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I am guilty of this (using the term "guilty" because, as we're discussing in this thread, this can really turn people off of being in our field.) My HN name is
by memset 13y ago
I am guilty of this (using the term "guilty" because, as we're discussing in this thread, this can really turn people off of being in our field.)
My HN name is "memset", and if you've ever written C, you are quite familiar with this function. So if this comes up in conversation with other tech people, and they don't "get it", it tells me something about them. "Hm, we don't have the same background."
It remains to be seen how useful this is as a way to decide what kinds of people I feel I could learn from or want to work with in the future.
- marquis 13y agoMy great mentor taught me that every time someone might have a blank face at what you say, look at it as an opportunity for learning. Most people love it when you get excited and say "yeah, memset is this awesome way of getting data ready to copy on a computer. You know when you watch a movie on Youtube it preloads while you watch? Memset is helping make sure your computer is prepared so you can watch it without annoying buffering". People start thinking it's pretty cool as they can relate to it.
- skrebbel 13y agoI see your point, yet I have a really hard time associating something like memset() with "awesome". I think if anyone would actually respond "wow, cool!" to a story like that, the message to me is that this person finds everything (s)he doesn't understand cool.
- marquis 13y agoMemset isn't aweseome. It's what you do with that's cool. Explain what you do, not that you use Python or Go or C#. People want to hear a narrative, a story. What gets you really interested in your work? Why do you do it? Tell that.
- ams6110 13y agoThey're saying "Wow, cool!" to be nice. In their head, they're thinking "gawd what a dweeb"