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]]> http://io41.wordpress.com/2008/08/13/aptitude-vs-apt-get/feed/ 0 timnik http://io41.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/are-you-one-of-the-best-the-dunning-kruger-effect/ http://io41.wordpress.com/2008/04/11/are-you-one-of-the-best-the-dunning-kruger-effect/#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:48:16 +0000 Tim Kersten http://io41.wordpress.com/?p=4 ]]> I’ve been looking at some ideas for a final year project in College lately, and the best ones seemed to stray far from what we’re being taught in college, and what I even know, which of course got me thinking…

Am I competent enough to pull off learning enough C and enough about the kernel & glibc to be able to hack them to do what I want? Miriam Ruiz pointed out and formulated exactly what my worries are.

Some years ago I was offered a huge project, and knowing a little php I figured I’d be able to pull it off no problem at all. The project never materialized. Now, years later, I realize how incredible naive I was to think that. If I was offered the same today, knowing a bit more php, plenty more python, java, C# and now using linux for home, work and college I have a very different view and would not be so quick to accept, but back then I didn’t see the slightest problem.

I saw a bit of America’s Inventor a few days ago. One guy on it had a great idea… a portable computer with voice recognition software, and a voice reader, so that deaf people didn’t have to rely on a translator and could be more independant. He wasn’t a programmer, but he believed in his idea. It was only a sketch he had drawn out. He believed in his idea so much, that 3 out of 4 judges gave him a ‘yes’.

Now I feel rather in the same position as I was years ago with that huge project but with more experience. I now know enough to realise that I may not actually know enough.

“People who have little knowledge tend to think that they know more than they do, while others who have much more knowledge tend to think that they know less.”

I guess if I’m thinking about it, I can’t be that incompetent. Self assessing your own skills is extremely hard, especially when it comes to hackers. It’s rather hard to define what a good hack is. Of course there are certain traits and skills that a good hacker needs to have, but there’s more to it than that. Hackers can only compare themselves to others around them so it’s a relative, subjective point of view each time.

“Bright students, far above the others, considered themselves below their real skills, standard students saw themselves as above the average, while real bad ones were fully convinced of being among the best.”

Does this make someone arrogant or one of the “real bad ones” if they are convinced of being among the best? Arrogant, perhaps. One of the real bad ones? I guess that depends on who you compare yourself to. If you see things or understand things quicker than the person beside you, then perhaps you really aren’t one of the bad ones. If you notice yourself learning from others around you a lot, then I think you can’t be a bad one. You may not be amongst the best, but consistantly trying to improve certainly makes you a good one in my eyes.

I guess what I’m trying to say, is thank you to Miriam for making my thoughts clear. Without being conscious of issuse like these, you’re a puppet, helpless to the dangers of over- or underestimating yourself. So, never stop trying to improve your skills and cut yourself loose of the mis-represented self.

This has greately helped me be more aware and more cautious of what it is I’m trying to do as my final year project. Thanks!!