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Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

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Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#91

Post by drumdance »

aparadja wrote: post #48
putlake wrote: post #9

Scott Adams is very entertaining. He predicted Trump's staying power way back in the summer when everyone (including me) thought his candidacy was just a joke. In fact, he has predicted a landslide for Trump in the general election. He says it's based on his training as a hypnotist, which gives him an insight into the art of persuasion. Over the years I've learned many things from following Adams' blog. He recommende…

Is the "How to fail at almost everything" book the one about goals and systems thinking? I haven't read it, so it's hard to say just based on the title.

Yes, it's systems oriented.

Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#92

Post by drumdance »

jhrrsn wrote: post #61

On the whole, I think I agree with Scott's advice in this post. However, there are some real challenges that come with the choice to be 'good at a few things' instead of the 'best at one thing. Namely, if you're not starting your own business, I think it massively reduces your employment mobility. I am fortunate in that I am valued within my organisation for my 'generalist' spread of skills (including communication,…

I think he would argue that you're better off hacking your way into a job.

That is, don't apply for open positions. Instead, get to know the decision makers and demonstrate your value one on one. (His book has a whole section on networking.)

That's hard to do for someone just out of college, but once you get a little experience it's a sound strategy.

Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#93

Post by drumdance »

petke wrote: post #26

That's good advice. Find a niche basically. It don't think it works for every career though. Being good or even being the most skilled at a niche. Musicians and actors, any job that has as much to do with popularity as with skill. Very few make it and the ones that do, don't seem better than most of the ones that dont. I have been listening to enough open mic nights and small time bar gigs to think so. Its sad really…

He would suggest learning a secondary skill that makes your musicianship stand out. PDQ Bach is an example.

I knew a guy in college who was an outstanding tuba player. But it's not like there are a ton of tuba gigs out there. So he developed a whole act geared toward kids. Pretty much every conductor has to do at least one children's concert per year, so he's able to distinguish himself as an unorthodox performer that kids love.

Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#94

Post by drumdance »

existencebox wrote: post #83
autarch wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: his articles on Trump. I'm not sure if he's right, but I do appreciate that he's been willing to make very specific predictions about the future. So far it seems like he's been pretty good at predicting how things will turn out for Trump. Maybe he's entirely wrong about why, of course.

I don't fault his making predictions; but an occams razor explanation seems FAR more compelling to me, that a character like trump provides an outlet for sentiments that haven't been well served by any _marginally_ viable political candidate. Combined with a boisterous personality (which dovetails well with what seems to be a rising anti-establishment sentiment in certain groups) and celebrity background, it fits nea…

Hindsight bias. Political pros have been predicting his demise for months, then backtracking to explain "what's really going on."

Only Adams has been unwavering in his predictions and the explanations behind them.

There are no celebrity anti-vaxers running for president, and just because non-political notables appear on talk shows doesn't mean they would poll well in Iowa.

I think Adams goes too far in predicting a general election landslide, but I'm impressed he has the balls to do it.

Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#95

Post by drumdance »

erobbins wrote: post #32

I'm in the top 25% of quite a few things, and I'm not spending weekends on my 100 foot yacht in the caribbean... probably because I'm in the bottom 25% of motivation. It's good advice, but just a piece of the puzzle.

He talks about motivation in his book. I don't remember the details word for word but he basically says you should optimize for energy, which is key to motivation.

Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#96

Post by specialist »

jhrrsn wrote: post #61

On the whole, I think I agree with Scott's advice in this post. However, there are some real challenges that come with the choice to be 'good at a few things' instead of the 'best at one thing. Namely, if you're not starting your own business, I think it massively reduces your employment mobility. I am fortunate in that I am valued within my organisation for my 'generalist' spread of skills (including communication,…

There's always more work to be done. If you're competent whatsoever, you'll be asked to tackle any unforeseen tasks.

Don't underrate "easy to get along with, get's things done".

Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#97

Post by specialist »

kelukelugames wrote: post #46
aptwebapps wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not up to date with the Trump stuff but what I thought was particularly disingenuous about the first example was that he said in advance that he was going to write something ambiguous that people would 'misinterpret' and then he made fun of them when it happened. As far as I'm concerned, if you write something with the goal of communicating a particular idea to a particular audience then that's what you said. It…

On one hand I think he knows exactly what he is doing. He mentions phrasing and word choice in some of his posts. On the other hand, he might just be completely clueless about race and gender issues. He says things like "If women want to avoid catcalling then why don't they just move? I moved to improve my life." Maybe a little of column A, and a little of column B.

I hate myself for laughing at his comics. Whatever Adams' other, numerous, faults, he does have an amazing economy with words.

Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#98

Post by aptwebapps »

lliamander wrote: post #51
aptwebapps wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not up to date with the Trump stuff but what I thought was particularly disingenuous about the first example was that he said in advance that he was going to write something ambiguous that people would 'misinterpret' and then he made fun of them when it happened. As far as I'm concerned, if you write something with the goal of communicating a particular idea to a particular audience then that's what you said. It…

> If I say something to a few people and I know that one of them will misunderstand it (the reason doesn't really matter) in a way that makes the statement untrue then I've just lied to that person. If you can avoid the misunderstanding, then sure. But even then you don't always have the time to explain yourself fully. Sometimes, the very ideas you are expressing are liable to trigger strong emotions in other people.…

Right, but in this case he actually said in advance that this was what he intended to do. It was the purpose of the post, not a regrettable side-effect.

Re: Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007)

#99

Post by PhasmaFelis »

drumdance wrote: post #89
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"True contrarian" is just a politer name for troll, though. If you say unpopular things solely because they're unpopular, we have a word for that.

I don't think he does them just to be unpopular. He's just conducting thought experiments. He does like to tease his audience but so does Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution.

If he's not trying to piss people off, he sure does gloat a lot about how much he loves pissing people off.
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