Looking back, it's very easy for me to blame the US education system, which seems to make it very easy for slightly intelligent people to avoid a lot of work. I feel like I learned really bad work habits early on and am cursed with a flawed brain now. I almost envy countries that focus on almost militaristic rote practice. For some of my foreign educated colleagues, there is little in the way between wanting to accomplish something and accomplishing it.
Still, I have also found the quality of leadership really determines my productivity. When working independently, and there are 100 different objectives I could work on, it's very logical for my brain to say none of them are important. I have come to appreciate how helpful it is to have a decent boss who can laser focus on objectives in a way that help me line up my work.
>I almost envy countries that focus on almost militaristic rote practice. For some of my foreign educated colleagues, there is little in the way between wanting to accomplish something and accomplishing it.
It has its downsides. I had mostly bad experience working with software developers from rote learning cultures, because you may guess it, they tend to execute but not think about it. IMO the main worth of a software developer is unpacking customer requirements and getting them to make logical sense so that a computer can understand them.
If you don't question anything coming from authority, i.e. the customer, due to your upbringing, you're already off to a bad start.
Because executing without thinking is not what you hire the humans to do, it's what the computer does.
I will play the devil's advocate here which also express my opinion tho...
Choices have trade-offs, business believe, in general, that things are simple and should be done fast. However, IMO, good design ( independent being software, etc... ) takes time and effort.
Do you personally feel that it would be valuable to have the high authority/rote people in place to execute and low authority/creative thinkers in place to plan?
Exactly, and I do think the tinkering of the execution part is an important part of the creative process. A lot of requirements mismatch becomes visible when implementing.
We don't ask artists to describe the painting and let someone else do the execution part. Working with the pigments, and seeing how they interact on the canvas is important for getting a good result. An intermediary would be detrimental.
In music maybe there's such a thing when you have somebody who can sing well, that has a team of songwriters doing the creative work.
Maybe the question is what other jobs rote learning is good for. I think there are enough jobs that don't ask for creativity, but instead require discipline.
And as with all things, there are probably shades of grey in between. A mix of discipline and creativity might be better than the extreme for many jobs.
> For some of my foreign educated colleagues, there is little in the way between wanting to accomplish something and accomplishing it.
Keep in mind there's a selection bias at work. People who don't get things done are much less likely to get through the US's selective immigration system.
> Looking back, it's very easy for me to blame the US education system, which seems to make it very easy for slightly intelligent people to avoid a lot of work. I feel like I learned really bad work habits early on and am cursed with a flawed brain now.
The curse of the smart lazy person. I've felt this acutely in my life. But I've made it a goal to develop proper discipline. I'm no Elon Musk and I have my good and bad days, but I at least learned how to work consistently hard for the most part. It only took twenty years to unlearn the bad habits from school.
Do slightly less intelligent people have non flawed brains because they were forced to do more work in an allegedly poor education system? Your brain is not flawed, and certainly not cursed, except perhaps by its own silliness.
>Looking back, it's very easy for me to blame the US education system, which seems to make it very easy for slightly intelligent people to avoid a lot of work.
To be fair, if you're self-employed, this is an accurate model of reality.
Leadership quality is huge. Knowing what to work on, and having the tools and support to be effective is invaluable.
I’ve found that as you move up, the ability to “lead yourself” (e.g. solve for those despite clear direction) is essential. A CTO can’t just ask their leadership what to do. It’s their job to figure that out! (With high level vision/direction from the CEO, but the details are on you)
I've seen what the Korean/Japanese education system does to kids, though, and I don't want any part of that. Kids go from being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to completely burned out by the time they're 13 or so
Still, I have also found the quality of leadership really determines my productivity. When working independently, and there are 100 different objectives I could work on, it's very logical for my brain to say none of them are important. I have come to appreciate how helpful it is to have a decent boss who can laser focus on objectives in a way that help me line up my work.