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Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

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Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#91

Post by sgt »

PaulJoslin wrote: post #63
loewenskind wrote: post #53

Do you ever watch Formula One? You know that guy who always finishes at the end of pack that everyone laughs at? He's the (~)20th fastest driver on this planet. Imagine how he feels. EDIT: People are getting hung up on the specifics here, so let me expand a bit: If you are, say, the 20th best at anything then how you feel about yourself depends on where you look. If you only look forward you'll be thinking "good grei…

He may not be the 20th fastest driver. F1 is determined greatly by the car the driver is given. He may be the best driver (which I think would hurt even more). Kubica and Nico Rosberg are good examples of this. Both used to race against Lewis Hamilton in lower levels of motorsport and both used to beat him. However neither Kubica or Nico have been given a truely championship winning car yet to prove themselves.

Yes, F1 is 80% car, and 20% driver.

That is why I follow Moto GP. I would dare to say that it's down to 80% rider, and 20% machine. I find it lots more exciting. To get you started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfPM77TsGaA

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#92

Post by JunkDNA »

My work evenly splits between biomedicine and software development. I have spent lots of time around really smart scientists who were trying to do things like develop cures for cancer or new antibiotics. One of the things I learned early on in science is to get used to feeling like the dumbest guy in the room. There is a whole world of information out there and no one person knows it all. You just can't.

That said, what I learned over time was that the best way to make yourself smarter was to hang around people smarter and/or more experienced than you are. The hallmark of truly intelligent people is their ability to recognize they don't know everything. If you do this and you make an effort to learn and build your skills, some day you wake up and realize you are an "expert" in some area you have worked in for 10 years. 

I worked with a very talented programmer a lot early in my career. One time I was feeling down about ever being able to code like him. He looked at me and said, "You know, I wasn't born knowing this stuff." I hear his voice every time I get discouraged.

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#93

Post by spokey »

galois wrote: post #36
photon_off wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While writing, it occurred to me that this might be the primary effect. There appears to be some sort of counter in my head that counts awesome comments. There is no counter, however, for number of awesome users, or number non-awesome comments. I ignore them without effort. But due to this selection bias, the awesomeness counter gets to such a big number that it's quite overwhelming, and it feels that 100% of comment…

What makes you think you're talented? You say people have always told you you were a smart kid. Do you have any actual achievements to back this up? I come on here and find that the vast majority of people are well below my intelligence level. I find that this site is basically a bunch of talentless wantrepreneurial pundits. I come on here to test my patience with idiotic circlejerks - praise Apple, bash Facebook, on…

More often than not, it's these sort of comments that sadden me most when reading HN. I actually expected the OP to be about this very topic.

Although my account isn't very old, I've lurked at HN off and on for quite a while. It is my impression that they are increasing, although maybe I only pay more attention now that I have an account.

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#94

Post by Slackwise »

etherael wrote: post #16

On the contrary, no community I've ever known in my life has ever made me feel so empowered. The "real world" is packed with people who will belittle and disregard your achievements and abilities, you will be told again and again that people like you will simply be replaced by counterparts in a third world country willing to do what you do for sixteen hours a day at five dollars per hour. This comes from fear and ign…

Indeed, I scrolled down hoping to find this sentiment. HN is one of the few venues I know where I can find worthwhile discussion. If anything, it combats my general misanthropy that everyone is stupid around me--at least here I learn something rather than feel like I have to correct another bad common misconception.

On that note, does anyone know any other good news/discussion sites similar to HN?

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#95

Post by jgoewert »

Everytime I start to feel like that, I remember a truthful joke:

Q. What do they call the guy who graduated last at medical school? A. Doctor.

Don't discount what you can achieve. It may be intellegence, inspiration, persperation, or luck. At last weeks RubyMidwest, the last lecture of the weekend was a guy who just started taking on new challenges and went from working as a kitchen staff to being a independent contract developer. He did it by pushing his own limit in small bits. If you are just doing the same thing every day, you aren't building skill or learning. Find something that makes you uncomfortable and do it.

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#96

Post by jblount »

This is something I struggle with as well, but I think it's your response that matters more than the feelings of inadequacy you might have when comparing yourself to the very best parts of any community.

Does your perceived lack of talent drive you to learn and become better? Are you actively looking for opportunities and inspiration to drive you forward? Or are you simply idling on a web page re-living other people's accomplishments?

It's a thin, dangerous line. Some people idle, some people drive forward. I wouldn't suggest that either is the 'right' thing to do (I think it's morally ambiguous) but my desire is to drive.

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#97

Post by cabalamat »

> I have my own ideas that I love dearly and work on, the first of which will be released for you all to play around with and break at the end of the week, but I never leave HN without feeling that no matter what I do, it will never be as good as what I've just read about.

There are 7 billion people in the world. For nearly all these people, for every skill they have, there is someone else better than them at it. I suggest you not worry about it. You probably aren't the best in the world at anything; you probably nevertheless are capable of making important contributions to things.

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#98

Post by cabalamat »

lionhearted wrote: post #48

Good! This is a good thing! You're feeling sick to your stomach that you're not living up to your potential - good that you come here to post this. Most people fight this feeling down with distraction, intoxication, or otherwise tuning out. You're doing something about it. This is fantastic. If you want, email me a reasonably short email and tell me what your goals and projects are, I'll recommend you some reading an…

> If you want, email me a reasonably short email and tell me what your goals and projects are, I'll recommend you some reading and give you some advice.

Or post to the group; there's plenty of people here able to give sound advise.

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#99

Post by ganley »

loewenskind wrote: post #53

Do you ever watch Formula One? You know that guy who always finishes at the end of pack that everyone laughs at? He's the (~)20th fastest driver on this planet. Imagine how he feels. EDIT: People are getting hung up on the specifics here, so let me expand a bit: If you are, say, the 20th best at anything then how you feel about yourself depends on where you look. If you only look forward you'll be thinking "good grei…

Flawed analogy (see replies), but amen nonetheless. My kids are on the neighborhood swim team, and are among the worst swimmers on it. When they get down about doing poorly, I remind them that they're better swimmers than the huge portion of the neighborhood who aren't even on the swim team, and that it shows (and builds) character to keep trying your hardest and working to improve even if you're among the worst on the team.

Re: Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?

#100

Post by RiderOfGiraffes »

I know squat about most things, but I know a lot about a few things. When I'm here I can comment on the things I know something about, and express confusion and willingness to learn about the others.

You're 25 - you can't know everything.

You can do some stuff - get on and do it.

You come here and find people who know more than you do - learn from them.

Don't be over-whelmed - everyone here has their weaknesses, it's just that you usually don't get to see them.

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