5 ms·

In software engineering, I think "unconditional faith in a single technique or technology" is a good sign of overconfidence in one's knowledge or ability. This

In software engineering, I think "unconditional faith in a single technique or technology" is a good sign of overconfidence in one's knowledge or ability. This certainly applied to me when I was younger. Engineers who go all-in on a specific technique will have really inconsistent results: some projects will go amazing because the technique was the best option. Some projects won't go so great because the technique wasn't the best solution. A good sign of maturity is when they can notice "hey, that didn't go great" and use it to inform their future strategy - "technique X applies when these conditions are true. If one of them are false, I'm not sure what to do, but I should conduct more research (or talk to more people) before starting that project"

aaron-santos 7y ago
I've seen that so many times, but also its opposite too: willingness to drop the stack when a relatively minor problem pops up. Navigating through both of these takes experience and keen observation.
AnimalMuppet 7y ago
> unconditional faith in a single technique or technology Or language (but I suspect that you might count language as included in "technique or technology").
karmakaze 7y ago
This can be generalized to any sort of black and white thinking. Often characterized by thinking or asking "What's the best..." Often they arrive at such a conclusion through a shallow or second-hand evaluation. I do my research and the best I come up with are 'default' tools which are what I'd use before knowing any specifics which may override them.
Tainnor 7y ago
agreed. now, I am personally biased for or against certain technologies, but I would still say that (even though I might not like it) something like PHP probably has its perfect use cases... when I've interviewed people, I made sure to ask questions like "what do you like/dislike about language/technology/technique X" and a lot of people really seem to struggle with that kind of question
- reificator 7y ago
  > when I've interviewed people, I made sure to ask questions like "what do you like/dislike about language/technology/technique X" and a lot of people really seem to struggle with that kind of question Wait really? That's shocking to me.

aaron-santos 7y ago

I've seen that so many times, but also its opposite too: willingness to drop the stack when a relatively minor problem pops up. Navigating through both of these takes experience and keen observation.

AnimalMuppet 7y ago

> unconditional faith in a single technique or technology Or language (but I suspect that you might count language as included in "technique or technology").

karmakaze 7y ago

This can be generalized to any sort of black and white thinking. Often characterized by thinking or asking "What's the best..." Often they arrive at such a conclusion through a shallow or second-hand evaluation. I do my research and the best I come up with are 'default' tools which are what I'd use before knowing any specifics which may override them.

Tainnor 7y ago

agreed. now, I am personally biased for or against certain technologies, but I would still say that (even though I might not like it) something like PHP probably has its perfect use cases... when I've interviewed people, I made sure to ask questions like "what do you like/dislike about language/technology/technique X" and a lot of people really seem to struggle with that kind of question

reificator 7y ago
> when I've interviewed people, I made sure to ask questions like "what do you like/dislike about language/technology/technique X" and a lot of people really seem to struggle with that kind of question Wait really? That's shocking to me.