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Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

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Re: Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

#11

Post by bombcar »

frou_dh wrote: post #9

Make peace with not being an extreme outlier, because hardly anyone is, by definition.

As an aside on this, you don't need to be an outlier to be a local superstar. Just get a combination of skills that is unique, and you'll rise to the "fixer" position amongst your acquaintances pretty quickly.

E.g., there are lots of plumbers around, but the number of plumbers who also know how to build a website is much lower, and the number of web-site building plumbers who are also trained in law and registered to perform marriages in Ohio is vanishingly small.

Re: Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

#12

Post by electrondood »

It sounds like you're comparing yourself to other people, and feeling that something is lacking. It also sounds like you have a fairly successful career.

Why do you want to be an industry leader? Ego? Dissatisfaction with the similarity of your work?

Re: Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

#14

Post by rg111 »

First, you absolutely know more than you think. Human beings branch out in adulthood and it is impossible to compare your knowledge to others. In contrast to being in middle school and measuring your knowledge in universal scores in all "subjects" taken by everyone. You are not confident enough because there is no universal score like in middle school. When you have to work, or meet with someone with the same area as yours, you will feel confident. I am sure that happens.

Second, it's an unfair world. Some people have more time to put into stuff to think deeply and do work that don't directly, instantly lead to real-world impact. (There is one gentleman per neighborhood who "knows deeply" about French Revolution or Civil War, or so they think) I am sure Jeff Dean doesn't have a manager breathing down his neck. Have you tried going deep into something, and writing about it? Like Julia Evans' blogs on DNS? Why don't you try something like that? You mention Jeff, do you work in ML? Have you tried publishing research? It doesn't have to be NeurIPS or ICLR. Why not a small, independent paper in arXiv?

And, also, highly recommend a group of similarly motivated people for a study group. Because "deep knowledge" doesn't directly turn into product-being-admired-by-many-people, you might get bored while reading a 500 pager. A group helps the most.

Re: Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

#15

Post by halkony »

bombcar wrote: post #11
frou_dh wrote: post #9

Make peace with not being an extreme outlier, because hardly anyone is, by definition.

As an aside on this, you don't need to be an outlier to be a local superstar. Just get a combination of skills that is unique, and you'll rise to the "fixer" position amongst your acquaintances pretty quickly. E.g., there are lots of plumbers around, but the number of plumbers who also know how to build a website is much lower, and the number of web-site building plumbers who are also trained in law and registered to…

Something I've really enjoyed about software dev is it really is a super power to your users. Just hearing "Wow I didn't know I needed this" is very satisfying.

Re: Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

#16

Post by halkony »

fasterik wrote: post #5

This isn't me giving advice since you're probably more experienced than me. My perspective and belief, however, is that you gain in-depth knowledge by going down layers of abstraction. Instead of using an RDBMS, write a database from scratch. Instead of making a game in Unity, make it with OpenGL or D3D11. Write a 6502 or 8086 emulator. Write a toy operating system. And so on. I find that when I do these types of pro…

The logical analogue here is writing blog posts. It forces you to crystallize your knowledge in a way you thought you understood but didn't.

Re: Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

#17

Post by gnatman »

I don't know if this will help you or not, but more than anything the skill that has helped me develop expertise within my field is learning to ask really good questions and listening thoughtfully to the responses.

It can feel risky because there's vulnerability in asking a question! But if you use a little flattery (vs. trying to hedge by sneaking in your own answer), people will share enthusiastically. When you get in the habit of gathering viewpoints from everyone by constantly asking questions, your perspective and wisdom grows deeper and deeper.

See Richard Feynman's autobiography for a version of this strategy.

Re: Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

#19

Post by credit_guy »

I used to tell people this: "I suck at everything I do. I suck big time. But I suck less than everyone around me, so I'm the guy who solves the problems".

If you are the guy who solves the problems, than that's the barometer by which to judge yourself. You are not an impostor.

And if you are the problem solver, then it's great if you suck. It's a sign that things are ok with you.

Because if you know in depth everything you work with it means you are not pushing your own boundaries. You are playing it safe, well within your comfort zone. It's ok to stay in the safe zone for a little while, but don't do it for long.

The majority of the workers out there get to that safe zone after a few years of experience, and then stay there. Don't be one of them. Push yourself, keep becoming better, and keep the comp raises coming.

Re: Ask HN: Deal with feeling of not knowing anything well enough?

#20

Post by utopianmonk »

rg111 wrote: post #14

First, you absolutely know more than you think. Human beings branch out in adulthood and it is impossible to compare your knowledge to others. In contrast to being in middle school and measuring your knowledge in universal scores in all "subjects" taken by everyone. You are not confident enough because there is no universal score like in middle school. When you have to work, or meet with someone with the same area as…

Thank you. That really helped.
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