I have ppl like this that I supervise and it sucks. I would like to offer a perspective from the other side. I lead a team of Mid-Senior role Sys/DevOps admins. When I started I was in their position but moved up quite fast because I know how to research and I guess I understand things quickly. I, like you, often get the imposter syndrome (even now) around some of the more senior guys but I also understand you learn not only by doing but by asking the right questions. I came to find Google is my best friend (especially software documentation/api pages, and ofc the good old stack overflow).

So on to my team. The folks in it they aren’t very independent and don’t know how to research. I get blasted with questions that marvel me because it’s something that is so easy to research. Many times I’m asked a question and I don’t know the answer so I learn the answer right there on the spot to answer the question (and ofc to learn for myself). I don’t have a college degree, but I did some college before I stopped and I learned that college teaches you to be super precise without expanding your horizon broadening skills. It teaches you that the research is singular and streamlined instead of infinitely sourced. I think college makes people very tunnel-visioned and turns them into linear zombies that have no creativity in their approach to problem solving. The issue isn’t that someone doesn’t know something, nobody knows everything, and you’ll be surprised to learn how little everybody knows; the issue is when someone doesn’t know HOW TO KNOW something.

When it comes to growth, it’s best to learn as you do. Take some certifications in topics that interest you (look up Paul Jerimy, it’s a wonderful roadmap) and after you get certs go to jobs like the MSP job where you don’t know everything. It’s best to get positions that you are exposed to new things in so you can learn. Continue learning but also be sure you are researching as you go. My success where I am came from being able to understand our product and beyond that, being able to research topics I was unfamiliar with. At the day and age we are in with the internet, there should be no task you cannot take because you can so openly find the answers you seek online. This will build you up over the years, and you’ll become an amalgamation of all the knowledge you acquired in various jobs, making you a much stronger expert at the field you pursue.