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Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

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Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#171

Post by tchaffee »

matchagaucho wrote: post #149

There's a risk of being a "Jack of all trades, master of none" in Software Engineering. Companies pressure Engineers to be "Generalists" because it lowers salary rates and makes people more replaceable. But it's the Specialists (like Dan) that drive actual innovation.

Do you think companies really have a policy of intentionally pressuring engineers with those motivations in mind? That sounds a little conspiracy theory. In my personal experience what's really happening at your average widget maker is they don't need someone who can write database software or a UI library for browsers. They see that the front-end person can get her work done in 2 days a week, so they try to find something else for her to contribute to. Specialists like Dan don't work for the average company, and he wouldn't even be of much use to them either. And specialists like Dan wouldn't have a job if it weren't for the millions of generalists using his work.

EDIT: In another comment Dan himself mentions that Facebook tries to hire generalists.

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#172

Post by jf- »

InGodsName wrote: post #169
jf- wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also didn’t happen. This guy is trolling HN. Maybe it breaks the guidelines to post this, but take a look through his history, he just posts conflicting, self aggrandising statements and low content noise. It’s a shame to see people wasting their effort replying to him.

I am not trolling anyone. Some people have more stories to tell because of their experience. I've already made it clear, i don't just write code like other programmers. If you are envious of that it's fine, no need to take others down. I feel sad that you don't have any such stories. If you make less assumptions about others, it will probably help your career. Even your Karma is low for a user who has spent 6 months…

How was your flight to New York to sell your $7.5 million in bitcoin? Also how is your nurse girlfriend, the one I assume you’re seeing on the side, since you also mention how you outsourcing your coding work allows you to spend so much time with your wife and kids.

All you do is post inflammatory lies and boasts to get a reaction. I’m surprised you’ve not been banned.

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#173

Post by InGodsName »

jf- wrote: post #172
InGodsName wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not trolling anyone. Some people have more stories to tell because of their experience. I've already made it clear, i don't just write code like other programmers. If you are envious of that it's fine, no need to take others down. I feel sad that you don't have any such stories. If you make less assumptions about others, it will probably help your career. Even your Karma is low for a user who has spent 6 months…

How was your flight to New York to sell your $7.5 million in bitcoin? Also how is your nurse girlfriend, the one I assume you’re seeing on the side, since you also mention how you outsourcing your coding work allows you to spend so much time with your wife and kids. All you do is post inflammatory lies and boasts to get a reaction. I’m surprised you’ve not been banned.

You want me to reveal names of the celebrity developers. Correct? Not that stupid!

What does my bitcoins have to do with anything? And no i am not going to tell wether i sold them or not because that's not good for my security.

Yes, people can't have girlfriend outside of marriage?

Wife or girlfriend is one and the same thing for me. English is not native language, i use those two words interchangeably.

And my girlfriend can't be nurse?

Check your logical reasoning first, each of the things you posted is possible.

What you post is downvoted more heavily than what i post. Hence my Karma per day is higher than yours. I am also surprized you've not been banned.

I've seen your contribution and i am done with you. Demonstrate your importance somewhere else.

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#174

Post by tchaffee »

commandlinefan wrote: post #108
azizinnnjo wrote: post #107

I very much enjoy working as a programmer, but, to be honest, there is constantly a little anxiety in the back of my mind that I do not get FP/docker/devops/insert-latest-buzzword-here enough not to look like a clueless coder in a watercooler-side chat with a fellow. So I really appreciated this article, it made me feel better about myself :-)

It’s deeper than that - you won’t just look like a “clueless coder”, you’ll find yourself unemployable. I learned early on that it doesn’t matter what credentials you have or how much experience you have, never admit there’s anything you don’t know, or they’ll pass on you to hire somebody else who confidently insists that he does know absolutely every single thing there is to know. I feel bad for the author of this p…

Interview is over as soon as I find you pretending you know something you don't. Do you really think you're going to trick me when I have literally decades of programming experience? The person hiring you will often be your mentor. Start out on the right foot by trusting them and showing them you can be trusted.

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#175

Post by insertnickname »

matchagaucho wrote: post #149

There's a risk of being a "Jack of all trades, master of none" in Software Engineering. Companies pressure Engineers to be "Generalists" because it lowers salary rates and makes people more replaceable. But it's the Specialists (like Dan) that drive actual innovation.

Relevant blog post in defense of generalists: "Jack of all trades, Master of One" https://8thlight.com/blog/makis-otman/2018/10/30/master-of-o...

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#176

Post by mywrathacademia »

jtolmar wrote: post #51
mettamage wrote: post #37

I would like a list to see what he does know, according to himself. Somehow I get giddy making a comparison between what he knows and doesn’t know. I want to make a mental model of what a real dev looks like, even if it is a biased one.

Here's some other senior dev's list: Don't know: start with Dan's list, it has many similarities. I know more Bash, but not enough to write a shell script more complex than my aliases file. I vaguely know z80 and 6502 assembly. I know Java extremely well, but am faking C++ and C#. I understand flexbox but not CSS floats. I don't even know what sockets and streams even are in this context, they don't sound like the so…

From your "do know" list you sound like a video game developer. I would think that a video game developer would be strongest in C++. Are you telling me your "do know" list is applied using Java?

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#177

Post by barberousse »

alexpetralia wrote: post #19
PacifyFish wrote: post #11

This is so refreshing. Kudos to Dan Abramov for putting countless cases of imposter syndrome to rest, at least temporarily.

Totally agreed. I feel many engineers feel this way but can't say it. Really impressed to see the humility here.

Because there's substantially more 'perceived' pressure when you don't know for a fact that thousands of developers rely on your work or trust your authority via your follower count. Power absolutely changes one's mental context for taking action, and Dan Abramov is one of the most empowered people in the front-end world.

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#178

Post by pelotom »

siquick wrote: post #135
commandlinefan wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s deeper than that - you won’t just look like a “clueless coder”, you’ll find yourself unemployable. I learned early on that it doesn’t matter what credentials you have or how much experience you have, never admit there’s anything you don’t know, or they’ll pass on you to hire somebody else who confidently insists that he does know absolutely every single thing there is to know. I feel bad for the author of this p…

The author created the key state management tool for one of the world's most used front end libraries - I think he's gonna be ok!

The idea of Dan Abramov having trouble finding employment is beyond comical.

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#179

Post by commandlinefan »

pelotom wrote: post #178
siquick wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author created the key state management tool for one of the world's most used front end libraries - I think he's gonna be ok!

The idea of Dan Abramov having trouble finding employment is beyond comical.

Well, I hope so - the author of Homebrew ended up having trouble finding employment: https://twitter.com/mxcl/status/608682016205344768. Stranger things have happened.

Re: Things I Don’t Know as of 2018

#180

Post by yesenadam »

gbear605 wrote: post #104
yesenadam wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the spirit of this page: I don't have a clue what Redux or React are.

React is an extremely popular web front end library developed primarily by Facebook. Redux is an important library commonly used with React.

Thank you!
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