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Work at the edge of your range

blog.ayjay.org

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Re: Work at the edge of your range

#31

Post by cholmon »

nthcolumn wrote: post #11

This is, for programmers at any rate, terrible advice and something many noob programmers do. If some code is right at the edge of your range then you are not bright enough to refactor it later. I can't say it is a good idea for singers either although I wouldn't know really. Even the best professional sports persons play 'within themselves' only rarely having to super-extend.

I disagree. The pain of maintaining crap code, especially crap code that you wrote yourself, is a very effective teacher. What better way to level-up your programming skill than to build things the wrong/expensive/slow way and then live with the consequences?

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#32

Post by twoquestions »

lliamander wrote: post #17
gxs wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This got a chuckle out of me. Really though, what does this mean for people who work in Software? Take a more complicated project than you think you can handle? More speaking engagements (assuming you don't do that regularly?) Asking people out to lunch? Hard to say.

I think you have the right idea. Here are my interpretations: - never take a job for which you meet all of the "required skills and experience" (e.g. look for jobs in which there is at least one new technology in the stack) - never take on a project that's a rehash of one you've done before It's never bad idea to get paid to learn something new.

> never take a job for which you meet all of the "required skills and experience"

Is there a way to do this without knowing someone who can get you through the HR firewall, then being known as "That Idiot" until you figure it out?

EDIT: Difficulty, you must be an average programmer. Linus could probably get a job wherever.

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#33

Post by [deleted] »

komali2 wrote: post #22
thetrumanshow wrote: post #4

"Resource Limit Is Reached"... Wow, this guy really practices what he preaches. But, seriously, why not use Blogger. Operates at Google scale, absolutely free.

Ew blogger is so gross and hard to customize, though. I say this as someone who used it extensively for years , and tried to go full Tim Ferriss mode on it. Found wordpress better for that. Now I feel like I should just set up a database and some sort of blogging app on my own. Ugh, so many sideprojects, so little time / focus. Anyway just look how ugly - ablate.blogspot.com I never could figure out how to just make…

[deleted]

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#34

Post by [deleted] »

mistermann wrote: post #23
komali2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ew blogger is so gross and hard to customize, though. I say this as someone who used it extensively for years , and tried to go full Tim Ferriss mode on it. Found wordpress better for that. Now I feel like I should just set up a database and some sort of blogging app on my own. Ugh, so many sideprojects, so little time / focus. Anyway just look how ugly - ablate.blogspot.com I never could figure out how to just make…

If a person wanted a no fuss, no thinking required, place to quickly set up a reasonably attractive blog, where could one do it? medium, is that what it is?

[deleted]

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#35

Post by robertbaruch »

mistermann wrote: post #23
komali2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ew blogger is so gross and hard to customize, though. I say this as someone who used it extensively for years , and tried to go full Tim Ferriss mode on it. Found wordpress better for that. Now I feel like I should just set up a database and some sort of blogging app on my own. Ugh, so many sideprojects, so little time / focus. Anyway just look how ugly - ablate.blogspot.com I never could figure out how to just make…

If a person wanted a no fuss, no thinking required, place to quickly set up a reasonably attractive blog, where could one do it? medium, is that what it is?

Squarespace is nice...

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#36

Post by npsimons »

jancsika wrote: post #30

Just want to point out there is a difference between you pushing yourself to the edge of what you're comfortable with and someone trying to concoct a way to get others to push themselves to the edge of what they are comfortable with. If you try to do what Gordy did with experienced musicians they'll probably permanently blacklist you.

There's this thing called overtraining (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining) and I've found it's very hard to find that sweet spot between "not pushing hard enough" and "pushing too hard". I've a climbing partner who pushes me hard (and I'm thankful for that), but recently I've started to wonder if it's too hard, at least in the mental space. It's one thing to be a little outside your mental comfort zone, it's an entirely different thing to be constantly scared out of your wits, even when you're on top rope.

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#37

Post by tomsthumb »

blahman2 wrote: post #10

"Unless, of course you ruin your voice, but let's not think about that possibility." Yeah, of course. Let's not think about it. Except for we should. Here is my view. Introduce balance in your life - push yourself for a limited amount of time per day, pursuing a specific goal, and do it intelligently. Like when you are in the gym - lift more than you should for longer than you should and get to enjoy 6 months of tend…

Burnout is basically the result of a lack of mental and intellectual deload periods.

Anyone with any familiarity of physical training knows why deload is important, but culturally so many people feel like they're slacking off if they take it easy for a couple days, much less a week.

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#38

Post by [deleted] »

tomsthumb wrote: post #37
blahman2 wrote: post #10

"Unless, of course you ruin your voice, but let's not think about that possibility." Yeah, of course. Let's not think about it. Except for we should. Here is my view. Introduce balance in your life - push yourself for a limited amount of time per day, pursuing a specific goal, and do it intelligently. Like when you are in the gym - lift more than you should for longer than you should and get to enjoy 6 months of tend…

Burnout is basically the result of a lack of mental and intellectual deload periods. Anyone with any familiarity of physical training knows why deload is important, but culturally so many people feel like they're slacking off if they take it easy for a couple days, much less a week.

[deleted]

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#39

Post by jancsika »

npsimons wrote: post #36
jancsika wrote: post #30

Just want to point out there is a difference between you pushing yourself to the edge of what you're comfortable with and someone trying to concoct a way to get others to push themselves to the edge of what they are comfortable with. If you try to do what Gordy did with experienced musicians they'll probably permanently blacklist you.

There's this thing called overtraining ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining ) and I've found it's very hard to find that sweet spot between "not pushing hard enough" and "pushing too hard". I've a climbing partner who pushes me hard (and I'm thankful for that), but recently I've started to wonder if it's too hard, at least in the mental space. It's one thing to be a little outside your mental comfort zone, it…

That's a bit of a different dynamic. Imagine instead a filmmaker wanting you to climb for a scene and they mess with your ropes and harness to try to make things "as dramatic as possible."

Re: Work at the edge of your range

#40

Post by marzipan »

npsimons wrote: post #36
jancsika wrote: post #30

Just want to point out there is a difference between you pushing yourself to the edge of what you're comfortable with and someone trying to concoct a way to get others to push themselves to the edge of what they are comfortable with. If you try to do what Gordy did with experienced musicians they'll probably permanently blacklist you.

There's this thing called overtraining ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtraining ) and I've found it's very hard to find that sweet spot between "not pushing hard enough" and "pushing too hard". I've a climbing partner who pushes me hard (and I'm thankful for that), but recently I've started to wonder if it's too hard, at least in the mental space. It's one thing to be a little outside your mental comfort zone, it…

W/R to strength training, I've had a lot of success combating overtraining by following the science recommendations more carefully and logging my progress against a target volume which I can gradually bump up and reset with higher weight, and using exact rest intervals. Smartphone apps are a lifesaver for this stuff because they can do all the recordkeeping.

In the mental/emotional arena I don't have as easy a time. I started with judo recently and encountered a phenomenon I remember from other sports back in school, which is the other beginners being extremely hyped up and trying to backseat coach, telling you to do a thing NOW without allowing time or space to take a careful or exploratory stance (also they aren't necessarily doing it right themselves). I'm a lot more resilient in putting up with that stuff than when I was a kid but it still bothers me - fortunately, with the class being just once a week, there's plenty of time to recover.

And with programming, I definitely have a cycle but it's extremely hard to schedule it like I can with the gym. I don't get to pick exactly what I'm working on so it might be too easy(boring) or too hard(can't pick it back up) that day. Sometimes my attention gets torn by other stuff during the day, too, which cuts into coding.

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