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The title references "geeks" while the actual post references "programmers" - I wish he had stuck with "geeks" as the challenges he describes are limited just t

The title references "geeks" while the actual post references "programmers" - I wish he had stuck with "geeks" as the challenges he describes are limited just to programmer or tech types, but are faced by folks in a number of scientific and engineering professions. Just think of what the EE's who worked on the Boeing 787 are going through right now.

neltnerb 14y ago
I'm not a programmer, but it's a little silly to expect someone to use examples from outside their domain expertise. It did seem like he derailed his own point into a weird cultural commentary on programmers though. I like the comments about how to avoid being depressed and anxious about not being perfect. No one likes admitting they're fallible initially... it takes practice =) And I've had lots and lots of practice. In grad school it sounds like it is not unlike his description of silicon valley (minus the piles of cash, dominance of Caucasians, and lack of women, of course). If you're confident, aggressive, and think you're good at what you're doing, you will probably end up being so eventually. At least if you are able to take your own fallibility in stride. I remember trying to explain things to younger students (and often postdocs too) and asking often "does that make sense?" and "do you know what I mean by ..." and getting rapid nods. I wasn't asking because I'm trying to make them look stupid, I'm asking because the subject material is legitimately really hard, and no one knows all of it offhand. No one. And then this is followed up a week later by them clearly obviously definitively not having understood a word I said. Whereas if they had admitted to not knowing what I was talking about, I would have stepped back a bit further and explained it from an earlier stage with no problem. One of my biggest domain examples of my own was when I was like "oh, the melting point of copper is really high, surely it will work okay as a conductor at 500C". Do'h. Man that was stupid. On the plus side, now I know all about oxidative corrosion...
- Anechoic 14y ago
  it's a little silly to expect someone to use examples from outside their domain expertise Right, I get that. But... It did seem like he derailed his own point into a weird cultural commentary on programmers though That's what I was commenting on - the way DW connected the initial thesis to the commentary made it seem (to me anyway) that these expectations were exclusive to programmers.

neltnerb 14y ago

I'm not a programmer, but it's a little silly to expect someone to use examples from outside their domain expertise. It did seem like he derailed his own point into a weird cultural commentary on programmers though. I like the comments about how to avoid being depressed and anxious about not being perfect. No one likes admitting they're fallible initially... it takes practice =) And I've had lots and lots of practice. In grad school it sounds like it is not unlike his description of silicon valley (minus the piles of cash, dominance of Caucasians, and lack of women, of course). If you're confident, aggressive, and think you're good at what you're doing, you will probably end up being so eventually. At least if you are able to take your own fallibility in stride. I remember trying to explain things to younger students (and often postdocs too) and asking often "does that make sense?" and "do you know what I mean by ..." and getting rapid nods. I wasn't asking because I'm trying to make them look stupid, I'm asking because the subject material is legitimately really hard, and no one knows all of it offhand. No one. And then this is followed up a week later by them clearly obviously definitively not having understood a word I said. Whereas if they had admitted to not knowing what I was talking about, I would have stepped back a bit further and explained it from an earlier stage with no problem. One of my biggest domain examples of my own was when I was like "oh, the melting point of copper is really high, surely it will work okay as a conductor at 500C". Do'h. Man that was stupid. On the plus side, now I know all about oxidative corrosion...

Anechoic 14y ago
it's a little silly to expect someone to use examples from outside their domain expertise Right, I get that. But... It did seem like he derailed his own point into a weird cultural commentary on programmers though That's what I was commenting on - the way DW connected the initial thesis to the commentary made it seem (to me anyway) that these expectations were exclusive to programmers.