When respected people in the field value your opinion and perceive you as their peer.
I was going to say "when someone you consider to be an expert in the field comes to you for a solution [in that same field]".
Ask HN: How do you know when you are an expert?
31–37 of 37 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you know when you are an expert?
#32"Expert" is a tricky word, and I only know how to measure this in relative terms. For a given area, I know I have a high degree of expertise when colleagues who are working in similar areas begin to regularly ask for my help. That doesn't necessarily say anything about my abilities relative to a different population: I know a hell of a lot about image analysis relative to the other engineers in my group, but I know there are plenty of people who can kick my ass in this.
I suppose I might also measure this based on my own need for assistance, i.e. I am an "expert" when I only rarely need to turn to colleagues or the literature for help. But this isn't a very functional definition for me, as I strongly prefer to be working at the edge of my knowledge; thus I am almost always in conversation with others who know more than me.
Re: Ask HN: How do you know when you are an expert?
#33Most experienced technologists know the real danger in ever claiming to be an expert in anything.
Rarely will two jobs be so similar that the expertise gained from a previous job can guarantee the same level of output in the new job. While its not impossible, its so rare that its not worth the risk in making the claim that you are an expert.
In general, those that ever claim to be experts are using the word to justify a high payrate or lock in an opportunity.
So as business owner, be wary of anyone claiming to be an expert. And as a technologist, be wary of ever claiming to be an expert and risk overselling yourself.
Re: Ask HN: How do you know when you are an expert?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
But does Unconscious Competence == Expert ?
Not always; I can do my job in my sleep but I'm barely expert in it... I think expertise is the next level beyond that - where you are pushing ideas of your own into what you do.
One job I had back in the 70s, I occasionally would get thanked by the operations people for fixing a problem the night before, of which I had no recollection whatever. Actually doing your job in your sleep is a little bit scary.
Re: Ask HN: How do you know when you are an expert?
#35You will never really be able to tell that you're an expert, if you are an expert. One of the reasons for this is because of the Dunning-Kruger effect in cognitive psychology whereby "the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect)
Re: Ask HN: How do you know when you are an expert?
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
But does Unconscious Competence == Expert ?
Not always; I can do my job in my sleep but I'm barely expert in it... I think expertise is the next level beyond that - where you are pushing ideas of your own into what you do.
I think you become an expert when you go from "unconscious competence" to "passionate competence" i.e. you care so much about it that you live it, dream it and think of it every second.
Examples are:
* Rand Fishkin and his love of SEO
* Jonny Ive and his passion for design
* Tony Hsieh and his love of fostering an awesome place to work.
Re: Ask HN: How do you know when you are an expert?
#37You'll know you're an expert when you don't care about being labeled as such. You know your stuff really well, so well that it's a matter of intuition. If you care about being an expert, you're not one.
>You know your stuff really well, so well that it's a matter of intuition. So experts are people that don't think about what they're doing?
Correct, but maybe not in the sense that you are implying.