By: Rhett Seitz
In high school, I had a specific role, and I played it well: I was the expert. I was the “go-to guy” for history and social studies. If you had a question about a political movement or a historical date, I had the answer. I built my identity around being the one who knew everything. I walked into classrooms confident that I was the smartest person in that specific subject, and, frankly, I liked the feeling.
It felt safe. It felt validating. But, as I would soon find out, it was also a trap.
When I arrived at Southern Adventist University, I decided to leave the safety of history books behind and go out on a limb. I declared a major in computer science.
To call this a “pivot” would be an understatement. It was a complete restart. Before my first collegiate class, I had practically zero experience with coding. I didn’t know the difference between Boolean and binary code. In high school, I had never heard anyone use the term “programming.” I did not even know what it was.
When I walked into the computer science lab, reality hit me like a cold splash of water.
I was suddenly surrounded by peers who were brilliant. These students seemed to have been coding since they were in diapers. They were talented, hardworking and driven. They spoke a language that sounded alien to me. They thought differently from me based on my background from high school. For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t the expert. I was the novice.
I felt incredibly out of place. It wasn’t because the people were unkind—in fact, they were great. It was because I felt I lacked the fundamental skills to belong. Imposter syndrome set in. I looked at my classmates and thought, “They are clearly better than me.”
I wanted to give up. The gap between where they were and where I was seemed too wide to bridge. But then, my perspective shifted. I realized I had a choice. I could view these proficient classmates as threats to my ego, or I could view them as open doors for my future.
There is an old saying that floats around successful circles: “If you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.”
At first, this phrase confused me. Was it asking me to be incompetent? Not at all. The phrase isn’t telling us to be unintelligent; it is telling us that growth stops when you top out. Being the expert often means you have stopped asking questions. Real intellectual strength doesn’t come from always being right; it comes from recognizing your mistakes and having the ability to adapt.
I decided not to quit. I decided to become a “backseat driver.”
Usually, a backseat driver is an insulting term for someone who annoys the driver by giving unwanted advice. But in this context, being in the backseat is a good thing. It means you are watching someone who knows how to drive the car better than you do. You are observing their turns, their speed and their decisions.
I started learning from my professors and even more so from my peers. I realized that if I am surrounded by people smarter than me, I am in the perfect environment to absorb wisdom.
Comfort is the enemy of progress. If you have been struggling recently with a certain skill or goal, that might actually be good news. It means you are stretching. It means you are growing. It means you have work to do.
I recently took a test for one of my classes. I didn’t do badly on it, but I didn’t get a perfect score, either. “High school Rhett” would have been devastated that he wasn’t the top scorer. “College Rhett” saw it differently. It was a wake-up call. It showed me exactly where my gaps were. It wasn’t a failure; it was a success in disguise, because it gave me a roadmap for what I needed to work on next.
You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to succeed. In fact, if you want to grow, you shouldn’t be. You just have to be the most willing to learn.
Here are some tips on how to handle a room full of experts:
- Kill the “Know-It-All”: Don’t think you know everything, and definitely don’t act like it. The moment you think you have arrived, you stop moving forward.
- Be a Student of Everyone: Treat every person you meet as if they know something you don’t—because they usually do.
- Embrace the Struggle: If you aren’t bad at something initially, you just haven’t done it enough times to become a master.
Scripture speaks directly to this posture of humility. Proverbs 13:20 NIV says, “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”
When you surround yourself with people who challenge you, you aren’t losing status; you are gaining wisdom. So, take a look around your classroom. If you feel like everyone else is smarter than you, take a deep breath and smile. You are exactly where you need to be. You are in good hands.
