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Attempting to be as accomplished/skilled as the union of people you read on the Internet is a fool's errand. You have to accept you'll never know everything an

Attempting to be as accomplished/skilled as the union of people you read on the Internet is a fool's errand. You have to accept you'll never know everything and that, for almost all things, there will be someone -- or a lot of someones -- much better than you. Pretend you were working at a company with a hundred engineers. Do you understand how easy it is for every single one of them to simultaneously feel like you do? The React mavens feel like they're just knocking together JS and wonder when they'll be allowed to do real engineering. The backend specialists wonder why they don't understand networking or servers better. The DevOps folks envy folks who build things. The American office wonders why they can't speak foreign languages; the German office marvels that anyone can learn Japanese; the Japanese office worries their English isn't up to the global standard. There's nothing wrong in specialization -- it's how we stay sane. A very workable and easy to understand formula early in your career is specialize in two things; you don't have to be better at X and better at Y than everyone you meet, you have to be "better at X than anyone who is better at Y" and "better at Y than anyone who is better at X." This is very, very achievable, regardless of how highly competent your local set of peers is. Also, unsolicted advice as a sidenote, but life is too short to spend overly much time in negative work environments. Assuming the negativity isn't coming from you, changing environments to one of the (numerous!) places where happy people do good work might be an improvement.

Endama 9y ago
This is an excellent exploration of Impostor Syndrome[1]. Thanks for sharing! [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome
- sr2 9y ago
  And its opposite: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions
Hydraulix989 9y ago
I would appreciate HN for what it is; the confluence of some of the smartest minds in technology. Let it challenge and inspire you, not intimidate you. Also, do realize that not everybody is right on here all of the time either, despite some of their egos. Despite occasionally butting heads with some of the people on here, I really do appreciate the community here for what it is; you really can't find a smarter group of people on the Internet.
- irundebian 9y ago
  I'm not sure that HN is the confluence of the smartest minds in technology. Indeed a lot of very smart people are publishing stuff here, but for the first HN is rather a confluence of young more or less trend-driven technology enthusiasts, which are able to present themselves.
  - xg15 9y ago
    Also, it's easy to forget that this is an important place for tech PR and advertising - so there is some incentive to appear smarter than you actually are. (Not implying there aren't a ton of genuinely exceptional people here)
  - krapp 9y ago
    HN is weird. At the top of the bell curve, you have people like Alan Kay, NASA engineers, cryptographers, founders of Reddit and 4chan and the like - obvious brilliant thinkers and innovators who'll pop in to a thread about something and mention how they invented or were involved in the thing being talked about. At the edges, it's not much smarter than a tech subreddit or /g/.
flying_whale 9y ago
This is one of the most helpful comments I've read on HN, thanks! :)
rrherr 9y ago
Reminds me of this: "Data Scientist (n.): Person who is better at statistics than any software engineer and better at software engineering than any statistician." https://twitter.com/josh_wills/status/198093512149958656 https://twitter.com/josh_wills/status/198093512149958656
- QuercusMax 9y ago
  That's very helpful. I was having trouble parsing "better at X than anyone better at Y" and vice versa; this is a perfect example.
akulbe 9y ago
Hi Patrick. More value bombs as usual. Thank you, sir. Impostor Syndrome. Have you written more about it elsewhere? It's been crippling at times. That said, I was recently very surprised to learn of a couple folks who I consider way better than me at $FOO to also regularly deal with impostor syndrome as well. I was floored.
gadders 9y ago
>> A very workable and easy to understand formula early in your career is specialize in two things; you don't have to be better at X and better at Y than everyone you meet, you have to be "better at X than anyone who is better at Y" and "better at Y than anyone who is better at X." This is very, very achievable, regardless of how highly competent your local set of peers is. Scott Adams says something similar: If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1. Become the best at one specific thing. 2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try. The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/career-advice.html http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/care...
sh87 9y ago
better at X than anyone who is better at Y" and "better at Y than anyone who is better at X. ^This^ This is awesome advice. So true that I never realized it till I read this.

Endama 9y ago

This is an excellent exploration of Impostor Syndrome[1]. Thanks for sharing! [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome

sr2 9y ago
And its opposite: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning–Kruger_effect - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions

Hydraulix989 9y ago

I would appreciate HN for what it is; the confluence of some of the smartest minds in technology. Let it challenge and inspire you, not intimidate you. Also, do realize that not everybody is right on here all of the time either, despite some of their egos. Despite occasionally butting heads with some of the people on here, I really do appreciate the community here for what it is; you really can't find a smarter group of people on the Internet.

irundebian 9y ago
I'm not sure that HN is the confluence of the smartest minds in technology. Indeed a lot of very smart people are publishing stuff here, but for the first HN is rather a confluence of young more or less trend-driven technology enthusiasts, which are able to present themselves.
- xg15 9y ago
  Also, it's easy to forget that this is an important place for tech PR and advertising - so there is some incentive to appear smarter than you actually are. (Not implying there aren't a ton of genuinely exceptional people here)
- krapp 9y ago
  HN is weird. At the top of the bell curve, you have people like Alan Kay, NASA engineers, cryptographers, founders of Reddit and 4chan and the like - obvious brilliant thinkers and innovators who'll pop in to a thread about something and mention how they invented or were involved in the thing being talked about. At the edges, it's not much smarter than a tech subreddit or /g/.

flying_whale 9y ago

This is one of the most helpful comments I've read on HN, thanks! :)

rrherr 9y ago

Reminds me of this: "Data Scientist (n.): Person who is better at statistics than any software engineer and better at software engineering than any statistician." https://twitter.com/josh_wills/status/198093512149958656 https://twitter.com/josh_wills/status/198093512149958656

QuercusMax 9y ago
That's very helpful. I was having trouble parsing "better at X than anyone better at Y" and vice versa; this is a perfect example.

akulbe 9y ago

Hi Patrick. More value bombs as usual. Thank you, sir. Impostor Syndrome. Have you written more about it elsewhere? It's been crippling at times. That said, I was recently very surprised to learn of a couple folks who I consider way better than me at $FOO to also regularly deal with impostor syndrome as well. I was floored.

gadders 9y ago

>> A very workable and easy to understand formula early in your career is specialize in two things; you don't have to be better at X and better at Y than everyone you meet, you have to be "better at X than anyone who is better at Y" and "better at Y than anyone who is better at X." This is very, very achievable, regardless of how highly competent your local set of peers is. Scott Adams says something similar: If you want an average successful life, it doesn’t take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths: 1. Become the best at one specific thing. 2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things. The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don’t recommend anyone even try. The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/career-advice.html http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/care...

sh87 9y ago

better at X than anyone who is better at Y" and "better at Y than anyone who is better at X. ^This^ This is awesome advice. So true that I never realized it till I read this.