I just want them to stop acting like egotistical know-it-all jerks all the time. They love to speak in black-and-white absolutes and IMO it just shows how much they really don’t know.
I think Dunning-Kruger also applies to smart people… you don’t stop when you are estimating your ability correctly. As you learn more, you gain more awareness of your ignorance and continue being conservative with your self estimates.
Knowing about these cognitive distortions always makes it so hard to self-evaluate too! Am I actually better than I think and I am just aware of how much I do not know, causing me to evaluate myself too lowly? Or am I an arrogant asshole, “knowing about the Dunning-Kruger effect does not make you special, especially with how often it’s cited everywhere online now,” and I should keep evaluating myself lowly? Imposter syndrome exists, but some people really are faking it and do not know anything, so am I underevaluating myself and feeling like an impostor when I should not be?
However, I also know if I state things with confidence or say I’m good at something, I’m more likely (at least online) to receive challenges and arguments about why I’m a puffed-up blowhard who actually knows nothing about anything, so I always trend towards “actually I’m just stupid” to avoid being whacked with the “ARROGANT FUCKHEAD” stick. (This is in general, not just about the tech topics this forum is for.)
I’ve read another article on his site that I have to be able to just at least appear to confidently make a decision and live with the consequences that maybe my guess is wrong instead of presenting the whole pro-and-con list, instead of hemming and hawing about how my judgment is imperfect and I’m afraid of thinking I’m competent but actually being someone the internet would tear apart for gross incompetence and the audacity to assume I’m not. (I went through a lot of his articles on a rabbit hole from another of his articles posted on programming.dev.) But luckily I’m not in the decision-making-advise-non-tech-folks-on-big-decisions-most-qualified-person-in-the-room position that this advice is geared towards and do not bear that responsibility.
Sounds like your company needs to add educational programs so they can see the bigger picture. The opposite is also true. Plenty of managers whether project or people don’t know anything technical and create more issues than would ever be acceptable for someone way below their pay grade would afforded.
I don’t think engineers need encouragement to be cynical. More often engineers need to lighten up.
That’s basically his point
Ok tell me when to stop being cynical so I can be optimally not cynical
I just want them to stop acting like egotistical know-it-all jerks all the time. They love to speak in black-and-white absolutes and IMO it just shows how much they really don’t know.
I think Dunning-Kruger also applies to smart people… you don’t stop when you are estimating your ability correctly. As you learn more, you gain more awareness of your ignorance and continue being conservative with your self estimates.
A bit off-topic, but:
Knowing about these cognitive distortions always makes it so hard to self-evaluate too! Am I actually better than I think and I am just aware of how much I do not know, causing me to evaluate myself too lowly? Or am I an arrogant asshole, “knowing about the Dunning-Kruger effect does not make you special, especially with how often it’s cited everywhere online now,” and I should keep evaluating myself lowly? Imposter syndrome exists, but some people really are faking it and do not know anything, so am I underevaluating myself and feeling like an impostor when I should not be?
However, I also know if I state things with confidence or say I’m good at something, I’m more likely (at least online) to receive challenges and arguments about why I’m a puffed-up blowhard who actually knows nothing about anything, so I always trend towards “actually I’m just stupid” to avoid being whacked with the “ARROGANT FUCKHEAD” stick. (This is in general, not just about the tech topics this forum is for.)
I’ve read another article on his site that I have to be able to just at least appear to confidently make a decision and live with the consequences that maybe my guess is wrong instead of presenting the whole pro-and-con list, instead of hemming and hawing about how my judgment is imperfect and I’m afraid of thinking I’m competent but actually being someone the internet would tear apart for gross incompetence and the audacity to assume I’m not. (I went through a lot of his articles on a rabbit hole from another of his articles posted on programming.dev.) But luckily I’m not in the decision-making-advise-non-tech-folks-on-big-decisions-most-qualified-person-in-the-room position that this advice is geared towards and do not bear that responsibility.
Sounds like your company needs to add educational programs so they can see the bigger picture. The opposite is also true. Plenty of managers whether project or people don’t know anything technical and create more issues than would ever be acceptable for someone way below their pay grade would afforded.
Sorry but I have no idea what you’re talking about… and I wasn’t referring to any specific company