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95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

danluu.com

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Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#261

Post by philips4350 »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #227

Much respect for Dan's minimalist site (can't say I've ever waited for it to load) but this much CSS makes it so much more readable: html { display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center; line-height: 1.2em; font-size: 1.1em; } body { width: 650px } As for the actual content, I agree with it a lot. I suspect most people are quite bad at learning. It's not something that's taught in schools, and when it is…

the width of the body should be like the following so that it behaves nicely on mobile phones

body { max-width: 650px; }

Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#262

Post by _hardwaregeek »

philips4350 wrote: post #261
hardwaregeek wrote: post #227

Much respect for Dan's minimalist site (can't say I've ever waited for it to load) but this much CSS makes it so much more readable: html { display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center; line-height: 1.2em; font-size: 1.1em; } body { width: 650px } As for the actual content, I agree with it a lot. I suspect most people are quite bad at learning. It's not something that's taught in schools, and when it is…

the width of the body should be like the following so that it behaves nicely on mobile phones body { max-width: 650px; }

Good catch. I just wrote this CSS for my computer but I suppose for other devices you'd need to adjust that

Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#263

Post by hyperpallium »

Main point is it's common to practice wrong.

It's hard for non-experts to assess expertise, needed to find a coach to give feedback.

Though, probably for a beginner in many fields, an even minimally credentialed "expert" will be extremely helpful.

(This is apart from fields lacking agreement on advice, like the article's public speaking example).

Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#264

Post by hyperpallium »

SkyBelow wrote: post #59
cdoxsey wrote: post #12

On the flip side. Sometimes you're just not that good at stuff despite your best efforts. In college I really struggled with math. Which was a challenge because computer science has you take a lot of math classes. In my calculus class I studied so hard for the final. Did every problem in the book. And I still just got a B in the class. At the same time my programming classes were really easy. I didn't study at all an…

>Based on my interviewing history I'm not in the 95th percentile of programmers - I'm routinely outright rejected and don't even land the on-site interview. And this is basically my best skill for which I've invested an enormous amount of time and energy. This means you aren't high in the 'programming interview' skill set. While related, I consider it distinctly different than the 'programming' skill set. I think it…

I think "What Color is your Parachute" is very insightful on what interviewers are looking for - or should be - and in what order:

  1. why us?
  2. can you basically do the job?
  3. what extra specials can you bring?
  4. will you fit in here?
  5. can we afford you?
Before all that, know what you want, will suit you, and your strengths - then select somewhere appropriate, where you can help.

Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#265

Post by hyperpallium »

lmilcin wrote: post #108
ivanche wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a nutshell - you have to do deliberate practice or you stagnate. Musicians know this for ages.

In a nutshell, yes. But deliberate is not enough. You also need to be able to honestly reflect on yourself. Many people are unable to honestly reflect on themselves. They are fooling themselves and made it part of their being so much that they are incapable of being honest. For example, a person that habitually blames everybody for their failings may undertake a project to write a blog post every day but may be incap…

> unable to honestly reflect on themselves

Yes, there can be emotional ego barriers, which hinder seeing. "It's amazing what you can see by looking."

But I think there's also a genuine non-emotional, cognitive problem with seeing, for a non-expert. An expert coach would help... but how to evaluate expertise? Maybe credentials are enough, for a beginner.

Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#266

Post by hyperpallium »

hachibu wrote: post #146

> An example of something my editor helped us with was giving us a vocabulary we could use to discuss structural problems. Does anyone know what he's referring to when he mentions the vocabulary for structural problems? Is there a book/blog to learn about this? I have the same problem. I feel like something is off with my writing but I can't describe it.

Consider the purpose of one of your essays. Pretend you are a member of the target audience. Read it.

Your experience of your essay will tell you a lot, and is all the guidance you need to become the best according to your judgment/taste.

Though it will not enable you to improve beyond... For that, you need to read expert writing, and perhaps an expert-coach of some kind.

Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#268

Post by hyperpallium »

lmilcin wrote: post #2

I have played couple of games competitively. I have been somewhere in top ten to top three in the world in some of them (we are talking small communities with large number of accidental players, nothing really to brag about). My observation is it is critical to somehow get a feeling what it is/means to be good at the game. This means identifying where is the focus of a good player. Having been playing competitively I…

> - being focused on winning instead of getting better. Many players play to get a short term kick out of winning the game instead of playing to get some kind of knowledge/skill that will help them get better.

In difficult projects, it's necessary to improve prerequisite skills before "winning" (completing the project).

But with sufficient layers of prerequisites, the goal becomes distant, the motivation decoupled, until it falls below a threshold.

In addition, for a non-expert, it's difficult to be sure that a prerequisite is really needed, or will be enough, or what the true ROI really is. We don't need precise certainty, but we do need to know well enough.

Do you have any suggestions for getting around this?

Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#269

Post by nebulous1 »

_hardwaregeek wrote: post #262
philips4350 wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the width of the body should be like the following so that it behaves nicely on mobile phones body { max-width: 650px; }

Good catch. I just wrote this CSS for my computer but I suppose for other devices you'd need to adjust that

Computers too fwiw. I tried your CSS on my PC, but I had the page up side-by-side with something else and the text overflowed the page.

edit: that didn't entirely make sense, so I looked again and I was zoomed it a couple of notches.

Re: 95th percentile isn't that hard to reach

#270

Post by heavenlyblue »

dntbnmpls wrote: post #243
peripitea wrote: post #210

This is a great post, and it's unfortunate that so many people are missing the point. You may not like the writing, or the layout, or the title, and you may be able to pick holes in the argument, but who cares? That's an easy, boring game to play. Take it from a reformed cynic -- you will grow so much more from trying to figure out what's right about someone's argument rather than what's wrong. The key insight in the…

> Take it from a reformed cynic So one extreme to another? > you will grow so much more from trying to figure out what's right about someone's argument rather than what's wrong. Isn't this how we get flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, religious zealots, etc? They focus on "what's right" rather than looking at "what's wrong"? Don't cult leaders or tyrants encourage people to do the same. Look at what's right about my leader…

Well, if you listen to anti-vaxxers, at the very least - then you’ll learn how many times the governments actually fucked up vaccination practices in the world?

It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t vaccinate, but they have _something_ to say.

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