181–190 of 334 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I'm frequently stumped by man pages, and end up having to hunt down an example of how to use a particular command line application on Stack Overflow. If you're not aware of tldr [0], I highly recommend it. [0] https://tldr.sh/
ss64.com is good to me as well. There's like 4 ways to write filters in powershell and I am never sure which syntax I need for a given command or if I'm supposed to use |?{ instead.
> "First off," I reply, "No. And second off, This is a super condescending thing to say. Let's say you're a lawyer telling a client why you can't do something. The language you're using is pretty harsh. > Maybe I just need to have a little more empathy (or is it sympathy?) for normal people. You are also a "normal person" I don't understand why developers sometimes think they are gods or something. > Can you help wit…
Also, normal people don't compose documents with pandoc or use the command line. That's not a secretly-disdainful observation just because it uses the word "normal." People with technical knowledge in these areas are abnormal when it comes to how we use computers. The word "normal" doesn't have inherently negative connotations—if anything, in most contexts it's seen as better to be normal.
> Come down from your soap box, learn real empathy, decide you are a Normal Person yourself and get rid of your condescending attitude.
This is way ruder than anything that was written in the post.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Excel is powerful, but it’s not easy to learn. It only seems that way to people who already know how it works. this right there. except, it IS easy to learn actually. it's visual, you can click around and find out. if you forget the spelling of some formula, no probs, there is a help button. the interface is what makes it easier, markdown is also an interface. except it's not AS exposed to the user as excel is. peo…
Yeah, I want to emphasize those aspects. • Excel is based on a simpler model of computation, something like the unification ideas in logic programming, state is not named and minimally expressive, etc. You want a looping construct? Better autofill a column or something! • Excel automatically includes printf-style debugging of every object in the system; that is the default state of the system and you have to hide col…
Similarly, many non-programmers can do tasks that some programmers must hire a professional for (like repair drywall, install a ceiling fan, basic car maintenance, etc). Empathy is one of those skills that is as, or more, valuable than any particular programming language.
Life is short but long enough to become specialized in deep wells and to have cursory knowledge in others. Understanding that what is easy to you is daunting to others is critical to knowing the places you are daunted by. I'm an engineer, I will be the first one to tell you that I can't tell you by memory every dev pattern known to man. But I also empathise with normal people. People just want normal, consistent solutions that work without needing to learn unrelated details.
To a non-dev type, telling a person to run a program in a terminal after updating their package repos is like telling them to till their garden with a backhoe. "First, learn to operate a backhoe, it's easy and so much faster. Then..." This means this user has a garage full of normal garden tools..and then a backhoe. To a normal gardener, who isn't on a construction crew, this obviously is nonsensical.
Helping people means helping them on their terms, not yours.
Side detail:
A few years back, the company I work for (B2C) held a poll in the Eng org that asked "What excites you most about your work?" There were poll options like "Solving hard technical problems", "Building great solutions for our customers", "Using new technologies", etc.
"Building great solutions" was dead last with less than 5% of votes. We now are a product led organization with a focus on customer experience and I would say 75% of everyone in Engineering were replaced over the past two years. We just shipped one of the first actually UX-focused products by the company. It is so brutally clear why we wouldn't make progress in the past. Every choice was self-centered on what tech was flashy and cool rather than actually shipping.
LOL. No, because I can never get the ducking things to work either.
I don't have a solution, but I think we have two big problems: the rigidity of the GUI (it's difficult to combine operations, in some cases impossible) and then arbitrary gatekeeping of features for dollars (why can't the free Acrobat export PNG files?). For every tool like Excel, we have another "simple" tool that is nearly only one possible workflow.
"Normal" people see other people as technologies - you sort of give your problem to the person, maybe mix some money in and then the problem goes away. This is how the relationship with people like lawyers, doctors, salespeople, etc, etc work. They know that engineers (and programmers) are in the same rough class as all the other professionals. These conversations showcase the confusion as they try to figure out what…
You are a normal person, every "professional" is.
Just because you are a engineer doesn't make you some other being or such. I say that as an engineer. Go work a day with a drywaller hanging a complex high ceiling with dormers. They are using the exact same math you are. Chances are they are doing it in their head faster than you, they have created a system for everything they do in the exact way you write a function. They are working within a regulated environment and their work is reviewed by others, new tools come along, etc.
Chances are, you may ask that drywaller how to fix the damage you got at home next to a door frame. Surprize: Turns out your drywaller only does drywall, not finishing, paint, or trim. But they know where they sit in the world. They will tell you a solution, in whole, focused on how a normal person should fix it. They won't tell you to go get their tools, to replace the whole panel or such. They will meet you where you are. That is empathy. It is understanding that your skills and solutions don't apply to others and that doesn't make them some 'better' being but in fact limited to their ways of doing.
If an engineer can't lift themselves out of engineering to help others..they are more limited as a human, not less.
Slight tangent from the original post: I wish "normal" people were more tech-literate. I don't think they realize just how much of their autonomy they've given up by choosing to use Microsoft Products/Reddit/Twitter/Spotify/Facebook/TikTok/Apple Products/ etc. We're at a point where now the average person depends on several layers of technology that they can't even conceive of, and often the companies building that t…
Markdown is incredibly accessible to people who know how to drag files around on a file system and open them with a click, and every laptop/desktop operating system includes a fast and reliable text editor.
But many people don't have one of these "real" operating systems. Most non-technical people I know would need to build the mental modals of having "files" existing on a "file system" before they could even begin to create, organise and edit text files. Even as I describe this I wonder If I am parroting the xkcd...
> I try and try to explain that this arcane system of monochrome text and rendering steps is ACTUALLY easier than editing in Microsoft Word, but my pleas fall on deaf ears I know my way around Markdown, but I just don't like it. I'd rather directly see what I'm working on rather than a weird approximation. (I don't like hidden or direct formatting either, which is why I do sometimes use Markdown)