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Being OK with not being extraordinary

tiffanymatthe.com

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Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#71

Post by d23 »

Noos wrote: post #53
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…

No, the problem is that what is defined as top tier keeps rising, and raises the bar just to be average. You also now have to compete with a huge cohort of people due to the net now. Going with the videogame focus, if you ever play competitive games you actually see how brutal it can be. In Overwatch for example you have an absolute mountain to climb in ranked because you can't just improve, you have to improve above…

This is a ridiculously defeatist attitude, and the quicker you can drop it the better off you'll be.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#72

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#73

Post by j45 »

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…

An HR leader once shared with me: "Because every hire is a compromise between available candidates.. there is no perfect hire, and no two candidates are truly comparable."

It's really an eye-opening statement for tech roles, and how formally taught and self-taught/transferred folks can work side by side successfully.

The unique thing about tech skills is there's more than one valid way to solve a problem or do something "right". It's hard to measure that.

Not even two CS majors who may be equivalently capable (in different ways) on the outset will be identical, nor will be the outcome of how they grow their strengths and capabilities.

I look forward to HR continuing to evolve better to understand technical roles and contributions as being beyond a binary yes/no measurement.

Current hiring practices continue not to extend well from a bricks and mortar approach to a abstracted online/digital measurement.

In the meantime... knowing how to leverage and communicate your skillet in a transferable way is really what's important. There's no better way to do that than learning to write and communicate well, and better than others.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#74

Post by ZainRiz »

non-entity wrote: post #41
ZainRiz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 And as patio11 says, combining engineering with good writing skills makes it very easy to be one of the top with your combined skills I’ve been trying to lean more into that advice the past couple months by publishing on my blog :) Surprisingly enough, just this morning I woke up to realize someone had shared an article I wrote and it was on the HN front page! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24251068#24262190

But does being in the top of those combined skills command top pay?

You don't need to get paid directly for those skills to be valuable.

I started brushing up on my writing skills since at the higher levels of engineering (and prob all other fields) communicating your ideas more effectively will open up way more opportunities down the line.

Some of those may have monetary rewards. But the reward can be something else as well

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#75

Post by sixstringtheory »

louwrentius wrote: post #43
lloyddobbler wrote: post #24

See also: The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek. Great read (based on a previous work, Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse) on the need to play on a different playing field than the one that supposedly has a 'winner' and a 'loser.' Applies to companies, individuals, organizations, relationships...you get the idea. To beat a dead analogy, if you're climbing to reach the top 'ledge' you started out looking for, you mig…

I don’t think people should take anything from Simon Sinek. His presentation skills are great I must admit.

Could you expand on this? I've certainly been enamored with his presentations, although I don't think the ideas he presents are necessarily original, but he has a great knack for formulation/synthesis and distilling the ideas to their essence.

Like this article, he's not the end-all-be-all but certainly worthy of consideration as part of forming a grander perspective in life.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#76

Post by tmatthe »

thelean12 wrote: post #65

There are lots of people reacting to the extraordinary with "inspiration", "disappointment", and "jealousy". I'd say none of these are as useful as reacting with curiosity . There's an endless amount to learn from the extraordinary in any field or sport or hobby. It's easy to write off the extraordinary as naturally talented or lucky or something else surface level. Most of the time it's anything but. I play golf. It…

I really like this take. Haven't thought about sustainable emotions much, but this hits the mark.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#77

Post by jcaguilar »

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 think you talking about this one? https://forge.medium.com/how-to-become-the-best-in-the-world...

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#78

Post by rabidrat »

NewEntryHN wrote: post #30
tcskeptic wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are conflating being extraordinary with excellence -- the opposite of extraordinary is not mediocrity. We can all achieve excellence -- by definition being extraordinary is rare.

Except extraordinary is correlated with excellent because this premise: > We can all achieve excellence is false in practice.

"can" I think is true for some large majority of people. It's just that most people get discouraged well before the point at which they've devoted enough of their lives to their endeavor to be truly excellent. So in that sense, maybe they "can't", but it is not due to an innate talent deficit, but a psychological deficit (which I believe can also usually be addressed with enough attention and intention).

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#79

Post by nonbirithm »

jennasys wrote: post #15

I agree with the premise here in general. There have certainly been times when I've wanted to accomplish something, but then I see someone else being exceptional at that task and I stop wanting to do it because I know I'll never be that good at it. When you see someone doing something you do or want to do, and they are exceptional at it, it either becomes inspirational or discouraging based on just how extraordinary…

> If you are emotionally committed to it, seeing someone else doing it well will likely be inspirational. If not, you're more likely to give up before you even start.

Complete opposite for me. The things I get discouraged at doing because there is already an extraordinary talent pool are the ones I keep saying are the most interesting to me. To me, those things are too important to me to get wrong.

As a result I shut myself off from most books that are fiction, because regardless of what the content is, if I find the style of writing or content too engaging, it will plunge me into abject misery. So much so that sometimes I just can't being myself to do anything else for the day. Knowing myself, I figure that getting away with working on things that are not truly what I believe I exist on this Earth to do, but am already competent enough at this point in my life (programming) is a more productive use of my time if it means I don't catastophize at every turn. So in a sense I'm just locking myself into my current skillset in a vain attempt at self-preservation.

Statements like "just do it" have become dogma to me at this point and I seem to just shut off my mind at amy mention of them. I can't seem to legitimately enjoy doing anything unless I'm being productive and my expectations match up with reality, and you can't realistically expect to achieve this if you haven't already yet put years into a hobby.

Being as good as someone else isn't even what I wanted, it's merely being recognized at all as a somebody who does X. I don't get this recognition from anyone I know, so it feels like there is nothing at all to carry you forward except your shitty art and a vague notion that you'll eventually improve in two years, and it is the most empty feeling imaginable. There are a lot of unique ideas I carry, which none of the artists I know have ever had, but it still takes enough competence to depict those ideas according to a set standard.

Re: Being OK with not being extraordinary

#80

Post by arcticbull »

non-entity wrote: post #41
ZainRiz wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 And as patio11 says, combining engineering with good writing skills makes it very easy to be one of the top with your combined skills I’ve been trying to lean more into that advice the past couple months by publishing on my blog :) Surprisingly enough, just this morning I woke up to realize someone had shared an article I wrote and it was on the HN front page! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24251068#24262190

But does being in the top of those combined skills command top pay?

Engineering and writing/communication/organization is basically the definition of a tech lead. If you find me a good engineer with good communications skills, I'll get you a mid-6-figure salary no question.
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