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Imagine how fantastic it must be working with someone like Carmack. Sure, the first few code reviews would be fairly traumatic - as you quickly realise just ho

Imagine how fantastic it must be working with someone like Carmack. Sure, the first few code reviews would be fairly traumatic - as you quickly realise just how much faster and generally better he is than you - but I think after a little while you could just relax and try to absorb as much as possible. I love how everything in these emails is delivered as a calm series of reflections, chronicling with great honesty his own changing opinions over time - nothing is a diktat. I also found it rather heartening that he makes the same copy/paste mistakes that the rest of us do - how many times have you duplicated a line and put "x" or "width" on both lines..? Seemingly Carmack can actually tell you how many times he's done that!

smegel 10y ago
> the first few code reviews would be fairly traumatic Hopefully because he is saying "did you really think vain attempts at premature optimization were going to impress me?".
- blackbeard334 10y ago
  Nerd rage: https://youtu.be/JjDsP5n2kSM?t=13m41s https://youtu.be/JjDsP5n2kSM?t=13m41s
samlittlewood 10y ago
A good read about Michael Abrash's experience of this: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-like-and-what-im-doing-2/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-w... (And interesting history about Valve)
bluecmd 10y ago
Honestly, this is why working for someone like Google is so great. All the smart people you can learn from.
- sitkack 10y ago
  Carmack is smart, but that isn't what makes him interesting. He constantly re-evaluates his beliefs in the face of new facts, the vast majority of people do not do this, regardless of their intelligence.
  - mark-r 10y ago
    My theory is that this is what separates the good from the great. You can't improve unless you're continually considering what you might be doing wrong, or what you could have done better.
yannickt 10y ago
Brian Hook wrote about Carmack's productivity here: http://bookofhook.blogspot.ca/2013/03/smart-guy-productivity-pitfalls.html http://bookofhook.blogspot.ca/2013/03/smart-guy-productivity... It's an interesting read. Previous HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5383650 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5383650

smegel 10y ago

> the first few code reviews would be fairly traumatic Hopefully because he is saying "did you really think vain attempts at premature optimization were going to impress me?".

blackbeard334 10y ago
Nerd rage: https://youtu.be/JjDsP5n2kSM?t=13m41s https://youtu.be/JjDsP5n2kSM?t=13m41s

samlittlewood 10y ago

A good read about Michael Abrash's experience of this: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-like-and-what-im-doing-2/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-w... (And interesting history about Valve)

bluecmd 10y ago

Honestly, this is why working for someone like Google is so great. All the smart people you can learn from.

sitkack 10y ago
Carmack is smart, but that isn't what makes him interesting. He constantly re-evaluates his beliefs in the face of new facts, the vast majority of people do not do this, regardless of their intelligence.
- mark-r 10y ago
  My theory is that this is what separates the good from the great. You can't improve unless you're continually considering what you might be doing wrong, or what you could have done better.

yannickt 10y ago

Brian Hook wrote about Carmack's productivity here: http://bookofhook.blogspot.ca/2013/03/smart-guy-productivity-pitfalls.html http://bookofhook.blogspot.ca/2013/03/smart-guy-productivity... It's an interesting read. Previous HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5383650 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5383650