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Ask HN: I am either super genius or crap! How do I manage this duality?

7 points| phekunde | 5 years ago

I posted on this topic more than a year ago(https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20864922)

I solve a problem with me not even realising how I solved it!(some of the replies to that old post said that this happens due to experience) But, there is another problem I am facing(which actually is the other side of the same coin!). I come up with crap solution to a problem I am solving. Struggle for few days to come up with something that is satisfactory.

And a few times I just come up with a solution that I myself wonder how the heck did I come up with such a good solution!

So how do I manage this duality?

* Okay, that "super genius" in the title was just to grab your attention, not meant literally ;)

7 comments

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[+] throwaway4233|5 years ago|reply
> I come up with crap solution to a problem I am solving.

I think that you are trying to overengineer a solution because you feel that your first approach is normal or rudimentary, but not all problems that need to be solved require `good` solutions. Some are very straight forward like a simple CRUD or some might not require any further changes to the solution you have right now.

The root of the issue you are facing might be that you are too focused on this duality concept and worry about the current zone you are in. I would rather suggest on focusing on solving the problem in front of you and not worry about how `amazing` or `normal` it is. Because sometimes you might need to build and try out a normal solution and then iterate to make it better. If you feel like your solution can be improved but you are unsure of how to proceed, create a RFC. A colleague who might see the problem with fresh eyes or has solved something similar before may help you out.

Replaced `crap` with `normal` since I believe no solution is `crap` if it solves the problem. It might require improvement in a lot of ways but that does not mean it is `crap`.

[+] tgflynn|5 years ago|reply
It might help if you could be more specific. It's difficult to offer advice without knowing what kinds of problems you are talking about. Many programming problems are in fact trivial and it's not surprising that an experienced programmer would solve them somewhat automatically. Other problems are either inherently more difficult or just contain a lot of complexity that needs to be worked through and understood.
[+] oblib|5 years ago|reply
Coding can be pretty humbling. Generally speaking there are always more than one way to do it and the best way is not always the most obvious.

The old saying about "sleeping on it" comes to mind. I've banged my head on a problem many times and after a nights sleep got up and realized an entirely different approach that made it easy to solve.

tbh, the smartest thing I've done was learn to stop banging my head and instead start searching for answers. Stackoverflow gets a lot of visits from me nowadays.

[+] giantg2|5 years ago|reply
I'm always crap.

It think it depends on the perspective, and can even be both. The unabomber was a genius, but also killed and maimed a bunch of people.

You are who you are. Think of yourself as average and that average people can perform well. Even if you aren't average, the modesty will do you well.

[+] meiraleal|5 years ago|reply
> some of the replies to that old post said that this happens due to experience

With time and experience, you will get used to this and stop swinging between genius/crap (if your job is well done).

[+] helph67|5 years ago|reply
Either you're a super hero who hasn't yet revealed your two separate identities OR it's your subconscious in action.