(no subject)

[simont]

http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html is Paul Graham's latest essay, on what makes a Great Hacker. In it, he writes:

The people I've met who do great work rarely think that they're doing great work. They generally feel that they're stupid and lazy, that their brain only works properly one day out of ten, and that it's only a matter of time until they're found out.

Now if only cause and effect pointed in the other direction… :-)

Comments

[zotz]

Have I mentioned that not only did we use puTTY at my old work, we use it at my current work too?

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Yes, Simon, you are a Great Hacker. Possibly the best one I know, and the amount of time I spend at parties explaining that I don't speak Perl...

[simont]

I think anyone trying to speak Perl at a party is due for a sore throat! All that punctuation must be hell to pronounce :-)

But thanks. *smile* Though I'd hate anyone to think I posted this in order to encourage people to tell me I was wonderful...

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Imagine trying to speak Python at a party. Lots of carefuly timed pauses!

[filecoreinuse.livejournal.com]

I think this shows why you are a great hacker. You even moan about how it doesn't apply to you.

[simont]

Bah. Now it's going to look as if I posted this just to get a stream of people saying that ;-)

I wasn't just thinking that I feel like that (although I do). I was more thinking that probably most of my friends feel the same way, and I'm pretty sure not all of them are Great Hackers. I fear Paul Graham might simply have missed the point, which is that most great hackers feel like that simply because they're people, and as far as I know most people feel like that...

But thanks, anyway :-)