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Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

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Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#71

Post by swiftcoder »

throwaway88p wrote: post #55
t-writescode wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. This person tries to get us to believe they're stupid; but, if they believe that themselves, truly, then they're going to create self-fulfilling prophecies. They need to find something they're interested in to work on every day. 8 hours is a long time each day to be doing something, it's better if you're interested in it, so that at least some of those hours are fun. And I w…

I don't think I'm stupid, but I do believe that most people have a sort of "ceiling" in regards to their capabilities, intellectual or otherwise. I'm mostly curious about what to do when those something they're interested in 's fall outside of your capability.

Outside an actual developmental disorder, I wouldn't really agree with this statement. Engineering is certainly easier for some people than for others, but the ones to whom it comes easy don't always make the best engineers. I've known several successful engineers who really struggled in the early stages of their education/career, but stuck it out through some combination of drive and stubbornness.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#72

Post by t-writescode »

swiftcoder wrote: post #71
throwaway88p wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think I'm stupid, but I do believe that most people have a sort of "ceiling" in regards to their capabilities, intellectual or otherwise. I'm mostly curious about what to do when those something they're interested in 's fall outside of your capability.

Outside an actual developmental disorder, I wouldn't really agree with this statement. Engineering is certainly easier for some people than for others, but the ones to whom it comes easy don't always make the best engineers. I've known several successful engineers who really struggled in the early stages of their education/career, but stuck it out through some combination of drive and stubbornness.

And they're way better at the get-stuff-done style of the world.

I'm one of those people who doesn't have trouble understanding things, but a LOT of trouble doing things and I look at the people that have the grit to just push forward and man, I envy their work ethic and focus. It's incredible, truly, how it seems like they can just keep plowing through rough stuff and come out with a solution that works.

It may not be the pie-in-the-sky prettiest; but, it works. It works well enough; and, if you're at a small company, it may have literally saved your business.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#74

Post by enitihas »

notduncansmith wrote: post #46
Mirioron wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the question that inevitably pops up from this: what do you do if nothing interests you in this way? There are interesting things, sure, but those are usually fleeting. You'll be interested in something for a month or two and then lose interest in it. You can't earn a living on that. What do you do then?

That sounds like a job for a mental health specialist. There are psychological reasons underlying the initial interests and the subsequent fading of interest, and the right specialist will be able to identify those and use them to guide you down the path to sticking to something.

I am not really sure a mental health specialist can help you if nothing interests you. It's difficult to imagine every human being having interest in making something. A lot of people may just want to live a chill life.

Unfortunately, UBI is very far away, so whether something interests you or not, you got to pick up the least worst choice and get on with it.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#75

Post by asdfadfaf »

Not sure why you've phrased all these things as negatives. Whenever I'm faced with something similar I don't wonder if I'm the problem but that the existing material and advice was not meant for people like me and I should look for a way to help myself and those like me.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#76

Post by bachmeier »

throwaway88p wrote: post #55
t-writescode wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. This person tries to get us to believe they're stupid; but, if they believe that themselves, truly, then they're going to create self-fulfilling prophecies. They need to find something they're interested in to work on every day. 8 hours is a long time each day to be doing something, it's better if you're interested in it, so that at least some of those hours are fun. And I w…

I don't think I'm stupid, but I do believe that most people have a sort of "ceiling" in regards to their capabilities, intellectual or otherwise. I'm mostly curious about what to do when those something they're interested in 's fall outside of your capability.

You wrote "writing and maintaining simple CRUD apps, and to be honest I hate it. Its mind numbingly boring and I certainly dont want to spend my life doing that".

This has nothing to do with hitting the ceiling of your capabilities. You don't like the things you're doing. I don't even see any reason to say you don't like programming, just that you don't like what you're doing now.

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#77

Post by helph67 »

It might help us to know what hobbies/interests you have. Do you like animals or plants? Getting involved in horticulture may be very good for your long term health. In fact, most people would benefit... https://blog.strong-brain.com/outdoors-for-physical-mental-h...

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#78

Post by ci5er »

throwaway88p wrote: post #55
t-writescode wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. This person tries to get us to believe they're stupid; but, if they believe that themselves, truly, then they're going to create self-fulfilling prophecies. They need to find something they're interested in to work on every day. 8 hours is a long time each day to be doing something, it's better if you're interested in it, so that at least some of those hours are fun. And I w…

I don't think I'm stupid, but I do believe that most people have a sort of "ceiling" in regards to their capabilities, intellectual or otherwise. I'm mostly curious about what to do when those something they're interested in 's fall outside of your capability.

This is interesting to me. I used to be very "into" agent-based computation economics - trying to synthesize macro from micro. And small-worlds neetworks and the intersection, and a a fair amount of systems biology.

After a blow to the head that caused some noticable brain damage and loss of IQ points, I'm still interested, but it's a LOT harder! I remember thinking much vaster thoughts than I can think now.

Which sucks, actually. But I don't actually know what I can and cannot do, or what I am not willing to work hard enough to achieve, because before, I didn't ever have to work for it, you know?

Programming itself, though, say Genetic Programming or embedded systems for video codec for satellites or the such is still simple enough, so I guess I should be grateful for that! :-)

Re: Ask HN: Not smart enough to a programmer, where to take my life from here?

#79

Post by ta1234567890 »

Are there any activities that you enjoy doing for hours at a time without draining you?

You might want to use that as a starting point and then branch out.

Alternatively, it seems like you might be struggling with anxiety/impatience and you might want to work on that instead of trying to reorient your external life.

Some suggestions: try exploring mindfulness and meditation, it's pretty easy to get started with an app like HeadSpace. Also, I would highly recommend the book The Charisma Myth, it's pretty simple and has some excellent exercises to deal with a range of impairing feelings/emotions in an effective way.

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