At least in the software engineering world, I think a very common one is NIH, the idea that we can do it better, which almost never works out in experience.
Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
1–10 of 44 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#2From Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumption_trap
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#3[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#4The ability to rationalize seemingly any position.
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#5working for someone else for their entire life?
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#6I would say that one is tying your self worth to your (coding) skills. Ironically once I got out of this mindset, my coding got arguably much better. Shit takes time yo, code hard and enjoy your bad code, it’s gonna get somewhat better eventually.
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#7working for someone else for their entire life?
That reminds me of discussions about whether it's better to rent or buy housing... who's to say that it isn't smarter (for some people) to choose to work for someone else? What if working for yourself required you to do things like hire and manage employees?
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#8One thing I see a lot with fellow students is the following mentality:
"I don't need to spend a lot of time studying for X because I can figure it out when I need too" or similarly "I don't feel like learning about X right now but I know I could do it on the test when I need to"
I think that sort of thinking is a classic trap smart students can fall into but often fail to correct. Often, these students can get by in High School and first two years of undergrad but often fall hard in upper division courses. I saw one of my closest friends, who I consider to be much smarter than myself, fail an entire semester of 300 and 400-division courses because he didn't put in the work needed despite having a 3.6+ GPA in our Universities physics program.
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#9a: assuming everyone around them is as smart as they are and unintentionally losing people in conversations by skipping over logical leaps they think everyone can make.
b: assuming everyone around them is as NOT smart as they are and unintentionally condescending to the ones who are.
c: assuming they never play the other guy in scenario a.
Re: Ask HN: What are some common traps that smart people fall into?
#10The idea that just because you can do smart things, you should be exempt from doing boring things.
Wash the damn dishes, literally and figuratively.