A trait I really appreciate in people is when they confide in me that they have no clue about something.
It’s not always easy to admit (especially if someone does know more) but knowing that you don’t know is extremely important for personal growth. We live in a society where increasingly, I find, people are having a hard time accepting that they are ignorant about stuff.
There’s whole domains I am totally clueless about and knowing this allows me to look at people who do know what they are talking about. Some people then like to say: “I’ll figure it out myself. I do my own research.”
The problem with this is that you can only do that within reason. As the complexity of the subject matter increases, so does the time required before you’re competent at the thing in question.
Thankfully, in the world of computer science, and my job, it is reasonably easy to learn something new without much difficulty. I’m really grateful to be part of this industry.
Anyway, the takeaway from these tweets: don’t underestimate mastery (or your own obliviousness).