosyncratic, results-and-performance-oriented-but-also-genuinely-human/flawed/curious weirdo who, amazingly, is one of the most requested customer-facing personalities at my job. Which feels pretty fucking awesome. In other words, I’ve kinda flipped my imposter syndrome into an imposter motivation, attempting to tear down the walls of listless, homogeneous business time with the character, personality, and humor I enjoyed so much as a kid (sometimes with more maturity, sometimes without).

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is I worked my damn ass off to really become as skilled at the functional aspects of my job as possible. That way, no matter who I was or what I sound like, I’ll be too useful to fire. A quote I have started to repeat and live by from the series KIlling Eve is “Jokes are for people who do their jobs correctly.” It was used in the series as a threat to someone who wasn’t doing their job correctly and needed to start taking their job more seriously, however thought of differently, if doing your job well means you get to make jokes, well that makes a job well done all the more appealing and motivating of a goal.

So yeah, ignoring for a moment the un-ignorable reality that, at the end of the day, being a straight white young male will make following the above advice and achieving the same outcome 100000x easier, and the mildly-more-enlightened yet heavily image-conscious world of tech is no exception, but if you find a way to make that which makes you feel like an imposter (potentially something that really just makes you unique and against-the-grain) into an asset, maybe there’s a different path to pride of self than expected. There are tons of people who work hard, but unfortunately it seems there are fewer people who work hard so they can enjoy the privilege of being who they want to be and showing up how they want to show up (which, incidentally, makes working hard a lot more rewarding). I guess I’m also lucky that my version of being an imposter happens to have a welcomed home at my job, but I didn’t realize that until, well, I did.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

My day job is working in marketing technology as a means to both pay the bills as well as exercise my extroversion so I don’t irritate my introvert significant other (like a dog needs to be walked so it doesn’t tear up the furniture, figuratively speaking). I also enjoy performing music as a percussionist in night clubs, as well as enjoy fundraising for social justice causes by making functional artwork. I’ve released a few albums on an indie label called Fantastic Voyage, but feel free to give a listen (Andy Ammo on all platforms). And if you’re looking for a designed-to-order audio system with 100% of your money going to charitable causes, shoot me at DM @ammodrums or an email at [email protected]

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Understand what you actually need to do in order to “fit in” and where you can take liberties to express yourself. If you’re talented and skilled in the areas that matter, the job that seemed to make you feel like an imposter can start to accommodate and bend to your character than the other way around. Hopefully. Or maybe keep your job options open if not 🙂

My best real advice, which I wish I’d told myself, is that while it’s great to go off and pave your own road (start a company, spend a year devoted to “making it” as a musician/actor/artist/etc), think ahead to what you’ll need to do once that year is over and what assets and resources you’ll need to earn an income. Resume? Job experience? Savings? Don’t get caught without a plan, even if the plan is to have as little plan as possible.

Also, network, network, network! It sounds scummy and disingenuous and self-serving, but it only ever is those things if you come off that way and have no sense of self-awareness and curiosity/interest in others. At the end of the day we’re all just meat bags meandering around this mortal coil looking for meaning and purpose (also income) and sometimes an unexpected bond through conversation and chance encounters are the highlights that make it all worthwhile.

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

If we’re talking work, investing tremendously in a core strength has defined my brand at work, which for me is communication. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have to care about anything else, which I certainly need to every day, but I’ve really tried to (and have been most fascinated by) understanding how to connect with others as my main strength and passion. No matter the product or business, I don’t think that skill, regardless of technology, will ever become obsolete and unappreciated. Everything else can change, and you may have to learn a completely different product or skill or industry or whatever, but having a recognizable skill has helped me tremendously across any job (or responsibility, or relationship) I’ve ever had.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ammodrums
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyjschneider/

Image Credits

Manny Dan