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Being OK with not being extraordinary

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Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#191

Post by turdnagel »

mettamage wrote: post #94
wjossey wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is my career so far in a nutshell. I’m an average programmer. I’m an excellent problem solver. I have an above average work ethic. I’m an excellent communicator. Basically, I combined all of these traits and found roles that leveraged these traits to maximize my impact. Not for nothing, but this is why my liberal arts college was profoundly impactful for me, despite not getting a “top tier” CS education. My writ…

How do you do leverage these strengths? I have a somewhat similar profile and I simply feel like a fish judged by its ability to climb a tree. Yet, I: - Help with hiring/marketing/leading scrum sessions (when the actual scrum master is ill) - Conduct pentests - Do the frontend and backend (what I was hired to do) If they'd let me, I'd help with the writing efforts as well as my writing ability is better than that of…

Join a smaller company.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#192

Post by saalweachter »

cyberpunk wrote: post #52
ErikAugust wrote: post #13

“Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don't think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of a minimum with other things so that society does…

Eh, I mean.. Okay. Maybe this is true for the first steps into your profession, but after so many years in tech the amount of things I have to do that are, compared to my initial 'love' for tech, really horrible tasks vs the things I would like to be doing definately isn't in balance... It's a nice idea, but this "do what you love" doesn't scale. I mean, did it too, there was a day where I was super excited to be wor…

I mean, "do what you love" is a fine plan A. It will work out for some people, either in the "their passion makes them the best makes them rich" sense or at least the "because they love their work, they are happy even though they are not rich" sense.

But it doesn't hurt to have a "find something to do for money that you don't hate and maybe even enjoy some parts of, and then find some other stuff to do on the side that makes you feel like your life has meaning" plan B in your back pocket.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#193

Post by ImaCake »

thisistheend123 wrote: post #85

Maybe this is offtopic, but I made my peace with this kind of anxiety once I met, interacted and worked with people who were really very very good at what they do. I let me ego go. It's ok to be normal. And it's ok to get to learn from the masters. I once read a O Henry short story where the three main characters are at different places in society financially and in terms of power. But they still found some meaning w…

This is a good lesson to learn. Pretty much everyone you interact with is interesting in some way. They can all teach you something you don't know, or share an amazing story. This is something you notice when you try to learn another language; suddenly literally anyone who can speak that language becomes someone who can teach you something. From the greatest king to the lowest prisoner, they all have at least this one thing that is interesting to you.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#195

Post by _v7gu »

entropicdrifter wrote: post #152
cpursley wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm take a gander that your view about his blog is based on your pre-existing political leanings.

I mean... https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Scott_Adams#Views_on_science_a... The guy has a ton of crank views

As if RationalWiki has any business calling people cranks

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#196

Post by SeerKlein »

neves wrote: post #105
ErikAugust wrote: post #13

“Fall in love with some activity, and do it! Nobody ever figures out what life is all about, and it doesn't matter. Explore the world. Nearly everything is really interesting if you go into it deeply enough. Work as hard and as much as you want to on the things you like to do the best. Don't think about what you want to be, but what you want to do. Keep up some kind of a minimum with other things so that society does…

I prefer Call Newport's point o view: Beyond Passion: The Science of Loving What You Do https://www.calnewport.com/blog/2010/01/23/beyond-passion-th...

Excellent read! I enrolled in my second bachelors for Computer Science because of Cal Newport's influence on me: Choose something that is valuable and get good at it (competence). Then, use the career capital to get autonomy and relatedness. It also reminds me of why I want to become a part time software developer instead of full time, because I want to have the autonomy associated with being part time!

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#197

Post by dominotw »

wjossey wrote: post #66
umvi wrote: post #2

> Climbing to a higher vantage point can also unlock new forms of extraordinary that you might have never noticed before. I read an article once about how the amount of work to get into the top tier in a single area is astronomical, but the amount of work to become top tier in a combination of 2-3 fields is attainable by almost anyone. For example, becoming a top tier statistician is hard. But becoming a top tier sta…

This is my career so far in a nutshell. I’m an average programmer. I’m an excellent problem solver. I have an above average work ethic. I’m an excellent communicator. Basically, I combined all of these traits and found roles that leveraged these traits to maximize my impact. Not for nothing, but this is why my liberal arts college was profoundly impactful for me, despite not getting a “top tier” CS education. My writ…

> I’m an excellent problem solver.

Don't mean this to be a mean comment but how did you assess this?

I think i am good problem solver but i don't know if i am better than anyone else.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#198

Post by CarbyAu »

rhombocombus wrote: post #181
petra wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is him being funny helpful for career advancement ?

Being consistent, personable, and kind has helped me advance more in my career than any one specific technical skill. Funny people are generally endearing, and it is usually easier and more productive to work with folks you get along with than ones you don't.

My very first service desk job interview began with:

Interviewer decidedly nervous, shaking even!

Me Pours glass of water for them, and for me, take sip.

Interviewer Takes a sip, notably calms down

Rest of the interview was: Interviewer:"Do you know XYZ software we have to use?"

Me:"No."

Got the job.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#199

Post by throw51319 »

pmohun wrote: post #115

I wrote this for myself when considering a big career move a few years ago: It’s easy to focus on the next promotion or the completion of a big project that will elevate your career. By succumbing to the natural instinct of mimicry, we rarely ask ourselves the question: are we climbing the right hill? In this analogy, the hills represent any long-term goal: career, fulfillment, financial security. Our natural instinc…

Very good point. This is something that is easy to understand but difficult to internalize.

You gotta step back, relax, and live your life. That's why all the social media etc is poison.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#200

Post by [deleted] »

shostack wrote: post #16
umvi wrote: post #2

> Climbing to a higher vantage point can also unlock new forms of extraordinary that you might have never noticed before. I read an article once about how the amount of work to get into the top tier in a single area is astronomical, but the amount of work to become top tier in a combination of 2-3 fields is attainable by almost anyone. For example, becoming a top tier statistician is hard. But becoming a top tier sta…

I first encountered this notion playing D&D of all things. The concept of dual/multi-classing, and what later became prestige classes/archetypes in later editions was all about highlighting that the sum of the parts was greater than the whole. There was a trade-off of course, especially in the early/mid levels as other solo-class characters started coming into their stride with higher-tier abilities. If you made it p…

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