Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry (2015)

This reminds me of the PHD in the office, who was hired because of some mathematical related skill they specialize in, is never getting their hands dirty. They are off somewhere looking smart and protecting their allure, while us grunts are keeping the lights on. Broad stereotype here, but it is what I have experienced.

To be very honest, being on Google searching constantly has been the most important skill. In this face paced IT environment, if you stay too long becoming an expert on something, it's replacement is coming right around the corner.... even within the same framework. As I was finally getting a hang off Spring 4 and Spring Boot 1.x, then comes Spring 5 and Spring Boot 2 with their new WebFlux architecture.

Re: Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry (2015)

#5

Post by sidlls » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 2:58 AM UTC

jmartrican wrote: post #4

This reminds me of the PHD in the office, who was hired because of some mathematical related skill they specialize in, is never getting their hands dirty. They are off somewhere looking smart and protecting their allure, while us grunts are keeping the lights on. Broad stereotype here, but it is what I have experienced. To be very honest, being on Google searching constantly has been the most important skill. In this…

Maybe they're doing some analysis ("data science", statistics, etc.) that is important and you just aren't aware of it.

Re: Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry (2015)

#6

Post by lopmotr » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 2:59 AM UTC

I work on math-heavy engineering software where it can take a month to learn how some clever algorithm works and I'd say organizing the code is still equally as important as that. I've thrown away big clever algorithms when I found libraries that did it for me and did it better than I could.

Re: Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry (2015)

#7

Post by ggm » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 3:22 AM UTC

jmartrican wrote: post #4

This reminds me of the PHD in the office, who was hired because of some mathematical related skill they specialize in, is never getting their hands dirty. They are off somewhere looking smart and protecting their allure, while us grunts are keeping the lights on. Broad stereotype here, but it is what I have experienced. To be very honest, being on Google searching constantly has been the most important skill. In this…

A lot of the awesome I see people smarter than me doing, is not getting bogged down in nitty gritty but instead thinking about how to DTRT. Then, when they do it, the apparent effort is low: you've discounted the french metric tonne of thinking time that led up to it.

Equally, they should get their hands a little dirty. Best is to be a great chef but spend some time with the bottle washers relating to being a dishpig. Nobody really likes Gordon Ramsay as much as the chefs who invest in staff development.

Re: Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry (2015)

#8

Post by nafey » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 3:39 AM UTC

lopmotr wrote: post #6

I work on math-heavy engineering software where it can take a month to learn how some clever algorithm works and I'd say organizing the code is still equally as important as that. I've thrown away big clever algorithms when I found libraries that did it for me and did it better than I could.

But most people are not doing that in their careers. It's mostly CRUD applications that they are building

Re: Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry (2015)

#9

Post by EGreg » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 3:54 AM UTC

wolco wrote: post #2

The most important skill I've learned is how to collect money. Everything falls apart at the end if you can't collect.

Can you share the takeaways and strategies you have amassed?

Re: Organizational Skills Beat Algorithmic Wizardry (2015)

#10

Post by b1daly » Thu, Mar 29, 2018, 4:15 AM UTC

This is a nicely succinct expression of what I intuit to be almost a universal rule of creating/designing/making.

It’s related to what I think of as “coherency” and I’m often surprised at how long it can take.

The most recent example is that I was writing up some technical feedback for a reviewer of a product I develop.

My first draft was several pages worth of dense prose. I realized I needed to simplify, otherwise it would overwhelm the reader. I worked on it for several hours, and in the end I had it down to about 4-5 paragraphs.

So it took me five hours to write what looks like a simple, straightforward email!

I’m a music producer by trade, and the principal is very much at work. To create a successful recording requires getting into the small details of the sounds, and working with them, whether your tools are complex or simple.