undefined | Better HN

0 pointsTheCowboy9y ago0 comments

"Makes me more wonder" is a euphemism for "makes me doubt their qualifications and abilities".

Some people are humble about their work and abilities. They will never exhibit open pride. Or they don't want to bullshit people and blow smoke up someone's rear. Some may want to switch jobs because they are forced to do poor work and know they shouldn't feel proud about that.

This is probably a 'flaw' I have, but I'm aware of it that I know what I'm expected to sound like when asked this question. Now I'm put in a position where I am being dishonest. You're now testing my ability to BS you to get what I want, and by my nature I am already uncomfortable with BS'ing people.

Now compare this to the person who is too incompetent to not feel pride in the shoddy work they do.

Now the enjoyment part. I can talk about this extensively, but enjoyment is subjective. I could enjoy working on something because of the challenge of the problem, or because I was part of a great team, but it still doesn't speak to my ability to perform the job you have.

0 comments

scient9y ago

I don't see this as being humble, I see this as a lack of confidence in their skills and abilities and achievements. These same people, for the same reasons, are adverse to avoid making decisions and second guess their work, which causes delays and communication problems.

Instead of trying to make this into an excuse of being humble, it should be acknowledged as a lack of a certain important trait.

gknoy9y ago

> I see this as a lack of confidence in their skills and abilities and achievements

Given that imposter syndrome is well-documented in our industry, it's quite possible that I've done cool things, or impressive things, but not realize that they are cool or impressive because I am in awe of the awesome developers I work with.

Combine that with most of my work being something like "I added new features in our Ember app, and fixed bugs in the UI and backend", and it often is easy to feel like the day-to-day work I do isn't awesome, even if what I am building is (IMO) pretty cool.

scient9y ago

But if you think the stuff you work on is cool, why can't you express that feeling by telling it to someone else? Because you lack the confidence in your work, which is the exact problem.

The interviewer should not change here, you should change to be able to convey your work and why you think its cool etc. Thats exactly what the interviewer is looking for.

Verdex_29y ago

I'm 30% through writing a 10-20K word blog series about something that I've been working on for the last 6-8 years. I've probably written ~5K words already on blogs unrelated to my series where I'm kicking around the ideas that went into my project. Finally, the project probably isn't that interesting unless you've encountered a very specific type of problem before. Which means I probably should put in another 5-10K words to market it.

Sometimes it's not about confidence. Sometimes it's about complex social dynamics and how people react to suddenly being thrown into the deep end of a domain that's completely new to them.

"Tell me about a technical challenge that won't make me feel inadequate or be difficult to follow. Don't make it too simple though because then I'll think you're an idiot."

Ah yes, just be confident. That's the ticket.

braveo9y ago

No, they're honest.

It's amazing to watch you bend over backwards to try and vilify a person who simply strives for accuracy.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

scient9y ago

Instead of trying to make this into an excuse of being humble, it should be acknowledged as a lack of a certain important trait.

gknoy9y ago

> I see this as a lack of confidence in their skills and abilities and achievements

scient9y ago

But if you think the stuff you work on is cool, why can't you express that feeling by telling it to someone else? Because you lack the confidence in your work, which is the exact problem.

The interviewer should not change here, you should change to be able to convey your work and why you think its cool etc. Thats exactly what the interviewer is looking for.

Verdex_29y ago

Sometimes it's not about confidence. Sometimes it's about complex social dynamics and how people react to suddenly being thrown into the deep end of a domain that's completely new to them.

"Tell me about a technical challenge that won't make me feel inadequate or be difficult to follow. Don't make it too simple though because then I'll think you're an idiot."

Ah yes, just be confident. That's the ticket.

braveo9y ago

No, they're honest.

It's amazing to watch you bend over backwards to try and vilify a person who simply strives for accuracy.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse