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Well, I think if Igor from your story could have done a much better job of selling his concern. And it _is_ selling, even tough you know Truth ("This damned de

by gm 16y ago

Well, I think if Igor from your story could have done a much better job of selling his concern. And it _is_ selling, even tough you know Truth ("This damned design does not scale", for example), you still have to sell it. It matters little if you are correct if you are just going to get yourself fired (or transferred off the team) for not knowing how to sell your know-how. I say this because I face a similar situation where I am at. I am the old fart who remembers 10 MB hard disks and has a ton of experience. I am surrounded by young people who started tinkering with computers at age 7 and are very smart, though unexperienced. I've learned to frame and sell my experience to them in a way they can appreciate. I think that the key for the old guys is to not expect people to welcome your experience with open arms. You have to be wise about selling your viewpoint; and sometimes you gotta let people fall flat on their ass for the first time so they will listen to you before the second time happens.

DanielBMarkham 16y ago
The question here is whether or not we look at it from Igor's standpoint, from the team's standpoint, or from the outside. From Igor's standpoint, yes, you are entirely correct. From the team's standpoint, they blew an opportunity to prevent a mistake. From the outside standpoint, it wasn't Igor or the team, it was the way they interacted with each other. Most folks only see it from the inside. Take a look at some of the comments on this page. If your model doesn't hold up well with the information you are receiving, you have a tendency not to take it so well. But overall, you have the better point: if you know something, no matter what your age, it's your responsibility to learn how to present what you know in as effective a format as possible. One of the reasons I like posting and commenting on HN, especially with things I know will tweak the crowd, is that it gives me an opportunity to practice telling folks what they don't want to hear. I'm not saying that I'm somehow enlightened and everybody else is wrong -- far from it. I'm just saying that having difficult conversations, as you point out, is a skill you can learn. It's a very valuable skill, and it takes practice.

by gm 16y ago

DanielBMarkham 16y ago

The question here is whether or not we look at it from Igor's standpoint, from the team's standpoint, or from the outside. From Igor's standpoint, yes, you are entirely correct. From the team's standpoint, they blew an opportunity to prevent a mistake. From the outside standpoint, it wasn't Igor or the team, it was the way they interacted with each other. Most folks only see it from the inside. Take a look at some of the comments on this page. If your model doesn't hold up well with the information you are receiving, you have a tendency not to take it so well. But overall, you have the better point: if you know something, no matter what your age, it's your responsibility to learn how to present what you know in as effective a format as possible. One of the reasons I like posting and commenting on HN, especially with things I know will tweak the crowd, is that it gives me an opportunity to practice telling folks what they don't want to hear. I'm not saying that I'm somehow enlightened and everybody else is wrong -- far from it. I'm just saying that having difficult conversations, as you point out, is a skill you can learn. It's a very valuable skill, and it takes practice.