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Didn't you know everyone considers themselves top tier?

by malbs 13y ago

Osiris 13y ago
I don't think that's true. I think there are a lot of developers that are either 1) unskilled/inexperienced and know it, 2) inexperienced, but think they are awesome, 3) experienced and skilled but believe themselves to be adequate, and 4) skilled developers that know they are skilled. And I'm sure there's a whole range in between. Perception of ones skills don't always (may I say rarely) match up with their actual skills. Personally, I think I'm average. There are moments where I think I did something smart, but they are fleeting. Is my perception accurate? I have no idea, I've never been graded by someone with far superior skills than myself. I'd consider myself insecure with my skills, but always striving to do the best I can.
- malbs 13y ago
  It's extremely hard to get an accurate idea on where you rank. The sample size you have to draw on is small and biased. I just find it overwhelming that the more I learn, the more I realise I don't know. However I will say, your ability to admit insecurity about your skills/acknowledging you could be better probably places you _above_ average! The scariest devs are the ones who think they're very good, but in reality are poor. For example I know something I'm really weak at is writing good multi-threaded code, I try and keep things as simple as possible, but I know other people who think they can write great multi-threaded code, but spend vast amounts of time debugging deadlocks.. Hmmm
  - matwood 13y ago
    A friend once explained his idea of knowledge. If you consider what you know to be the inside of a sphere and what you don't know to be what's touching the outside of the sphere then as you learn what you don't know grows. In reality there is a lot you don't know and will never know. The only way you figure this out is by learning. I'm convinced that we all eventually learn enough to realize we simply don't know anything :)

Didn't you know everyone considers themselves top tier?

by malbs 13y ago

Didn't you know everyone considers themselves top tier?

I don't think that's true. I think there are a lot of developers that are either 1) unskilled/inexperienced and know it, 2) inexperienced, but think they are awesome, 3) experienced and skilled but believe themselves to be adequate, and 4) skilled developers that know they are skilled. And I'm sure there's a whole range in between. Perception of ones skills don't always (may I say rarely) match up with their actual skills. Personally, I think I'm average. There are moments where I think I did something smart, but they are fleeting. Is my perception accurate? I have no idea, I've never been graded by someone with far superior skills than myself. I'd consider myself insecure with my skills, but always striving to do the best I can.

malbs 13y ago
It's extremely hard to get an accurate idea on where you rank. The sample size you have to draw on is small and biased. I just find it overwhelming that the more I learn, the more I realise I don't know. However I will say, your ability to admit insecurity about your skills/acknowledging you could be better probably places you _above_ average! The scariest devs are the ones who think they're very good, but in reality are poor. For example I know something I'm really weak at is writing good multi-threaded code, I try and keep things as simple as possible, but I know other people who think they can write great multi-threaded code, but spend vast amounts of time debugging deadlocks.. Hmmm
- matwood 13y ago
  A friend once explained his idea of knowledge. If you consider what you know to be the inside of a sphere and what you don't know to be what's touching the outside of the sphere then as you learn what you don't know grows. In reality there is a lot you don't know and will never know. The only way you figure this out is by learning. I'm convinced that we all eventually learn enough to realize we simply don't know anything :)