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Uniquely Bright: Experiences and Tips?
An anonymous reader writes: "I would like to hear from fellow /.ers that consider themselves unusually but non-traditionally 'bright' and how you have dealt with it. What are you doing now? What did you do for education? How is your life now? I'm on the verge of entering college, never having liked school much yet always in love with learning. I would like some tips, suggestions, and experience in living with an extra degree of intensity, depth, and general intelligence. I love learning, yet I never have found school enjoyable. I'm incredibly intense and concentrated, yet I often become bored of specific projects in a few months. It's not anything diagnosable (I've looked into it) but more an inherent trait. Academically, I have managed to be alright, but nothing spectacular. Lots of people I meet think I should have a 4.0 easy, but I'm pretty far from it. My interests are broad, from computers (linux/os x/php/mysql/etc) to photography to cookery, I'm creative and technical. Friends and others recognize my strength in these areas. I can't stand being completely technical alone, but I love it in moderation. My attention span is practically unlimited when I am interested in a topic, and I get intensely interested in it. I want to hear from people who share some or all of these traits. I'm just coming up on entering college, so most of my life is ahead of me. I'd like to hear about everything from your education to your career to things you wish you had done differently!" Sounds like an INTP to me.
Drop out and start an Internet company. I hear that's the way to go these days.
Life in Orange County
Be prepared for your spirit to be crushed
I couldn't take college and dropped out because of my arrogance, similar as yours. As a result I make 12 an hour for computer repair. It's not the boom anymore, kid.
You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You may have to tough it up and take a path that is not enjoyable to you, as most of the rest of us normals have done, and save the soul-nourishing for the weekends and holidays.
My blog can kick your blog's ass
Get over yourself. Only when you lose some of that cockiness will you begin to enjoy a meaningful and enriched life.
Is this guy serious?
:(
It sounds to me like this guy is insecure about his intellegence and is falling back on Slashdot to boost his confidence. He describes himself as "uniquely bright," but admits he hasn't done anything spectacular to merit this title. Lots of people use Linux; that doesn't make them smart. The same thing goes with not doing well in high school. It doesn't mean they were too smart for their education, it just means they were different. Heartbreak
I realize that a lot of geniuses didn't do well in high school, but then, they weren't labeled such until after they did something to prove themselves. I could label myself as a champion bodybuilder because I go to the gym everyday, but the truth is I'm only benching 225. The same principle applies: you can't call yourself something unless you can back it up.
You're going to college and you have the rest of your life ahead of you. Find something you're good at, and stick with it. Just don't fall into the mentality that if you fail at something, it's because you're too "bright."
The World is Yours.
You will have to focus and refine your talents to get anywhere. The ability to work really hard for a short time when you happen to feel like it won't help you any. Otherwise you will feel cheated when those without your "raw ability" whiz by you in life.
Unfortunately in today's business setting, some sort of official training is neccesary. Even if you have spent 10 years of your life working with computers every day, you still unfortunately need a college degree. I'm planning on going to college in the fall and enduring the classes while also learning through experience. I think it was Herman Hesse in Siddhartha who said something about it being impossible to be taught anything. The experience is everything...
College is so you can show the employer that you can deal with a whole bunch of bullshit... stuff you didn't want to do and still did anyway.
...and then do it.
A lot of people (especially in here) are going to tell you "yeah, I'm the same...this is what you should do"
or
"Shut your whiney cakehole. Go to school, get a job, and go to work."
All bullshit.
Sample many things over the next few years, find something you like to do, and then go do it. After that, all bets are off.
If you can't find something you like to do, something that fits in you mindset at the moment...do something anyway! If it sucks...too bad. You still need to, at the very least, support yourself. Because I won't. And neither will the next guy. And your parents shouldn't have to.
My experience with this is limited, but that a lot of postgraduate education is not set up for your type; they're looking for people with more discipline, who will see projects through to the end and get published (and possibly make advancements in whatever field).
Your type of intelligence frustrates many people because it's not helpful; to produce usable software or make advancements in practically any field, you need to focus on them for a long time; I'd say that most of the "obvious" or "easy" discoveries have been made, and much of the research out there is fine-tuning what we know.
The best thing to do is to find a mentor, someone who has a similar mindset. You may find one at your institution, but you shouldn't rule out looking further. In order to do discover or create something important, you need to overcome this... Of course, lots of very effective managers and adminstrators are like this; expand your search for a mentor to maybe the field of business... And check your ego at the door. You may think you're incredibly bright, but just wait until you hit postgraduate education. I'm in medical school, and some of the people around me are exceedingly intelligent, and others are average joes like me. The higher you go, the more you realize you're not "uniquely" anything.
You want to learn something useful: it's better to be kind than clever.
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
I would like to hear from fellow /.ers that consider themselves unusually but non-traditionally 'bright' and how you have dealt with it. What are you doing now?
The same thing we do every night, try to take over the world.
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
A future PHB? All the ingrediants are there: arrogance, cockiness, self-delusion... Kid, you're headed for middle-management!
These are the types of unrealistic self-loving kids you get when all you do is shower little Johnny with positive reinforcement no matter how much he sucks at [fill in sport, hobby, or interest here]. Chances are, this kid attended government schools. And now he's comparing himself to those teenagers? Maybe you really are special, though statistically speaking, I doubt it.
You think you're bright, sharp, and multi-talented? Anyone can have that impression when they compare themselves to their coincidental surroundings (family, local friends, etc.) Think you're good at computers? Go to Berkeley or someplace where you will really be challenged. Like rockets? Get a PhD and join NASA. Great swimmer? Then get on the Olympic team. Otherwise, you're just another schmuck.
Don't get sucked into comparing yourself against easy targets like teenage pals. Until you work with the best in a given field (or even the pretty good) you have NO idea how much you suck.
And if you're good at cooking, go win an Iron Chef tournament. Until then, reel in the ego before you get pounded.
This one gang kept wanting me to join cause I'm pretty good with a bo staff.
If you think you're a non-traditional student, go to a non-traditional college. Like New College of Florida, which has essentially no required classes, so you don't have to take stupid, boring, and irrelevant to your interests classes; no grades, so you can't compare intelligence by GPA; only 650 students, so you can actually meet everyone on campus, and get to be friends with everyone with the same interests; the ability to create your own classes ("tutorials") and research projects ("Independant Study Project" or ISP); and you graduate based on a final thesis and baccalaurate exam - in other words, if you graduate, it means that you learned something and could demonstrate it in a 100 thesis and hour(s) long oral defense.
New College ain't the only school like this out there. Schools like this exist because some students don't do as well as they potentially can in a academically strict environment (like highschool and early college). Get more out of your education than a diploma. Spend four (or more!) years being yourself and growing from it.
My only advice would be to stop telling people you're "uniquely bright." It doesn't go over well. That kind of thinking is something you just keep to yourself...instead, demonstrate your intelligence through action. If you're interested in programming, I'd suggest picking a pet project and getting your hack on.
Don't be arrogant.
You'll go out and find you aren't as special as you think you are. Yes, I was the same way... and still am. I have a 3.92, graduated HS with lots of honors (higher gpa though... could have been higher if i didn't slack off my soph year), got all the comments about intelligence, genius, whatever. Now i'm a junior in college and work too.
I have a co-op job and work with some people I concider not as intelligent as I am or they just don't grasp things like I do... but I don't care. They know things that I don't, they think differently than I do, but they're engineers, they're smart too. You can be gifted in many different ways (I used to work at a bagle shop and had an awesome General Manager there. He was gifted in his own right and I highly respect him).
At work I have it setup where I get daily dilbert when I log into my computer... odly enough last week was pretty much all about the "prima donna" of the office. And now my only advice to you is to try not to be that guy.
Even in classes the same rule applies. Don't be that guy who thinks he's god's gift to the classroom/lecture hall. I've seen plenty of those, and no one likes them.
Who did we like or admire? The guy who got close to the higest grade on all the exams but kept to himself. He was bright, and not an ass hole.
Sure you might have the gifts for science, computers, art, music, or whatever you like... but what you really need to keep up in the real world is to have the social skills.
Article: "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments"
abstract: "People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across 4 studies, the authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error. Paradoxically, improving the skills of participants, and thus increasing their metacognitive competence, helped them recognize the limitations of their abilities."
For pete's sake: You can't take a word that's in common use, re-define it, and expect people to take it up. Language change happens, but you can't force it.
...And this is coming from someone who agrees with the principles "Brights" espouse.
It also doesn't help when your re-definition is absurdly conceited. You're essentially claiming that yours is the intelligent position by appropriating the word. It would be Orwellian if it weren't ridiculous.
I felt the same as you...maybe I'm as smart as you and maybe not.
But here's the thing that has made my life invaluable. No shit...
FIND AND CHERISH GOOD FRIENDS.
Your talents will take you wherever they take you, but friendship will fill the gaps.
Evil is the money of root.
This is possibly the worst possible motivation for getting a graduate degree (I should add I'm an academic myself so I have an idea of what I am talking about). The ONLY reason to get a PhD these days is for love of the subject. I couldn't bear the idea of not being involved in research in my field and my colleagues all felt the same. You will never make up the money you lose doing it, and in the end its not like people fall at my feet in worship everytime I use my title. Its a long, hard slog usually, intelligence is not the main factor in getting through anyway: its a work ethic and a bit of grit.
You can get just as much intellectual stimulation in industry if you land the right post. And get paid handsomely for doing it. The graduate degree is only for those who truly want it, we quite often see those who think of it as an intellectual penis-extending exercise fall by the wayside. And rightly so to be honest.
Plays violent online games as: Nerfherder76
I don't like agreeing with the above post because it's obvious flamebait. "teenage nitwit," is the most obvious attack. The straw men constructed show the author advocates kindness more than he practices it. Garyok, how the hell do you know how our anonymous reader treats people or tells them? How do you know that they are not really clever? As you say, "people deserve respect".
That being said, my best advice is to get over being clever. I gave myself lots of problems before I did this for myself. I was self defeatingly lazy about the way I did my work.
Every little thing counts. More than anything else, your school work shows that you can follow directions and are willing to do things that are boring to get what you want. Companies want employees that do everything they are told, not just the "exciting" things. Yeah, it's stupid but that's the way the world is made. You may not like working for a company that judges people this way, but most are like that and it beats being unemployed.
The most important thing for my technical work was to see good examples. The Given, Find, Solution method is the best way to avoid mistakes and it really saves time even for trivial problems. Trivial problems don't require as much write up. You don't have to be a neat fanatic about it or even have good penmanship, but stating all of your assumptions and referencing equations and other sources makes your mistakes obvious to you when go back to check it. It gives you time to clear your head and avoids transcription problems because you can put your finger on your work and in the book at the same time to check. It also gives you a body of work to take to interviews.
Look for other bright people and work with them. It will help you understand just where you fit into the world and you will understand more. I picked people at random and did well with one or two of them. One of them is still a very good friend and I have no idea why he thinks I'm brighter than he is.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Unusually bright people are not welcome in day to day society.
Popular culture goes out of its way to make people who are intelligent, well-spoken and aware appear to be strange. Very often those people are excluded as quickly as possible from the societal "cocktail party on the patio deck."
The reason for this is that people who are not unusually bright mistakenly believe that intelligent people make them look stupid. The intelligent people must therefore be removed from the stage as quickly as possible, otherwise they might begin to have some political influence which would reduce middle management's ability to stuff their own pockets.
Smart people are the first ones ridiculed, the first ones argued with, the first ones made fun of, the first ones fired. Smart people often have little or no use for office politics, which is why it is so easy for lying cheat fuck middle management bastards to outmanuever them and get them fired.
Bright people usually begin their careers believing the quality of their work will enable them to succeed. What they later find out is that there are two choices: spend your career wading through a swamp of bubbling, wet shit with liar cheat rat bastard fuck "supervisors," or start your own business with a couple of other bright people and bypass the cubicle bullshit factory. The quality of someone's work is absolutely irrelevant to success in the workplace. In fact, the higher the quality of someone's work, the more likely it is they will be fired.
Business encourages office politics and people who are liar cheat fuck bastards always win. Bright people mistakenly believe that being a liar cheat fuck bastard should disqualify someone from competent professional discussion. It does not. In fact, it usually gives the liar cheat fuck bastard an insurmountable advantage. So, the smart people get fired, leaving entire floors full of liar cheat fuck bastards who are paid exorbitant amounts, do no work, yet can't be fired because they have mastered the arts of office politics and being a liar cheat fuck bastard.
Mediocre, visionless, imaginationless, dull people are usually the first to buy a home, first to raise a family, first to get promoted, first to drive the expensive car, first to put in a pool, first to take the vacations. They can't be fired either, because they never say anything except "there's cake in the conference room" and "are you on the morning donut list yet?"
So, if a bright person expects to enter the workplace, expect to find four groups:
1) Upper management, pockets already stuffed with tall dollars, ordering lunch from a golf cart, oblivious
2) Middle management, busily stuffing their pockets with whatever is left over, ordering in from the local delivery deli.
3) Dull, witless drones, talking about their weekend trip to "the river" or "the canyon," what color their new Navigator will be, and the landscaping on their palacial four-acre estate, financed because they have never been fired, ever, and ordering lunch as a group from the menu at the local "yuppie grill" which is the only place in town where one can order an $11 bacon cheeseburger. They can afford it, after all, because they have never, EVER opened a bill without a matching paycheck.
4) One or two smart, intelligent people, quietly working through lunch on a brilliant project, unaware they will be fired a few days before or after it is completed.
I have long since given up on the "job market," because after three and a half years of being unemployed, and over 400 resumes, I believe it to be a festering maggot-infested open sore on society, draining every last shred of joy and wisdom from people's careers, and destroying the educations and communities of millions upon millions of hard-working people.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
I too thought (well I guess I still do) I was incredibly bright and talented. Straight As in high school without even trying really. Head on out to Carnegie Mellon and WTF...I'm not the brightest anymore. In fact, I had to bust my ass to be just above average. Since then I've worked a myriad of jobs and started a few companies.
The point is, go get humbled. Find out where your strengths and weaknesses are once you're thrown in with the cream of the crop. You may find you're in the top 5% when it comes to coding but the bottom 5% in communication and reasoning. If, after four years you still find you're a genius, go out in the world, say you got superior grades at a top notch school and do whatever the hell you want. My guess is though, you'll be eating a little humble pie for the first couple semesters at school.
"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts...for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang
I've never quite fit in and might possibly fit your description, although I would never publicly declare myself "unusually but non-traditionally bright" even though I may sometimes think so if I haven't done something really stupid recently (which I'm prone to do).
At age 34 I think I'm finally more or less comfortable with my future plans and how I fit into things.
Now, the INTP thing. That's a Myers-Briggs [personality] Type Indicator. I've never been much into classifying people, but I felt personally validated after reading some material on the subject. Basically I'm an INTP which is less than 5% of the world's population, so I figure it's okay that I don't seem to think like "everyone else" (for better or worse). The descriptions of INTP's thinking, working and love habits really hit home, too, so that made me feel better. David Keirsey has a couple of books _Please Understand Me_ and _... II_ which cover the subject.
If MB typing interests you, check out _Do What You Are_ by Paul D. Tieger & Barbara Baroon-Tieger. It suggests occupations that match the interests of each of the types.
Like I say I'm a bit skeptical of psychological studies and categorizations in general, but using the above material for validation and occasionally a sanity check helped me feel better, although I don't know if it made any tangible difference in my life. My career was already set when I read these books.
Back to practical advice and personal experience, I had no clue what I wanted to do after high school. I went to college as a default. I did okay at first, but my grades went downhill after a year or two. I was good with computers but couldn't imagine any job I would like involving them; I imagined sitting in front of a green screen typing all day and didn't like it. I had a job with a big company, though, and when working a remote site my terminal went down. The tech showed up while I was there, unplugged the modem and plugged in a new one. I said (or maybe thought...I can't remember now) "you get paid to do that? I can do that." So I got in touch with his manager and found out what the job requirements were: an Associate's degree. So I changed my college focus and got the 2-year degree and happened to get that job just as I graduated. From there my experiences and job interests expanded.
So I guess my career advice is to open your eyes and watch what other people are doing; if you like it, find out how you can do it. That probably sounds obvious to everyone else, but at that age I was very introspective and other people didn't interest me much.
I hate sales. And it sounds like you probably do, too: "Friends and others recognize my strength in these areas." I usually say that I'm bad at first impressions but when people see what I can do they gain respect. When I say sales I include the forward type of behavior involved in cold selling, meeting women and job hunting, because I think they use very similar talents that I (and I suspect you) lack. A couple of things that helped me in this area a while back were college classes in interpersonal communication and business communication. A few customer service seminars at work helped a lot, too. This is important: having techincal skills is good, but these days you *have* to have the people skills to be secure. I still vehemently hate cold selling and job hunting, but I have good customer service skills and work well with just about everyone.
The rest you will decide for yourself as you learn and get more experience in exactly who you are and what you want. I didn't really figure it out until quite recently. I looked at other people and couldn't find anyone whose example I wanted to follow. At 30 I kinda freaked out, quit my job and did some other odd stuff because I just didn't like where my life was going. The past 3 years I've spent recovering fina
First thing you should know is that there is no point to life. Wanna know the difference between Ronald Reagan and the crackhead on 8th avenue? They're both worm food right now.
So, don't worry about crap like "success" that others foist upon you. What is success? It's whatever you say it is, nothing else. The only success is doing what you like until you too become worm food.
Rule two: You're not going to change the world. There's too many people that have figured out how to profit from our wicked ways to let some little smart-ass cocksucker like you change that. If your goal in life is to make a lot of money, figure out how to make the heartless crooks rich and you'll be quite comfortable. Oh, and make lots of connections, because that's where the big money comes from: Connections and pure luck.
You are a unique and beautiful snowflake. Snowflake number #3857493 to be exact.
There are two camps in this world, the camp that says "Shut the fuck up, stop whining, eat your boss's shit on toast, put your nose to the grindstone and work yourself to death, and the camp that says "Be yourself. Let your natural talents grow. Do what you enjoy doing."
Sorry kid. The world sucks. Everyone's out for number one and they don't give a fuck about you unless they get something good in return; no matter if it's your boss, your wife, your parents, or your kids. You're the same way, so you might as well accept it.
And the point of my post? There is none, just like there's no point in life. Life is like an old school video game: There's no real "finish," just see how many points you can rack up until you die. Figure out your own scoring system and rack up them points boy.
vi ~/.emacs
I think a high percentage of the people here are pretty smart, because Slashdot really doesn't have much for people who are not. That being said, since we're debater-types, we tend to be a little mean-spirited. I apologise on behalf of my fellow Slashdot users for the insulting tone of many of these messages.
The fellow who edited your comment mentioned that you were probably an INTP. This is true; so am I. This means that you are devoted to finding logical solutions to problems, and are dreamy and absent-minded if you're not involved in something that interests you. This would seem to fit your educational profile to a "T".
About 1% of the population are INTPs. Since they're logical and like designing things, they tend to gravitate towards computing as a career, so you see a very high percentage of them here.
Perhaps the most revealing thing about the Meyers-Briggs type indicator, which is where these strange four-letter acronyms come from, is that people are very different, and many of the differences can be described by a simple formula. I've found that even with very complex people, the Meyers-Briggs attributes make it easier to deal with them and understand at least parts of how their minds work.
A good example of how people think is based on logic. When I was younger, I thought logic was the be-all and end-all, and that it was simply impossible to make sense of contradictions. Now I understand that there are people who don't care about contradition; they just care about getting work done and if this means doing things that are not strictly logical, well, that's what will be done and that's what they need. This is very important to understand when programming systems such as reports which may have seemingly contradictory attributes. A pure INTP would simply say its not possible to do them. An INTP with some seasoning and social understanding will try very hard to untangle the contradictions and find a solution that works.
Many times the best type of person for you is someone very different from you. People who use feelings to make decisions, for example, are capable of deep love and can make wonderful relationships. People who are strictly logical wind up looking cold and characterless, both to that type of person and to each other. So if you check out the Meyers-Briggs and use it to classify people, don't forget the feelers. They may bring some much-needed passion into your life.
Now, it's worth noting that types are not the be-all and end-all. They don't describe everything about a person. I have dated a couple of INFJs, and they've always been special to me. It's clear to me that I have a real affinity to that type of person. But both of them were very different and distinct people, despite having similar basic personalities. The one I'm involved with now is a wonderful creative artist who has brought much joy into my life.
I've used these four-letter acronyms so much I feel like i should explain the MBTI a little. Full knowledge of it takes whole books, but at the root, it's simple. There are four different attributes that define a personality in the MBTI:
Introvert/Extrovert (I/E). Are you energised by being with other people, or by being alone?
iNtuitive/Sending (N/S). Do you concentrate on things as they are (sensing) or as they should be (Intuition)? Do you think of things as concrete facts (Sensing) or Principles (Ntuitive)? As an iNtuitive person, I get along much better with my fellow dreamers than with those bores who are sunk in drab reality.
Thinking/Feeling (T/F). Do you make decisions based on objective fact (Thinking) or by the effects they have on others (Feeling)? Most people in the computer field are thinkers. A large percentage of women are feelers. This is why computing is such a male-dominated field, and why computer people tend not to have a good understanding of the opposite sex.
Perceiving/Judging. Do you have a clean desk (Judging) or a messy desk (Perceiving)? Do you pre
Is two-fold.
1) As some others have pointed out, you're basically a kid (although possibly legal) who graduated from high school. Bright though you may claim to be, you haven't really demonstrated anything in terms of practical intelligence. Get off the high horse and prepare for step two.
2) Sit down with your folks and talk this through with them. Spend a year living on your own in the real world. Trust me, it's only gonna take a year. Move out, get an apartment, pay some bills, get a credit card and learn to use it correctly (or better still, royally screw up and be thankful that you're only 18). You don't have to go all out and get a car loan (if you can avoid it, because it's going to keep you tied into this lifestyle, so try to get a car from the folks), but avoid living at home during this experiment at all costs.
Try to obtain and hold down two or three of the following jobs during the year: Retail Sales/clerk, some sort of receptionist/secretarial/clerical work, car sales or some similar "high stakes" sales job, or some sort of construction or low end mechanic work (a jiffy lube or similar). These are the sorts of jobs that a person without a degree can work in and, to a point, actually sustain themselves. While you can hear stories all day long about guys who have sys-admin jobs with no degree to back them up, the fact is that those days are pretty much gone, and there's enough guys out there with a CS degree who will work the same job that it'll keep you at "Mel's Used Cars" indefinitely. The up-side to these jobs is you'll learn some cool stuff that will have a practical application in your life later on. You can pick up some good info on how car dealerships work, and how to keep from getting scammed. You can play retail from the other side of the counter, and chances are that you'll be kinder to retail clerks for the rest of your life. Knowing basic construction skills will save you huge amounts further down the road when you own a house and don't have to pay somebody $1,000 to hang some sheetrock in that room over the garage you want to turn into a LAN lair.
In about 4 months it's going to dawn on you that things like the basic food in your house cost a fair chunk of cash, that car insurance is ludicrously expensive, that landlords aren't always the best people but work well with give-and-take situations, and that living with a roomie isn't always the hilarious life sit-coms make it out to be. You're going to start to realize the amount of money it would take to live and be self-sufficient, and the amount of money it will take to do anything other than "tread water". When you hit December or so, apply to the university or community college of your choice, because come May you're going to be sick of this "real world" crap, but more importantly, you're going to realize that although 50% of college is bullshit classes and random facts that you'll never need to know (I can tell you that the word 'file' came into the English language through middle French, and is named for the thin string originally used to organize 'files' in a cabinet), but part of the point is proving to an employer that you can slog through bullshit. People will change careers, on average, five times in their life. Get a degree in a subject you enjoy, even if it's History or English, and try to study some interesting subjects in your electives. Your first job may not be exciting or pay mad Benjamins, but by this point you'll have already figured out that work isn't fun time. It shouldn't be crap, mind you, and with luck you'll also have learned how to spot crap employers, but you'll be a little more understanding of how life actually works, and you'll realize that work isn't supposed to be demoralizing, but it isn't usually fun either.
When you get a real job, one where you have weekends and two weeks of vacation, you'll have time to pursue your weird side interests and linux and tinkering and everything else you adore. Not oodles, no, but it'll be there. Try to keep yourself reaso
TENACITY! It's called tenacity! I swear, the next grade-school teacher who I hear use the word "stick-to-it-ive-ness" is getting a swift and painful English lesson.
Seriously! It's a syllable shorter! Let's do a comparison! (In list form, because Slashdot's support for preformatted text is bad.)
Stamp out sticktoitiveness wherever you see it. It's the red-headed stepchild of the English language.
This has gotten really, really offtopic. I have a pet peeve; this was a point onto which I could latch. I don't really have an issue with you, just with the word.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I couldn't take college and dropped out because of my arrogance, similar as yours.
Maybe you were arrogant, maybe not. There are a lot of smart people who don't fit into the traditional understanding of "intelligent", "smart" and "clever".
Robert Sternberg is a psycologist whose life project is to show that there are multiple types of "intelligence" and current "intelligence tests" only measure one or two of them.
When we look at the life of people such as Tomas Edison for example, who dropped out of school and was then fired from work for being "too clever" (he created a auto-responder to a morse signal that was supposed to verify if he was awake) it becomes obvious that the school system is not suited for educating some of the smartest people that have lived.
I belive Sternberg is righ, I belive there are very intelligent young people who are being labelled "arrogant" and a lot of other negative names because they are not "connecting" with the "system" as they "should be".
So what is the right way for such people ? Follow your instinct.. It will be hard, it will be difficult and there will be ups and downs but at least you have a chance to be *yourself*
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc