4 ms·

There's the fourth option of not judging yourself on whether you are a good programmer or bad programmer but instead just trying to become better (which I think

by jvvw 11y ago

There's the fourth option of not judging yourself on whether you are a good programmer or bad programmer but instead just trying to become better (which I think is essentially the conclusion eventually reaches). It's the shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset a la Carole Dweck. That is quite a tough shift to make however when you've been conditioned with lots of feedback from school and university telling you are good and then suddenly that feedback disappears when you start work. Indeed I imagine most programmers aren't actually especially good when they first start - certainly if I looked back at the code I wrote 10+ years ago, I'm sure I would cringe.

SideburnsOfDoom 11y ago
> just trying to become better, which I think is essentially the conclusion eventually reaches Yes, though there's a lot more detail to it than "just trying", mostly about good ways to get there: shortening the feedback cycle of improvement through peer feedback, getting past the fear of failure by lowering the cost of mistakes through blameless review. And that "being smart" is the wrong criterion, which I think is the "growth mindset".
Chris2048 11y ago
Hmm, the motivation towards self-improvement this kind of pressure creates can be a good thing, but that has to be weighed against unhealthy levels of stress and undue hits to confidence. I think it better to believe oneself junior, but competent for that level, than an incompetent senior. A slow ease into unfamiliar tasks, with initial supervision from someone already familiar, is what might be best practise, but given current demand for programmers, is often not what you end up in. "Hit the ground running" can be the euphemism...
meej 11y ago
One of the really important insights from Dweck's work is that the style of the feedback itself influences mindset, independent of whether the person receiving it is trying to become better or not. Kids who receive "you must be pretty smart" feedback are much more likely to fall into a fixed mindset, which in turn leads to avoiding challenge, resisting trying to become better, and having a harder time with failure. Kids who receive "you must have worked very hard" styled feedback are pretty much the opposite. I really wanted to like this essay but I'm having a hard time with the fact that it basically overlooks how important feedback style is to mindset. The sixth paragraph in particular struck me as full of fixed-mindset thinking.

by jvvw 11y ago

SideburnsOfDoom 11y ago

> just trying to become better, which I think is essentially the conclusion eventually reaches Yes, though there's a lot more detail to it than "just trying", mostly about good ways to get there: shortening the feedback cycle of improvement through peer feedback, getting past the fear of failure by lowering the cost of mistakes through blameless review. And that "being smart" is the wrong criterion, which I think is the "growth mindset".

Chris2048 11y ago

Hmm, the motivation towards self-improvement this kind of pressure creates can be a good thing, but that has to be weighed against unhealthy levels of stress and undue hits to confidence. I think it better to believe oneself junior, but competent for that level, than an incompetent senior. A slow ease into unfamiliar tasks, with initial supervision from someone already familiar, is what might be best practise, but given current demand for programmers, is often not what you end up in. "Hit the ground running" can be the euphemism...

meej 11y ago

One of the really important insights from Dweck's work is that the style of the feedback itself influences mindset, independent of whether the person receiving it is trying to become better or not. Kids who receive "you must be pretty smart" feedback are much more likely to fall into a fixed mindset, which in turn leads to avoiding challenge, resisting trying to become better, and having a harder time with failure. Kids who receive "you must have worked very hard" styled feedback are pretty much the opposite. I really wanted to like this essay but I'm having a hard time with the fact that it basically overlooks how important feedback style is to mindset. The sixth paragraph in particular struck me as full of fixed-mindset thinking.