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Have you actually been through this before ? I ask because my experience wasn't the same so I'm interested in other perspectives. One experience that jumps to

Have you actually been through this before ? I ask because my experience wasn't the same so I'm interested in other perspectives. One experience that jumps to mind right away - a few years back I was in charge of mentoring a group of interns. The thinkering/enthusiastic guy was smart and reminded me of myself at that stage - but I was a terrible employee at that point and it took a lot of failing to get productive, and this guy had all the same faults - overcomplicated things, didn't focus at task at hand, wasn't paying attention to requirement details... all this made him unreliable and a pain to work with. There was one guy in the group who was average capability/enthusiasm but was hard working and focused. Wasn't the fastest to figure things out but if I left him with a problem I could see he put effort and tried to pay attention.

eatonphil 5y ago
Reminds me of myself too. Very enthusiastic, loved to code and built over complicated stuff (I can only hope I've stopped or do so less). But I do still most enjoy working with enthusiastic people as long as they've totally failed a few times, to know their own weakness.
ljm 5y ago
It sounds a bit like you got things the wrong way around. The guy who reminded you of yourself needed more mentoring, and the other guy was doing just fine.
- randallsquared 5y ago
  ...isn't that what they said?
- moonchrome 5y ago
  I think the issue is that if you're smart and haven't failed yet it's hard to internalise such feedback/criticism in a constructive manner (when you're usually right it's easy to assume you're always right). Giving someone the opportunity in which they are likely going to fail over some who's just going to do what's necessary is hard.
JoeAltmaier 5y ago
I've done this dozens of times. Somebody needs a break, and I have an opportunity. It's not a zero-sum game. That's the realization I made very early in my career.

eatonphil 5y ago

Reminds me of myself too. Very enthusiastic, loved to code and built over complicated stuff (I can only hope I've stopped or do so less). But I do still most enjoy working with enthusiastic people as long as they've totally failed a few times, to know their own weakness.

ljm 5y ago

It sounds a bit like you got things the wrong way around. The guy who reminded you of yourself needed more mentoring, and the other guy was doing just fine.

randallsquared 5y ago
...isn't that what they said?
moonchrome 5y ago
I think the issue is that if you're smart and haven't failed yet it's hard to internalise such feedback/criticism in a constructive manner (when you're usually right it's easy to assume you're always right). Giving someone the opportunity in which they are likely going to fail over some who's just going to do what's necessary is hard.

JoeAltmaier 5y ago

I've done this dozens of times. Somebody needs a break, and I have an opportunity. It's not a zero-sum game. That's the realization I made very early in my career.