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Why do you suck at juggling now?

pgadey.ca

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Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#51

Post by pgadey »

david422 wrote: post #38
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJsgM-3L38U Wow. The wikipedia page has a nice list with links to videos: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juggling_world_records#Balls

14 beanbags 14 catches is that ... is that juggling at that point?

You're on to something here. It doesn't seem like a lot of catches. There's a distinction in juggling between "flashing" and "qualifying" n objects. To flash n objects, you throw and catch them n times. To qualify n objects, you throw and catch them 2n times.

It would be incredible if someone qualified 14 objects.

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#52

Post by geodel »

fendy3002 wrote: post #42
xpct wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the type of culture that made me leave my last job. Feels very inhuman when you see your manager every week, and they still make you fill in robotic questionnaires for potential salary raise. It's deeply demotivating to learn that your manager doesn't know you all that well and cares more about filling in checklists, at least for me.

I understand that people who like to stay on their job dislikes this kind of questions, and I also sympathize on why tech sector now doesn't have places for them and asking people to keep improving. However for those who are superstar / plan maker, this discussion is actually beneficial. This is the moment where among all of things available, prioritized items will be officially registered, rather than your manager m…

> However for those who are superstar / plan maker, this discussion is actually beneficial. ...

I hear all this and it seem useful also. But from what I have seen in last 5-8 years is that immediate supervisor/manager have hardly any power or resources to anything meaningful for employees beyond filling basic HR templates that go nowhere.

This could be different for very early career employees or startups where one's manager could be just the founder or CTO and the like. But for mid career and above employees in typical established business, managers seem merely human timesheet for work done. They have full mandate to get work done creatively , enforce corporate policies from up top but little in term of listening/approving any of their employee's considerations.

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#53

Post by shermantanktop »

pgadey wrote: post #49
shermantanktop wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect he’s telling a story and chose to personify his own feelings into the words of another person.

This totally happened. The guy really did ask.

Wow, that's bold! I'd never say that...or maybe I'd only say it to a good friend when I knew that he knew that I didn't actually mean it.

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#54

Post by raffael_de »

scandox wrote: post #22

Lesson is actually: if you want to blow people's minds then practice secretly. An appearance of effortlessness. Sprezzatura. Whatever it is, it seems to be the only thing that impresses the average person.

I offer this lesseon: don't bother trying to impress "the average person" (or anybody). do what gives you joy.

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#55

Post by Isamu »

boogieknite wrote: post #37
fusslo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your boss needs paperwork to justify pay raises, promotions, etc to their boss & HR. Isn't the whole purpose of that question to leave a paper trail that both you and they can point to? That's what I've been told, and such I always answer those questions in a way that has a concrete 'goal' that I can point to and either makes ME more valuable to the company OR delivered some thing that is valuable TO the company.

exactly. i just tell them something that translates to potential marginal increases in utilization and reduction in costs like automated workflows etc

This is the correct thread. It has to be some words that don’t seem too fake and seem to plausibly suggest forward progress. There has to be some plausible support for decisions, that someone can point to, in order to make a decision. Taking ownership of a decision means having a paper trail where you can deny responsibility for something gone wrong.

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#56

Post by andrewaylett »

evilduck wrote: post #28
scandox wrote: post #22

Lesson is actually: if you want to blow people's minds then practice secretly. An appearance of effortlessness. Sprezzatura. Whatever it is, it seems to be the only thing that impresses the average person.

"The only secret of magic is that I'm willing to work harder on it than you think it's worth." - Penn Jillette

This works whether or not what you're working on is supposed to be magic.

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#57

Post by kixiQu »

laszlojamf wrote: post #2

I've been working as a software developer for about ten years, and I've started to get a little annoyed when my manager asks me what I'm gonna work on improving this year. Like what can I say? That I'll try get better at coding? That I'll get better at project management? At some point the marginal utility is just not there anymore. Even if I did get twice as good (whatever that means) at systems design, it's not lik…

This is interesting to me because in my job as a senior dev I can tell that there are greater opportunities for me if I can improve my skills. As a result, I think this may speak to your work environment more than the nature of being senior.

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#58

Post by xboxnolifes »

mhb wrote: post #16
mikestew wrote: post #12

Reminds me of when I play my mandolin when I’m camping. I’m sure fellow campers think I suck, despite having played for ten years. But I’m not going to play stuff I can play in my sleep, I’m playing stuff that still needs work. So, in consideration of others, once in a while I’ll rip off a fast version of Old Dangerfield or some other song I know really well just in case someone is in earshot.

Why do you think other people want to hear you practicing songs that you're not good at? I'm imagining someone trying to learn the recorder by the campfire.

Yeah, only practice your music in an isolated, sound-proof room. If you're possibly in ear-shot of any human being, only play songs you've perfected.

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#59

Post by scandox »

raffael_de wrote: post #54
scandox wrote: post #22

Lesson is actually: if you want to blow people's minds then practice secretly. An appearance of effortlessness. Sprezzatura. Whatever it is, it seems to be the only thing that impresses the average person.

I offer this lesseon: don't bother trying to impress "the average person" (or anybody). do what gives you joy.

Well I agree but clearly some people have ambiguous motives...they want to do what gives them joy but also a little bit in their heart they want to impress

Re: Why do you suck at juggling now?

#60

Post by bluefirebrand »

ludston wrote: post #11
laszlojamf wrote: post #2

I've been working as a software developer for about ten years, and I've started to get a little annoyed when my manager asks me what I'm gonna work on improving this year. Like what can I say? That I'll try get better at coding? That I'll get better at project management? At some point the marginal utility is just not there anymore. Even if I did get twice as good (whatever that means) at systems design, it's not lik…

Instead of talking about skills, or personal efficiency, talk about technologies that you're going to introduce to your product, or some specific difficult problem that you're intending to solve. Another next career step is to take ownership of things without needing to be asked or told, to create and execute plans, to raise and address problems pro-actively etc. And if your workspace doesn't give you opportunities t…

You're offering the very common advice

This only works if your managers are actually invested and interested in having you grow.

If you start trying to take ownership of things without being asked you might also just be told to stay in your lane. If you start raising problems pro-actively you may be told to pipe down.

Yes, there's always "go somewhere else" except bad managers are more common than you think.

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