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How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

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Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#61

Post by vixen99 »

robviren wrote: post #59

I am sad that I have but one up vote. I have made a career out of some of the behaviors described here. Asking dumb questions has saved me countless bad outcomes on projects. Being bold and just talking with the people who use the tools you build. So much of these soft skills are just ignored for being able to code a freaking linked list or some nonsense on a whiteboard.

Yes and of course they weren't dumb questions. As a young student beginning to attend research seminars I remember that it tended to be those at the top of the academic pecking order who asked the supposedly dumb questions most of us thought would likely make us look stupid.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#62

Post by saiya-jin »

kypro wrote: post #55
paxys wrote: post #14

From my experience in the tech industry I can say with utmost confidence that "not smart"/"talentless" people who are determined and hard-working lead to significantly better real world results than geniuses who are lazy, unmotivated or overall not action oriented. The vast majority of problems at any company are easy and don't need any big technological breakthroughs to solve. They are instead held back by (1) lack…

It really depends what you're referring to as tech work here... Low IQ people in my opinion are almost incapable of tackling certain technical problems – generally those which require complex maths or reasoning ability. That said, most tech work isn't that. In fact, most tech work isn't even technical. Designers or product owners are tech workers, but don't necessarily need to be "smart". And even the technical roles…

99% of IT problems in the world doesn't require brilliance in any way, just consistency and effort put in.

Anytime some good junior tries to put the brilliance into place it doesn't require it, its a sad story about literal technical debt down the line.

But good luck explaining this to most smart folks who are running around with big hammer trying as much new stuff as possible.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#64

Post by nomilk »

paxys wrote: post #14

From my experience in the tech industry I can say with utmost confidence that "not smart"/"talentless" people who are determined and hard-working lead to significantly better real world results than geniuses who are lazy, unmotivated or overall not action oriented. The vast majority of problems at any company are easy and don't need any big technological breakthroughs to solve. They are instead held back by (1) lack…

Reminds of this PG quote:

> If you imagine someone with 100 percent determination and 100 percent intelligence, you can discard a lot of intelligence before they stop succeeding. But if you start discarding determination, you very quickly get an ineffectual and perpetual grad student.

Not the same source, but similar message and very much worth the watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8TwkfxEdJ0

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#65

Post by arethuza »

saiya-jin wrote: post #62
kypro wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really depends what you're referring to as tech work here... Low IQ people in my opinion are almost incapable of tackling certain technical problems – generally those which require complex maths or reasoning ability. That said, most tech work isn't that. In fact, most tech work isn't even technical. Designers or product owners are tech workers, but don't necessarily need to be "smart". And even the technical roles…

99% of IT problems in the world doesn't require brilliance in any way, just consistency and effort put in. Anytime some good junior tries to put the brilliance into place it doesn't require it, its a sad story about literal technical debt down the line. But good luck explaining this to most smart folks who are running around with big hammer trying as much new stuff as possible.

In my humble opinion, it actually requires a lot of intelligence to do really stupid things...

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#66

Post by Jensson »

nomilk wrote: post #64
paxys wrote: post #14

From my experience in the tech industry I can say with utmost confidence that "not smart"/"talentless" people who are determined and hard-working lead to significantly better real world results than geniuses who are lazy, unmotivated or overall not action oriented. The vast majority of problems at any company are easy and don't need any big technological breakthroughs to solve. They are instead held back by (1) lack…

Reminds of this PG quote: > If you imagine someone with 100 percent determination and 100 percent intelligence, you can discard a lot of intelligence before they stop succeeding. But if you start discarding determination, you very quickly get an ineffectual and perpetual grad student. Not the same source, but similar message and very much worth the watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8TwkfxEdJ0

100 percent determination describes most conspiracy theorists, it isn't a good trait to have that much of. So I'd argue that you need to drop quite a bit of it for the person to even reach average effectiveness, otherwise the person will be stuck trying things that will never work.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#67

Post by a_imho »

tharkun__ wrote: post #46
chii wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (1) lack of effort or (2) lack of organization. (3) lack of reward I say the former 2 is caused by 3. Why would anyone put in over-time to solve a problem, if they dont know how well they'd get rewarded by it? It's why small/founder owned startups get more done with less, because they know themselves how much reward they'd get when putting in the hard yards.

Your parent never mentions overtime. Personally I agree with his assessment and none of it requires overtime. Lack of effort literally means people that show the level of effort your reply seems to suggest you are putting in. A normal level of effort, not just doing exactly as much as you need not to get fired is generally enough to stand out and have good results (output and pay wise). No overtime required. A good l…

Hard disagree, bruteforcing work for rewards is waaay sub optimal in the vast majority of cases. Most people are better off interviewing, job hopping and always-be-leaving and/or social engineering their careers. Note, I'm talking about competent people who can hold a job. Any unit of effort put in over not-getting-fired is almost 100% wasted (financial) reward wise.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#68

Post by glimshe »

paxys wrote: post #14

From my experience in the tech industry I can say with utmost confidence that "not smart"/"talentless" people who are determined and hard-working lead to significantly better real world results than geniuses who are lazy, unmotivated or overall not action oriented. The vast majority of problems at any company are easy and don't need any big technological breakthroughs to solve. They are instead held back by (1) lack…

What you just said is true and not exclusive to the tech industry. Effort and grit will likely elevate pretty much anyone. Of course, nothing beats hard work in addition to talent.

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#69

Post by 15457345234 »

nomilk wrote: post #64
paxys wrote: post #14

From my experience in the tech industry I can say with utmost confidence that "not smart"/"talentless" people who are determined and hard-working lead to significantly better real world results than geniuses who are lazy, unmotivated or overall not action oriented. The vast majority of problems at any company are easy and don't need any big technological breakthroughs to solve. They are instead held back by (1) lack…

Reminds of this PG quote: > If you imagine someone with 100 percent determination and 100 percent intelligence, you can discard a lot of intelligence before they stop succeeding. But if you start discarding determination, you very quickly get an ineffectual and perpetual grad student. Not the same source, but similar message and very much worth the watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8TwkfxEdJ0

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.

Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.

Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.

Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts.

Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.

-- Ronald Reagan

Re: How to do things if you're not that smart and don't have any talent

#70

Post by DonsDiscountGas »

paxys wrote: post #14

From my experience in the tech industry I can say with utmost confidence that "not smart"/"talentless" people who are determined and hard-working lead to significantly better real world results than geniuses who are lazy, unmotivated or overall not action oriented. The vast majority of problems at any company are easy and don't need any big technological breakthroughs to solve. They are instead held back by (1) lack…

You still have to be reasonably intelligent to be personally well-organized, which is a key component. Also, getting a company (or just your group) organized and maintaining task-focus is definitely a type of talent. So yeah, you don't have to be a math genius or software expert to be the next Steve Jobs, you just need find a lot of Wozniaks who will do what you tell them and let you keep most of the money. Which is extremely difficult.
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