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It is sad that so much junior talent is wasted on attempts at improvement via blind reiteration. This is one possible consequence of a mentorship vacuum: bright
by maxaf 9y ago
It is sad that so much junior talent is wasted on attempts at improvement via blind reiteration. This is one possible consequence of a mentorship vacuum: bright minds look for challenges, even ones that have been adequately overcome long ago. Imagine the good that would come of directing such energy with a clear purpose.
- hobofan 9y agoThere is nothing sad in that. Yes, it might be non-optimal, but by trying out your own approach you will find out its limitations first-hand and understand the problem and reasoning behind alternate approaches much better. Junior talent doesn't become senior talent by just doing the right things, but by doing the wrong things and learning from them.
- oorza 9y agoJunior talent becomes senior talent by virtue of acquiring experience. Doing the wrong things and learning is one way of acquiring experience, but being directed by a mentor is a much more efficient and productive way of acquiring that seniority. A lot of lessons learned from reinventing wheels can be distilled down into a conversation or a pair programming session, but in the absence of senior leadership, it becomes a week long hacking session on a library that will ultimately rot in Git forever because it's foundationally unsound.
- tzahola 9y agoIt becomes interesting when later said library is picked up and put into production by similar novices.
- TeMPOraL 9y agoYup. There really is nothing wrong with reinventing the wheel for educational purposes. The problem starts when that reinvented wheel gains a good README/webpage, and gets picked up by an ecosystem driven by novices.
- tzahola 9y ago>Yes, it might be non-optimal, but by trying out your own approach you will find out its limitations first-hand and understand the problem and reasoning behind alternate approaches much better. Hmm... I think that’s how PHP was made.