“I'm not smart enough.” • Hacker News Board

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#11

Post by strathmeyer » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 3:29 PM UTC

wspeirs wrote: post #3

"I'm not smart enough" is, I think, 50% "I'm too intimidated by what I don't know" and 50% "I don't care enough to overcome the initial learning curve."

Or maybe it was the impression given when they were rejected from such companies? When their friends who were less trained and qualified got the jobs?

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#12

Post by Dewie » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 3:33 PM UTC

If they don't feel smart enough, that is just going to be compounded by joining a programming community. Smartness is the status symbol to these (us?) people, so get ready for a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle comparisons of people's academic record, what tier of university they went to, what inherent hardness of problem's they have worked on, whether or not they started programming before they could talk, who is working with a language/ecosystem that are seen as intellectually inferior/lazy, whether they are part of the mythical "10X" ũbermensch[1] develeopr, whether or not school-work came effortlessly to them, and so on. No, of course the tone is not as obvious as "I'm smarter than you, or I'm less smart because X, Y, Z". But the underlying tone is clear enough. The best way in these communities is to compliment their smarts, or imply that they are smarter than you. The perfect way to insult them is to insult their intelligence. The common currency is brains.

If they don't feel smart enough, maybe what they mean is that they expect to end up on the bottom of the status hierarchy. And that might be a bit too rough to want to go through with. Especially if you have other interests, aptitude or talents.

[1] Yeah, umlaut-fail.

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#13

Post by jackmaney » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 3:43 PM UTC

When I tell people of my background in mathematics, the second most common reaction is along the lines of "I'm not smart enough" (the most common is the old canard of "I hate math! My old math teacher, Mr. So-and-so, dropped my older sister into a wood-chipper! Feet first!" etc, etc, etc). In a lot of these cases, "I'm not smart enough to do math" was really just a proxy for "I hate math and am uncomfortable talking about it".

It wouldn't surprise me if that was the case for at least some of the people described by the author.

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#14

Post by innguest » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 3:58 PM UTC

steven777400 wrote: post #7

The thing is, there are definitely different levels of persistence required and that's obvious to most people who struggle. When I was school, I almost never studied, and even skipped class with some regularity. Still got good grades. It just wasn't hard. It didn't take persistence. Fast forward. Now my wife is in school and she studies like crazy hours every day and still doesn't absorb the material well. It takes h…

> Now I'm more honest and I'll admit "I'm too lazy" to do those things.

I used to think that too. "I'm just too lazy". But in comparison to what? The protestant work ethic? Are you really "too lazy" or is it just that you're happy with who you are but like everyone else are still bullied by societal pressure into feeling guilty for not wanting "more" or having more ambitions?

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#15

Post by hedgew » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 4:01 PM UTC

Many people are genuinely not "smart" enough. Saying they are, is likely to cause suffering and waste resources, on both personal and societal levels. It's also insulting towards the intellectually disabled.

"I'm not smart enough" is not always a cop-out, or "a (lame) excuse". It can be a sign of maturity, and a cause of significant respite. Knowing your limits allows those who are intellectually limited to pursue tasks suitable to them, and still be satisfied with life (even though they haven't created Facebook or Pinterest).

Even for the more gifted of us, knowing your limits might lead to a happier life..

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#16

Post by exodust » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 4:03 PM UTC

wspeirs wrote: post #3

"I'm not smart enough" is, I think, 50% "I'm too intimidated by what I don't know" and 50% "I don't care enough to overcome the initial learning curve."

Jeez, maybe they're just not smart enough as they say. Why complicate matters by denying what is actually a sound conclusion?

Or are we so politically correct now we can't acknowledge variation in mental capacity - particularly working with numbers and logic.

I think it's maybe 10% intimidated, 10% lack of motivation, 80% not smart enough.

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#17

Post by fjcarrero » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 4:03 PM UTC

I say, If you really want it, you go and you get it, period

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#18

Post by CmonDev » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 4:13 PM UTC

Thomas Edison was not in a position to judge geniuses, but yes, Tesla did work hard.

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#19

Post by serve_yay » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 5:27 PM UTC

It is a copout. But, the next step is realizing that this is one way people prevent change from occurring, change is uncomfortable and scary. I don't think it's particularly empathetic to get upset at people's common thought processes, even when they are bad. Try to remember we're all humans and life is hard and everyone is already trying.

Also keep in mind that the person saying it may mean it more as flattery - i.e., it may be a polite lie and they don't really think that. And of course, "I'm not smart enough to do that" is more polite to say than "that sounds boring and I'm super not interested".

Re: “I'm not smart enough.”

#20

Post by pianowow » Wed, Mar 04, 2015, 6:24 PM UTC

The Venn diagram in this article really bothers me. Venn diagrams aren't meant to show the makeup of a whole. This should be a pie chart. The diagrams implies that there are more persistent people than inspired people, not that you need more persistence than inspiration.