<story><title>We expect too much of geeks</title><url>http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/january/weExpectTooMuchOfGeeks</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>rodh</author><text>This article hits a nerve for me.&lt;p&gt;There&apos;s in particular a sentence right at the start. &quot;If you&apos;re young and think you&apos;re hot shit, and there&apos;s some reason to believe you are, you can go far, very quickly.&quot;&lt;p&gt;When I think back at my time prior to going to University, I really did think this way. And I had reason to. Even during my time at University, that feeling never escaped me.&lt;p&gt;Once I entered full-time employment (almost by accident. I had started my own limited company at this point), my attitude changed completely. I was surrounded by so many people so unbelievably more clever than me, I was humbled. It wasn&apos;t just their abilities, but their &quot;maturity&quot;.&lt;p&gt;Now I cringe to think of my attitude as little as 5 years ago. And I think I have reason to. Where I used to take pride in &quot;fixing your 6-month problem in 4 days&quot;, I now realise I failed on a lot of aspects. I am now much more focused on doing things &lt;i&gt;right&lt;/i&gt;. I focus on listening and understanding, on being tolerant and empathetic. I measure my work in quality, maintainability, measurable evidence. Every day I try my hardest to learn and to be a pioneer.&lt;p&gt;I do think this is a positive improvement. But when I come across an article like this one, and recall my youthful naivety and enthusiasm, I do worry if I haven&apos;t perhaps lost something more important.</text></comment>
<story><title>We expect too much of geeks</title><url>http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/january/weExpectTooMuchOfGeeks</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>swombat</author><text>&lt;i&gt;When young people risk it all, it would be nice if there were people who understood what they&apos;re going through, who could offer some perspective. Even better, if there was an oldtimer around when the world is telling you you&apos;re a god and can do no wrong, to tell you that&apos;s bullshit, to kick you in the butt, in a friendly way, tell you you&apos;re a mortal human being, and you need to understand that life has its ups and downs, and you&apos;re going to be around for a long time, and this is just the beginning, part of the learning process, and while it looks like everything is great now, or falling apart, or whatever emotion is driving you at this moment, let&apos;s go for a walk, get a burger, see a movie and hang out for a bit, watch a game, and notice all the other stuff that&apos;s going on.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;This seems appropriate: &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_if.htm&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>