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If you don't want to share, that's fine. I'm just trying to get some data to help me make a choice in my own life about my career. My experience has been bring

If you don't want to share, that's fine. I'm just trying to get some data to help me make a choice in my own life about my career. My experience has been bringing up intelligence or IQ automatically people always bring up a set of counterarguments on why it doesn't matter or shouldn't be focused on and because people sometimes say things like "I took an IQ test on X.com and got 234" cause those are not accurate. I'm trying to prevent those responses.

hluska 8y ago
You might like StackOverflow's surveys as they go into all of this, though in a highly generalized way. Many people are more comfortable sharing deeply personal, highly structured information like this when they know the results will be anonymized. Can I also give you some unsolicited career advice? First, a great deal of this industry happens over writing. In this case, you have made a very significant, highly structured and deeply personal ask. Yet, you have done so in language that genuinely makes me distrust you. If I were you, I would learn to soften my approach, particularly when I'm asking for help. If you would like some specific examples, feel free to ask here or via email (it's on my profile). I would be glad to help you, but I don't want to batter you for no reason. Second, if having a discussion about IQ's value in software development is that annoying to you, I worry that this field would make you profoundly unhappy.
- Tmp1234 8y ago
  I never knew about those surveys. Thanks for pointing them out. They don't seem to get at what I'm seeking though. There are no connections drawn between innate ability, self described difficulty in the field and thresholds of prestige and compensation reached given the first two which is what I'm interested in. Maybe, I'm not looking at the data in the right way though. I'm open to whatever advice you have to offer even if it comes along with "battering." I would posit though, and correct me if I'm wrong, that what maybe you don't like what I've said rather than you not trusting me? I can see how the sort of bluntness I used can be off putting to some and how the nature of the questions are inherently personal and thus uncomfortable, but I struggle to see how anything I wrote makes me seem malicious or untrustworthy. I know people tend to distrust what they dislike and trust what they like which is a huge fallacy, but a heuristic many people feel comfortable acting on or, perhaps, don't even notice they act on. If that's not the case here though, I'm very interested in why you feel distrust. I don't see any correlation between enjoyment of the discussion about the role of IQ in software development and satisfaction as a software engineer. Can you explain what you mean?
  - jolmg 8y ago
    When I came into this thread I was expecting nothing more than the title question, and anecdotes as responses. However, the question body is a deep survey over various details of our lives, and you're not even putting internet reputation at stake. It seems inappropriate to ask so many questions. The language as it changes towards the end also invokes distrust. For example, > Please, don’t post if ... You ask so much of us and still you put conditions over who you want to listen to? Really? It doesn't sound like a favour, anymore.
    - Tmp1234 8y ago
      I don't understand your point about putting internet reputation at stake. If someone well known and respected asked this question here and people responded earnestly and completely the information is still public and could be accessed by me or anyone else. Thus, the risks are the same regardless of asks the question, aren't they? As for the length and quantity of the questions, I was just trying to help people think through their responses and specify what I'm interested in learning. The "please don't post if..." part is because whenever I've mentioned IQ in this context there's a huge backlash and every rushes to talk about how it's not important. I wanted to avoid that, but I can see how it rubs people the wrong way. In the end, this seems a lot more like evoking dislike rather than distrust. The two don't correlate in my brain. I've met many charming people who were not trustworthy and plenty of off putting people who are highly moral. Maybe, I'm really not getting something though.
      - jolmg 8y ago
        Well, if it's lack of charm, it can only be the wording. I can't see or hear you. Like hluska said, it's a matter of softening your approach. About your question on what invokes distrust, you ask too many personal questions. Where we work, our position, how much we make, where we went to school. By the volume of questions, I interpret that you want to know as much as possible about us. That leads me to believe that you also want the questions answered as precisely as possible, like being able to get the addresses of the schools and work buildings. And all this to be published publicly and left for eternity on the internet. Let me put it another way. If a random stranger in the street or a restaurant or something started talking to you, basically asking question after question like those you put here. Would you not be suspicious of him? Why would you answer him? About reputation, it's not about being well known, it's about having a stable identity. Using a throwaway account makes it seem like you don't want to associate yourself with this post. That's a minor point, though. Anyways, sorry about my own wording if it's harsh. I might be a bit cranky, right now.

hluska 8y ago

You might like StackOverflow's surveys as they go into all of this, though in a highly generalized way. Many people are more comfortable sharing deeply personal, highly structured information like this when they know the results will be anonymized. Can I also give you some unsolicited career advice? First, a great deal of this industry happens over writing. In this case, you have made a very significant, highly structured and deeply personal ask. Yet, you have done so in language that genuinely makes me distrust you. If I were you, I would learn to soften my approach, particularly when I'm asking for help. If you would like some specific examples, feel free to ask here or via email (it's on my profile). I would be glad to help you, but I don't want to batter you for no reason. Second, if having a discussion about IQ's value in software development is that annoying to you, I worry that this field would make you profoundly unhappy.

Tmp1234 8y ago
I never knew about those surveys. Thanks for pointing them out. They don't seem to get at what I'm seeking though. There are no connections drawn between innate ability, self described difficulty in the field and thresholds of prestige and compensation reached given the first two which is what I'm interested in. Maybe, I'm not looking at the data in the right way though. I'm open to whatever advice you have to offer even if it comes along with "battering." I would posit though, and correct me if I'm wrong, that what maybe you don't like what I've said rather than you not trusting me? I can see how the sort of bluntness I used can be off putting to some and how the nature of the questions are inherently personal and thus uncomfortable, but I struggle to see how anything I wrote makes me seem malicious or untrustworthy. I know people tend to distrust what they dislike and trust what they like which is a huge fallacy, but a heuristic many people feel comfortable acting on or, perhaps, don't even notice they act on. If that's not the case here though, I'm very interested in why you feel distrust. I don't see any correlation between enjoyment of the discussion about the role of IQ in software development and satisfaction as a software engineer. Can you explain what you mean?
- jolmg 8y ago
  When I came into this thread I was expecting nothing more than the title question, and anecdotes as responses. However, the question body is a deep survey over various details of our lives, and you're not even putting internet reputation at stake. It seems inappropriate to ask so many questions. The language as it changes towards the end also invokes distrust. For example, > Please, don’t post if ... You ask so much of us and still you put conditions over who you want to listen to? Really? It doesn't sound like a favour, anymore.
  - Tmp1234 8y ago
    I don't understand your point about putting internet reputation at stake. If someone well known and respected asked this question here and people responded earnestly and completely the information is still public and could be accessed by me or anyone else. Thus, the risks are the same regardless of asks the question, aren't they? As for the length and quantity of the questions, I was just trying to help people think through their responses and specify what I'm interested in learning. The "please don't post if..." part is because whenever I've mentioned IQ in this context there's a huge backlash and every rushes to talk about how it's not important. I wanted to avoid that, but I can see how it rubs people the wrong way. In the end, this seems a lot more like evoking dislike rather than distrust. The two don't correlate in my brain. I've met many charming people who were not trustworthy and plenty of off putting people who are highly moral. Maybe, I'm really not getting something though.
    - jolmg 8y ago
      Well, if it's lack of charm, it can only be the wording. I can't see or hear you. Like hluska said, it's a matter of softening your approach. About your question on what invokes distrust, you ask too many personal questions. Where we work, our position, how much we make, where we went to school. By the volume of questions, I interpret that you want to know as much as possible about us. That leads me to believe that you also want the questions answered as precisely as possible, like being able to get the addresses of the schools and work buildings. And all this to be published publicly and left for eternity on the internet. Let me put it another way. If a random stranger in the street or a restaurant or something started talking to you, basically asking question after question like those you put here. Would you not be suspicious of him? Why would you answer him? About reputation, it's not about being well known, it's about having a stable identity. Using a throwaway account makes it seem like you don't want to associate yourself with this post. That's a minor point, though. Anyways, sorry about my own wording if it's harsh. I might be a bit cranky, right now.