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There is no such thing as a natural in tech. Take for example John Carmack who you would consider a natural. He writes an extreme amount of code, he is known fo

There is no such thing as a natural in tech. Take for example John Carmack who you would consider a natural. He writes an extreme amount of code, he is known for writing his own libraries from scratch. I think that there are natural factors that come into play but with coding the vast majority of talent comes from drive.

ditonal 11y ago
Sure, but the ability to stay focused enough to write high-quality code for hours on end is a talent in and of itself. I know many programmers who I think I am equal to if we both sit down fully rested and program for a few hours, but they can keep churning out good stuff for a long time after I'm tired and checking Hacker News because I lost focus.
- emcq 11y ago
  Are you sure that's not just the adderall? Asking mostly as a joke, but I know a few people who use it specifically for these purposes.
  - sloppycee 11y ago
    ADHD/ADD seems to be common in our industry, a side effect being 'hyperfocus' or what we (as an industry) refer to as 'flow'. For me, amphetamines actually allow me to productively switch my focus. 8+ hours of hyperfocus, while making me seem like a ninja unicorn rockstar, is just not sustainable and burnout is a real problem.
xiaoma 11y ago
Peter Thiel talked about this in Zero to One. http://blakemasters.com/post/24578683805/peter-thiels-cs183-startup-class-18-notes http://blakemasters.com/post/24578683805/peter-thiels-cs183-... This segues to the pure celebrity version, best epitomized by Lady Gaga. Born This Way is her recent hit album and song. On one level, the whole thing is obviously completely fictional. It’s probably safe to say that she was not, in fact, born like this. The big piece must be nurture. But on another level, maybe it is nature. What sort of people would actually do this to themselves? Yes, it's the choices people make and the drive they have that produces the talent. But isn't John Carmack's ability to push himself to that degree an outlier statistic in itself? Maybe he really was born that way.
Dr_tldr 11y ago
Exactly, the solution for this problem is to be really determined to make recruiters and investors think you're more naturally talented than you are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprezzatura https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprezzatura John Carmack doesn't constantly tweet/complain about how many hours he puts in and how hard he's working, so people think it comes easily to him. When you're talking to a non-technical person, the most important thing is projecting a casual air of competence, not trying to impress them by how much you suffered for your craft.
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
>I think that there are natural factors that come into play Isn't that what people mean when they talk about a natural? I always thought it meant that given the same drive/effort, they are able to go far beyond the average.

ditonal 11y ago

Sure, but the ability to stay focused enough to write high-quality code for hours on end is a talent in and of itself. I know many programmers who I think I am equal to if we both sit down fully rested and program for a few hours, but they can keep churning out good stuff for a long time after I'm tired and checking Hacker News because I lost focus.

emcq 11y ago
Are you sure that's not just the adderall? Asking mostly as a joke, but I know a few people who use it specifically for these purposes.
- sloppycee 11y ago
  ADHD/ADD seems to be common in our industry, a side effect being 'hyperfocus' or what we (as an industry) refer to as 'flow'. For me, amphetamines actually allow me to productively switch my focus. 8+ hours of hyperfocus, while making me seem like a ninja unicorn rockstar, is just not sustainable and burnout is a real problem.

xiaoma 11y ago

Peter Thiel talked about this in Zero to One. http://blakemasters.com/post/24578683805/peter-thiels-cs183-startup-class-18-notes http://blakemasters.com/post/24578683805/peter-thiels-cs183-... This segues to the pure celebrity version, best epitomized by Lady Gaga. Born This Way is her recent hit album and song. On one level, the whole thing is obviously completely fictional. It’s probably safe to say that she was not, in fact, born like this. The big piece must be nurture. But on another level, maybe it is nature. What sort of people would actually do this to themselves? Yes, it's the choices people make and the drive they have that produces the talent. But isn't John Carmack's ability to push himself to that degree an outlier statistic in itself? Maybe he really was born that way.

Dr_tldr 11y ago

Exactly, the solution for this problem is to be really determined to make recruiters and investors think you're more naturally talented than you are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprezzatura https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprezzatura John Carmack doesn't constantly tweet/complain about how many hours he puts in and how hard he's working, so people think it comes easily to him. When you're talking to a non-technical person, the most important thing is projecting a casual air of competence, not trying to impress them by how much you suffered for your craft.

Lawtonfogle 11y ago

>I think that there are natural factors that come into play Isn't that what people mean when they talk about a natural? I always thought it meant that given the same drive/effort, they are able to go far beyond the average.