5 ms·
Just this morning I met with a doctor who is well-published and widely respected in his subspecialty, and the first thing he told me was "I used to think I knew
by karmajunkie 11y ago
Just this morning I met with a doctor who is well-published and widely respected in his subspecialty, and the first thing he told me was "I used to think I knew something about your condition, but I've long since learned I don't." while the practiced humility is (I think) a bit of an affect, it underscores the point: the higher you climb, the better you can see how far off the horizon is. Some people learn their neighborhood really well. Some learn a particular highway really well. Some cut a new road. They're all valid, all can provide a solid living.
You are unwise. You're supposed to be, right out of school—its a peculiarity of this industry that we look at peers who are like five minutes more experienced and see someone presenting themselves as "senior". Humility is a good thing. It sounds like you're self-aware enough to have it, so take that and run with it and realize that your university degree provides you a solid foundation to start learning—its not the end state of the learned.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y agoYour analysis should take into account the phenomenon that a literal interpretation of a string of words is not always a real meaning of that string of words.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y agoConversely, I am (or at least claim to be) a person and historically my doctors have been people.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- karmajunkie 11y agoI am now intensely curious about the deleted comments :)
- dwakaman 11y agoas am I!
- britknight 11y ago[deleted]!
- GFK_of_xmaspast 11y agoIIRC was basically 'I don't want my doctor to be knowing nothing about my condition!' followed up with 'I don't want my doctor saying anything in the least bit figurative.'
- karmajunkie 11y agoYes, i vastly prefer my doctors to be filled with the notion that they know all there is to know about my condition than to admit something like "Despite my demostrated expertise and obvious knowledge of the subject, I have learned there is much yet to learn. However, Treatment X followed by Treatment Y is the best we have to offer today and has demonstrated effectiveness in these ways..."
- IndianAstronaut 11y ago>Humility is a good thing. Yes. But our culture does not value humility much. It values arrogance and over-confidence much more. Take a look at characters like Iron Man, or sit through some managerial or high level analyst interviews.
- mooreds 11y agoI don't know. I am sure there are plenty of organizations that value arrogance over humility, but I haven't been in any of them. The small companies I have been a part of value confidence, but also humility and honesty. Not sure if you and I just run in different circles, but folks that are not impressed with blowhards are out there.
- GFischer 11y agoUnfortunately, at large companies (and government and monopolies or oligopolies) it's easier for arrogant people to excel. I want to find some posts I've seen here on HN that show this attitude. edit: arrogance is less prevalent amongst technical people, but you can see examples amongst management, traders (read Michael Lewis's books, especially Liar's Poker), salesmen, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar's_Poker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liar's_Poker