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Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time (2014)

theguardian.com

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Re: Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time (2014)

#111

Post by WaddyJones »

thoughtexplorer wrote: post #74
B0btheBuilder wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zuckerberg's mom's a psychiatrist and his dad's a dentist. His dad taught him BASIC programming as a kid and then hired a software engineer as his tutor. Gates' dad's a prominent lawyer and his mom was a prominent businesswoman on the board of directors on several different organizations. Not only did Gates learn programming as a kid, but Microsoft only got on IBM computers because his mom knew IBM executives. When y…

Make no mistake, anyone born into an advanced country is privileged. We are very privileged and lucky compared to someone born in the Congo. Beyond that it seems rather meaningless to attribute success to privilege over a multitude of other factors. It helps, but it's not the main component. Indeed those with the most privilege tend not to do so well. Consider rich kids who turn into generally unsuccessful adults. Cl…

>As for Gates, he had the drive and interest to spend his time learning how to program and explore business while he was a kid. While most of his peers were likely using that time to watch TV or party. That's an essential difference and no amount of privilege is going to bridge that.

Dude his drive and interest was solely determined by his physical appearance aka the fact that he considered himself ugly. If gates could choose he would have been a good looking tv watching party chad. But he was an uggo so he statusmaxxed instead.

Re: Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time (2014)

#112

Post by barberousse »

swelz wrote: post #97
davidgay wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, because of how corporations work, once you've demonstrated proficiency at "junior level work" you move up to the next big challenge. Yes, that sounds pejorative, but coding is not hard compared to the next levels of competency: programming is junior level, software architecture is senior level, product roadmap is staff level, corporate direction is above that. This viewpoint, that those jobs are harder, is…

I don't think they are implying that people on more junior levels are not at smart. I believe they are attempting to explain that as you go up higher people tend to be less competent due to a lack of experience and proper training tools.

> I believe they are attempting to explain that as you go up higher people tend to be less competent due to a lack of experience and proper training tools.

He's not saying higher-ups are less competent, he's saying winging it is inevitable and necessary at the C-level _because_ it is impossible to already have experience and proper training tools for the decisions one has to make.

Re: Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time (2014)

#113

Post by AnimalMuppet »

bionsystem wrote: post #106
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By building something that runs the world, Linux won the debate. Tanenbaum is revealed as an ivory-tower guy with strong opinions, but who only built a toy. By building Linux into what it is, Torvolds proved that a monolithic kernel works just fine.

Plot twist : Tanenbaum's microkernel design that he argues for vs Linus actually runs on every Intel cpu (as minix 3), and thus is technically the most used operating system in the world.

Um, what are you talking about here? In what sense does Minix 3 run on every Intel CPU?

And, plot twist: ARM CPUs may outnumber Intel CPUs...

Re: Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time (2014)

#114

Post by GFischer »

sizzle wrote: post #69
B0btheBuilder wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zuckerberg's mom's a psychiatrist and his dad's a dentist. His dad taught him BASIC programming as a kid and then hired a software engineer as his tutor. Gates' dad's a prominent lawyer and his mom was a prominent businesswoman on the board of directors on several different organizations. Not only did Gates learn programming as a kid, but Microsoft only got on IBM computers because his mom knew IBM executives. When y…

Besides Wikipedia, is there a repository or curated list somewhere that outlines the privileged upbringing of the most successful company founders? I never knew this info about Gates or Zuckerberg, fascinating to say the least.

They don't exactly advertise it. I remember Snapchat's founder (Evan Spiegel) was even weathier than Gates and Zuck (and that helped him resist buyout offers).

Re: Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time (2014)

#115

Post by sizzle »

GFischer wrote: post #114
sizzle wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides Wikipedia, is there a repository or curated list somewhere that outlines the privileged upbringing of the most successful company founders? I never knew this info about Gates or Zuckerberg, fascinating to say the least.

They don't exactly advertise it. I remember Snapchat's founder (Evan Spiegel) was even weathier than Gates and Zuck (and that helped him resist buyout offers).

Wow we need more transparency so we can see if old money families are churning out the most successful founders and the variables their parents invest in for their privileged upbringing.

Re: Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time (2014)

#116

Post by bionsystem »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #113
bionsystem wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plot twist : Tanenbaum's microkernel design that he argues for vs Linus actually runs on every Intel cpu (as minix 3), and thus is technically the most used operating system in the world.

Um, what are you talking about here? In what sense does Minix 3 run on every Intel CPU? And, plot twist: ARM CPUs may outnumber Intel CPUs...

Yep, I forgot about ARM. I was referring to https://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/intel/ ; Minix is certainly not just a toy, it is very widely used.

Re: Everyone is totally just winging it, all the time (2014)

#117

Post by cafebabbe »

jameslk wrote: post #85
cafebabbe wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aha, but, to paraphrase the internet-favorite Dunning-Kruger effect, thinking you're not winging it is the most severe way of winging it :)

I know you're probably just kidding, but I'm going to be pedantic anyway and link you to this: http://danluu.com/dunning-kruger/

Yes, just joking, of course. Interesting link nonetheless, thanks.
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