When I was younger I used to say that I was a jack of all trades, master of none. Many years later I feel like a jack of all trades, master of many. I no longer fit any of the profiles presented here.
I feel very funnel/inverse-triangle shaped.
Short fat engineers are undervalued
41–50 of 269 posts
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#42The article itself isn't about this but one could theorize that the headline taken literally is also likely true.
one could devil's advocate speculate the other way as well; e.g. If IQ declines with age, and exercise is a way to slow the decline[1], fatness could reflect lack of exercise and lifestyle which doesn't prioritise exercise, so would you expect to see lower value for fatter engineers in a pure meritocracy?
If lower IQ correlates with obesity ("a 10‐point decrease in IQ was associated with a 1.10‐fold increase in the odds for obesity."[2]) either way - a lower IQ person is more likely to get fat, or the metabolic changes of getting fat negatively affect cognition as well - over a large group of skilled people would you expect thinner people to earn more?
If height and IQ are correlated ("Taller people tend to be smarter. Although the relationship is modest, height and IQ are consistently correlated at ∼.10–.20"[3]), would, etc.
[1] https://www.mdedge.com/neurology/article/193699/alzheimers-c...
[2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lim2.11
[3] https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/jo...
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#43at this point i'm Π-shaped.
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#44When I was younger I used to say that I was a jack of all trades, master of none. Many years later I feel like a jack of all trades, master of many. I no longer fit any of the profiles presented here.
That's called being old. Generally considered out of date, unable to learn new stuff :-)
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#45(removed)
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#46Egads. The term is "generalist", and has been for decades.
No one would or should say "short & fat".
And yes, generalists are undervalued.
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#47"Junior in every department" really struck hard for me. I know just enough of basically everything to get by or as a starting point, but I lack that really deep knowledge that comes from using a small group of skills and tools for years. I feel that switching languages and frameworks and tools and OSes a bunch of times early in my career has really held me back. I don't mind supporting my team, what I don't like is h…
How big a team are you working in? In most places I've worked the teams (or company) were small enough that even new hires would get a change to work on something big if they have the capacity.
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#48(removed)
The article is not about physical appearance though.
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#49"Junior in every department" really struck hard for me. I know just enough of basically everything to get by or as a starting point, but I lack that really deep knowledge that comes from using a small group of skills and tools for years. I feel that switching languages and frameworks and tools and OSes a bunch of times early in my career has really held me back. I don't mind supporting my team, what I don't like is h…
I’m in a similar position, albeit mostly because even though my professional career has been predominantly one stack, there’s just no real chance to ever really get to learn the ecosystem. Most of the work hasn’t called for me learning much of an ecosystem, especially since in very bureaucratic environment, a lot of it is simply delegated to someone else.
I often half joke about how I don’t know any programming languages which is unfortunately kinda of true. I’ve toyed with a lot of languages, including ones that your average developer may not have even heard of, but at the end of the day it’s just toying.
Re: Short fat engineers are undervalued
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ngl for a minute before clicking I was slightly curious if this was some random study of the literal interpretation.
I believe there is ample research showing height and attractiveness (one could reasonably consider weight to be one determining factor in attractiveness) do play a factor in career success, compensation, and selection for leadership.
Invader Zim was prescient, it turns out.