4 ms·

I've thought about this a bunch. I think the reasons are: * Mediocre IQ. * Lack of grit and persistence that I can't develop * Natural lack of charisma A c

I've thought about this a bunch. I think the reasons are: * Mediocre IQ. * Lack of grit and persistence that I can't develop * Natural lack of charisma A combination of all of these make me very unhappy and very poor.

tptacek 8y ago
I want to be careful about doing Internet psych diagnosis, but you sound (from your previous comments) like you may be somewhere on the spectrum of depression/anxiety. Have you thought about talking to a professional? I have no idea what my IQ is. I definitely know what my present limitations are, and I think about them a lot (I'm a little obsessed by the limits on my willpower that keep me from e.g. spending 8 consecutive hours studying abstract algebra, or learning Haskell). But I'm not alarmed by them. I am naturally "good at" some things (I'm coming to believe that "good at" is almost a synonym for "enjoys/gets a charge from") and other things are uphill climbs for me. I try to arrange my work so that my uphill climbs are always for a reason. I think this is a healthier attitude than trying to gauge some very-probably-fictitious intrinsic "IQ" attribute to find my place in the world. If you can write in complete sentences and in a conversational tone, you're doing fine on charisma. Having organized and been involved in HN meetups in the past: you are almost certainly not anomalously inept in social situations. We are not the funnest cocktail party in the world. I came across this post because I have a saved search for "IQ" (historically, "IQ" has been a reliably marker for seriously gross threads) and not because I clicked through on an "Ask HN" about "coming to grips with your own mediocrity". I'd gingerly suggest that the whole notion of "coming to grips with mediocrity" is a bit toxic and crazymaking.
- pvg 8y ago
  because I have a saved search for "IQ" (historically, "IQ" has been a reliably marker for seriously gross threads) Wait, what? How many of those do you have? That seems like way more work than abstract algebra.
  - tptacek 8y ago
    A lot. I automated it awhile ago.
    - pvg 8y ago
      Wow. So the Citation is... real? "After a morning workout practicing his Fascism-Communism-false-equivalence combat katas, the Citation wonders what life would have been like if he'd chosen a more conventional path - perhaps teaching Spanish-speaking maths prodigies. A soft chirp from his watch interrupts his musings. The night's reports from Trollhunter, the autonomous threadoscaphe are coming in..."
      - tptacek 8y ago
        LET ME HAVE MY HOBBIES IN PEACE
        scott_s 8y ago
        This is where I admit that I have bookmarks for over a dozen HN users' comment pages.
        pvg 8y ago
        That's neighbourhood watch volunteer who owns a police scanner and jots down the occasional license plate number. Commendable but it's not like launching the eponymous jet from the Citationcave to patrol the forumskies.
        kerbalspacepro 8y ago
        I don't even have my own comment page listed.
- sadamznintern 8y ago
  >I try to arrange my work so that my uphill climbs are always for a reason. I think this is a healthier attitude than trying to gauge some very-probably-fictitious intrinsic "IQ" attribute to find my place in the world. That's probably a decent strategy overall but as someone that can't pass Google HC I don't see how that would help. I think I'm pretty mediocre at all of the things that might be lucrative and really bad at everything else.
  - tptacek 8y ago
    My subfield, software security, is so full of people that tried to get a job at Google and failed that it became a running joke. Some extremely well-known people in the field number among them. If you're evaluating your life by whether you can pass an interview loop at Google or Facebook, you're doing something wrong.
    - sadamznintern 8y ago
      I mean, I'm still making less (around 80% of what they make or less) than them. And I will for the next 4-5 years if I can hack it at Amazon FT.
      - tptacek 8y ago
        If you are typical intern age and freaking out over your income over the next 4-5 years, you are also probably doing something wrong.
        sadamznintern 8y ago
        I’m 22. I’m seeing everyone I respect get TC over $180k and on. I don’t come close while working harder and being judged more harshly. I can’t even leave. Everyone thinks I’m a joke because of my background and lack of pedigree. I’m never going to make up for my prior failures at this rate.
        tptacek 8y ago

tptacek 8y ago

I want to be careful about doing Internet psych diagnosis, but you sound (from your previous comments) like you may be somewhere on the spectrum of depression/anxiety. Have you thought about talking to a professional? I have no idea what my IQ is. I definitely know what my present limitations are, and I think about them a lot (I'm a little obsessed by the limits on my willpower that keep me from e.g. spending 8 consecutive hours studying abstract algebra, or learning Haskell). But I'm not alarmed by them. I am naturally "good at" some things (I'm coming to believe that "good at" is almost a synonym for "enjoys/gets a charge from") and other things are uphill climbs for me. I try to arrange my work so that my uphill climbs are always for a reason. I think this is a healthier attitude than trying to gauge some very-probably-fictitious intrinsic "IQ" attribute to find my place in the world. If you can write in complete sentences and in a conversational tone, you're doing fine on charisma. Having organized and been involved in HN meetups in the past: you are almost certainly not anomalously inept in social situations. We are not the funnest cocktail party in the world. I came across this post because I have a saved search for "IQ" (historically, "IQ" has been a reliably marker for seriously gross threads) and not because I clicked through on an "Ask HN" about "coming to grips with your own mediocrity". I'd gingerly suggest that the whole notion of "coming to grips with mediocrity" is a bit toxic and crazymaking.

pvg 8y ago
because I have a saved search for "IQ" (historically, "IQ" has been a reliably marker for seriously gross threads) Wait, what? How many of those do you have? That seems like way more work than abstract algebra.
- tptacek 8y ago
  A lot. I automated it awhile ago.
  - pvg 8y ago
    Wow. So the Citation is... real? "After a morning workout practicing his Fascism-Communism-false-equivalence combat katas, the Citation wonders what life would have been like if he'd chosen a more conventional path - perhaps teaching Spanish-speaking maths prodigies. A soft chirp from his watch interrupts his musings. The night's reports from Trollhunter, the autonomous threadoscaphe are coming in..."
    - tptacek 8y ago
      LET ME HAVE MY HOBBIES IN PEACE
      - scott_s 8y ago
        This is where I admit that I have bookmarks for over a dozen HN users' comment pages.
        pvg 8y ago
        That's neighbourhood watch volunteer who owns a police scanner and jots down the occasional license plate number. Commendable but it's not like launching the eponymous jet from the Citationcave to patrol the forumskies.
        kerbalspacepro 8y ago
        I don't even have my own comment page listed.
sadamznintern 8y ago
>I try to arrange my work so that my uphill climbs are always for a reason. I think this is a healthier attitude than trying to gauge some very-probably-fictitious intrinsic "IQ" attribute to find my place in the world. That's probably a decent strategy overall but as someone that can't pass Google HC I don't see how that would help. I think I'm pretty mediocre at all of the things that might be lucrative and really bad at everything else.
- tptacek 8y ago
  My subfield, software security, is so full of people that tried to get a job at Google and failed that it became a running joke. Some extremely well-known people in the field number among them. If you're evaluating your life by whether you can pass an interview loop at Google or Facebook, you're doing something wrong.
  - sadamznintern 8y ago
    I mean, I'm still making less (around 80% of what they make or less) than them. And I will for the next 4-5 years if I can hack it at Amazon FT.
    - tptacek 8y ago
      If you are typical intern age and freaking out over your income over the next 4-5 years, you are also probably doing something wrong.
      - sadamznintern 8y ago
        I’m 22. I’m seeing everyone I respect get TC over $180k and on. I don’t come close while working harder and being judged more harshly. I can’t even leave. Everyone thinks I’m a joke because of my background and lack of pedigree. I’m never going to make up for my prior failures at this rate.
        tptacek 8y ago