Cait Levin’s debut YA novel, Imposter, tells the story of Cameron Goldberg, a high school student who finds herself navigating the challenges of a new computer science class—and even bigger challenges around identity, belonging, and imposter syndrome.
Sound familiar? That’s exactly why we wanted to talk to Cait in advance of her book dropping on May 20. In this exclusive Q&A, Cait opens up about her inspiration for the book, her own experiences in tech, and why girls don’t just belong in CS—they’re essential to its future.
What inspired you to write Imposter—and why did you choose computer science as the backdrop for Cameron’s story?
I was inspired by the students, teachers, and colleagues around me as I moved through schools and tech companies. I saw my own experiences reflected in all of theirs. When I came up against these frustrations in my own life, it was irritating. When I saw others dealing with the same thing, it was enraging.
There’s so much soft signaling to girls throughout their lives that computer science, and more broadly all the spaces where tech work is happening, are not for them. When I see students today dealing with the same kind of societal and cultural roadblocks that I dealt with 20 years ago, I just feel like we have to do something to move the needle. The first step is talking about these issues: frequently, loudly, and with intention. So I think Imposter is both an airing of frustration and a love letter to something I love very deeply: technology and STEM. It’s because I love it so much that I know it can do better.
Cameron struggles with imposter syndrome in the book. Have you ever felt that way in your own life, and what helped you through it?
Geez, all the time! I didn’t have language for it when I was a student, but I had the feeling. I was always interested in technology, both hardware and software. Whether it was taking apart a broken gadget in our house or modding the Sims, I was interested in how things were built, how to change them, and I saw their potential to be and do more.
I didn’t have access to classes or clubs that really let me explore that like Cam does in the book, so my earliest experiences with imposter syndrome were definitely on the internet, specifically within the gaming community. A lot of dudes are weird when they find out you’re a girl player, and it signaled to me very clearly that they considered me different, not one of them. I mean, there weren’t even female characters I could play as other than Peach (and I mean, no shade to Peach, but come on).
This became even more obvious in the real world when I would walk into a tech meeting and be the only female person in the room. I can’t tell you how many times I’m the only female person in the room or on the call or whatever the case may be. It doesn’t make me uncomfortable anymore because you do get used to it. That said, I have 100% been asked if I was “staying” for a meeting that was booked with me, the Director of Instructional Technology, because the person assumed that director could not be me. These things do not become less frustrating, you just get better at responding to them.
So how to get through it? For me, the answer was two things: my confidence in my own skills and my interest in what I was doing. I know I’m good at this stuff, and I care about it, too. Most days that’s enough to make me keep showing up anyway. But don’t get me wrong, some days I need a large peanut butter mug cake to soothe the barbs. DM me for the recipe.
If you could say one thing to a teen girl who thinks CS isn’t “for her,” what would it be?
“Why?” I think it’s important to help girls unpack why they feel this way, because when we really think about it, we realize that the forces making us feel like these spaces and these topics aren’t “for us” are actually outside of us entirely. These forces are not about our interest or ability; pursuing CS is about how it makes us feel. It’s hard to articulate and even harder to change, but I think it’s so important for girls to know that not only is tech for them, tech needs them.
How do you hope teachers will use Imposter in their classrooms, especially in CS or STEM settings?
I really hope that teachers read the book too, just to be aware of how complicated some of this signaling is to girls. There’s a teacher in the book who isn’t necessarily malicious, but he’s not intentional, and his lack of intention creates space for the toxicity Cam has to battle. This is a huge way teachers can have impact for students: just notice the dynamics in the spaces you’re in and do something to change them.
Beyond that, I think the topics in the book can foster a lot of conversation amongst students. This stuff is hard to talk about, it’s hard to have language for, and it’s hard to be brave enough to bring it up. There’s power in knowing you aren’t the only one feeling this way. I hope girls who see themselves in Cam will know we’re all out here, and we have your back. And I hope all students will see some of these ways that peers can create social pressure and toxicity and have conversations about how to interrupt that behavior, whether it’s in a STEM setting or anywhere else.
The book has strong themes of identity, creativity, and connection. How do you see computer science fitting into those themes in real life?
CS can be a tool for all of those things! The tech community has shown more creativity and connection than any other community I’ve been a part of. The whole idea of open source technology exemplifies that. I think identity is where we have always fallen short in CS. Think about headlines you’ve seen about AI and algorithms: issues with bias, offensiveness, misinformation, and exclusion abound. I personally think a huge part of this problem is the lack of diversity in the people who are building these tools. We all have blind spots and personal bias, even with the best of intentions.
Can you tell us a bit about what it was like to write a teen character discovering her own power through CS?
I’ve always loved YA. I was a big fan as a reader and it’s still my favorite genre to read. I love writing teen characters because I think adults don’t take young people seriously enough. I like how earnest teenagers are. We get so jaded as we grow older because we’ve seen so many things. When you’re a teenager, you’re old enough to experience something pretty much for the first time as an independent person, and then it’s up to you how you react to that, how it makes you feel, how it shapes you.
When you’re a teenager everything feels so high stakes. When you get old like me you look back and realize sure, it shaped you, but it was never make or break, even when it felt like it was. CS is a bit of an exception: I didn’t have access to those classes and clubs, so I didn’t pursue those topics in college. I had to rediscover them in my career. Who knows what would’ve been different if I’d had different resources as a student?
With Cam and CS, it’s such a new thing for her, but she still has this feeling that if she gives up now, she’s giving up forever. With CS that’s actually true: the data shows that girls jump off the CS learning path and they don’t come back. So I wanted to empower her with more information, so she could really grapple with what the landscape is like and make a choice for herself: Do I pursue this thing I’m passionate about even though the path will be arbitrarily harder for me, or do I give it up?
What’s next for you—and will CS or tech show up again in your future writing?
I’ll always be out here talking about girls and women in STEM and tech! It will definitely keep showing up in my writing, because like I said, I’m obsessed with this. I’ve already got some other projects cooking that I can’t talk about quite yet, but you can follow me on instagram @caitlevinwritesbooks or at my website caitlevin.com for updates.
Whether you’ve ever questioned if you belong in CS, or you're already coding your future one line at a time, Imposter is a reminder that you're not alone—and that your voice matters in every space you enter.
📚 Imposter is available on May 20 wherever books are sold!
🔗 Learn more about Cait at caitlevin.com
💻 Try CS for the first time at hourofcode.com
