Ask HN: I am the dumbest person in the room. What should I do?

Before you write off your company and teammates, get over your own ego and learn how to learn from others.

A defining characteristics of rockstars is that they know what they know and they know what they don't know, and they are honest with others about the boundary. An idiot is not someone who says "I don't know how to X" - it's someone who says "I know how to X" but really doesn't.

Here is how I learn from people smarter or more experienced than me:

1. I look at a problem someone else is working on, and ask myself "how would I solve this?".

2. Then ask myself "why would I solve it the way that I did?". Is it because it's the only solution I could think of? Or is it because there were multiple approaches but the one I chose was best for reasons and assumptions X, Y, and Z. The important thing here is to be honest and rigorous about why I made the decisions I did - no settling for "just because"

3. Then I look at what the other person did. If it's identical to what I would have done, I give myself a cookie! If it's not identical, then I spend time to answer the following questions: - How is their solution different from mine - Does each difference matter? If so, how/why? - For each difference, why is their choice better than mine?

4. Now this is the important step - I then talk to the person. And instead of giving them an open-ended "why did you do solve this problem in this way", I describe to them what I would have done and ask them the same questions from the previous step. These are small, simple, efficient questions so you're not wasting the other persons time, but by confirming your own answers, you are reinforcing your ability to learn and are avoiding living in ignorance.

5. I observe the other persons reaction to this interaction. The vast majority of professionals I have interacted with have at the very least been willing to help me in this way because they understood that teaching a teammate is overall a net positive to the team. And it should increase their confidence in the quality of the work that I do on my own.

If the person refuses to make time to even answer simple specific questions or is actively hostile towards the very act of me asking these types of questions, I write them off as assholes and move onto someone else.

Now I really suspect that most of your team will not be assholes. But even if they are, assuming you're being compensated well enough to tolerate them, all you need is one non-asshole who is "better" than you to learn from and bam - you have a mentor.

If literally everyone is an asshole (per the definition earlier), then I look at how much I'm being compensated (cash, equity, status, pedigree) and will either get out or check out.

But the important first step is making an effort to become better, and using the other people you work with as resources. It's okay to do this stuff offline - if your team is having a high-level design session, don't open your fool mouth to ask "why don't we just write all this in a single function" and waste everyones time. But if that's really the best solution you could come up with, pull aside one of the other people and confess "I would have done this all as a single function - why is that wrong and why did you break things out in this way?"

This is a natural response.

But isn't this a spiral down? and impact your confidence with signs of quitter?

Say OP is in a startup currently , this downgrade will mean a jump to a big MNC to a services offering to a outsourcing company. The issue at hand has to be handled at some point right?

My 2c... I do work inside a very knowledgeable team, so I can relate to some feelings (although the guys here are quite cool).

1. You were hired. That probably means your colleagues approved having you with them. Part of what you feel is the famous imposter syndrome. On the other hand the best way to handle that attitude from someone else is to be honest: "I don't know, I haven't worked with that, I've not experience on that" are valid answers and I hear them from the most experienced guys. Nobody mocks them. If you're open and honest and your colleagues mock you, well... No need to say you should move away :)

2. Not unheard of.

3. No idea, but success and accomplishment gives a sense of power. Power rottens a lot of people.

This is just another step on learning about life. I've been there and I still got some of those feelings, despite everyone around me being extremely supportive to each other.

If you are the smartest person in the room you are definitely in the wrong room. You have great opportunity to learn so much from others. Also I am sure you can't be the dumbest person in the room. There will be few things where you would be pretty good at. You just need to discover those.

I agree with all that. I'd also add that I think the desire to get hired and be mentored is a common mistake. Coworkers don't have time to sit down and teach you 1on1. But what they do have time for is helping a coworker out if they are struggling on something. No they won't do your job for you but if theres something you don't understand ask for help. If you have to ask twice you didn't take good notes. Not asking more than once may seem insignificant, but people will notice that you don't pester them with the same questions over and over. They may know that you are not as experienced as they are but they will know you are on the right track and competent. Nobody learns everything overnight. You only get out what you put in. Lastly, if you don't like your coworkers, find a company with people you can work with.