
Career Advice from Scott Adams (2007) - fmavituna
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/career-advice.html
======
putlake
Scott Adams is very entertaining. He predicted Trump's staying power way back
in the summer when everyone (including me) thought his candidacy was just a
joke. In fact, he has predicted a landslide for Trump in the general election.
He says it's based on his training as a hypnotist, which gives him an insight
into the art of persuasion.

Over the years I've learned many things from following Adams' blog. He
recommended Cialdini's books on persuasion, which are a must read for all
sales people and all entrepreneurs (because we are salespeople, like it or
not). His financial advice [1] is rock solid, and his latest book on goal-
oriented vs. systems-oriented thinking was also an eye-opener.

TLDR: I like the dude.

[1] [https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/scott-adams-financial-
advice/](https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/scott-adams-financial-advice/)

~~~
m52go
Yeah I think people misread Scott. He's always had crazy ideas, but they've
been well-articulated and always delivered with a healthy dose of humility.

He doesn't take himself too seriously. Whereas many see him as a troll, I
think he's a true contrarian in a sea of fashionable contrarians.

~~~
dhmholley
For a guy who doesn't take himself too seriously, he sure creates a lot of
sockpuppets to argue with his detractors and sing his own praises.

~~~
monochromatic
[citation needed]

~~~
sdenton4
I was around for the fateful Metafilter thread where Scott Adams sockpupetted
vigorously until he was found out:
[http://mefiwiki.com/wiki/Scott_Adams,_plannedchaos](http://mefiwiki.com/wiki/Scott_Adams,_plannedchaos)

It's a pretty........... interesting read.
[http://www.metafilter.com/102472/How-to-Get-a-Real-
Education...](http://www.metafilter.com/102472/How-to-Get-a-Real-Education-by-
Scott-Adams#3637648)

~~~
kelukelugames
Damn, this is some extra crazy.
[https://www.reddit.com/user/plannedchaos](https://www.reddit.com/user/plannedchaos)

Good thing PG only updates his footnotes when people "misunderstand" him.

~~~
simonswords82
Wow - there's few better examples of the fine line between crazy and genius.

I can't tell if he's using the plannedchaos accounts on various sites to
seriously defend himself by proxy, or is it that he thinks the Internet is a
load of pixels on a screen that unlike some of us he just doesn't take it very
seriously?

Edit: somebody commented below that Scott is now a professional troll, and I'm
inclined to think that they're probably right!

~~~
kelukelugames
I wrote that comment. Adams is out of touch.

------
kelukelugames
Scott Adams used to give great career advice and cartooning tips. I think he
got bored a few years ago and decided to become a professional troll. I will
write some examples after work.

~~~
kelukelugames
Okay I'm home now. Let's dissect the most famous example.

1) Adams compares women to children and people with mental disabilities.

2) Claims he didn't and that everyone who thinks that has bad reading
comprehension. Also plays the victim card anytime someone accuses him of
misogyny.

3) Writes article about hypnosis. Adams says he can convince people that two
things are related without doing it directly. Gives example similar to the
time he did with women and children.

4) Praises Trump for being a master wizard, whatever that means. Gives example
where Trump associates two things without stating it directly.

5) Claims everyone is an outragist for thinking that Trump associated Mexicans
with rapists.

And a quote: "They [Gawker] love me. And I love their hate-traffic, so
everyone wins."

[https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/669004328326172673](https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/669004328326172673)

~~~
aptwebapps
I'm not up to date with the Trump stuff but what I thought was particularly
disingenuous about the first example was that he said in advance that he was
going to write something ambiguous that people would 'misinterpret' and then
he made fun of them when it happened.

As far as I'm concerned, if you write something with the goal of communicating
a particular idea to a particular audience then that's what you said. It
doesn't matter at all what other meanings could be construed and whether they
are more logical or not.

If I say something to a few people and I know that one of them will
misunderstand it (the reason doesn't really matter) in a way that makes the
statement untrue then I've just lied to that person.

~~~
kelukelugames
On one hand I think he knows exactly what he is doing. He mentions phrasing
and word choice in some of his posts.

On the other hand, he might just be completely clueless about race and gender
issues. He says things like "If women want to avoid catcalling then why don't
they just move? I moved to improve my life."

Maybe a little of column A, and a little of column B.

~~~
zo1
>" _If women want to avoid catcalling then why don 't they just move? I moved
to improve my life._"

Perhaps pointing out the hypocrisy of those actually using that rhetorical
construct? Being someone that advocates a society without a state, and often
criticizes it, I get that comment thrown at me many times. And people find it
a _perfectly_ acceptable and valid retort to what I'm advocating. Maybe
putting it in the context of "women" (with gender issues currently being a
prominent theme/topic in society), perhaps he can make the users of that
construct look at it critically as a bad argument against anything.

Note, haven't actually read Adam's articles about women being mentioned here.

------
jhrrsn
On the whole, I think I agree with Scott's advice in this post. However, there
are some real challenges that come with the choice to be 'good at a few
things' instead of the 'best at one thing. Namely, if you're not starting your
own business, I think it massively reduces your employment mobility.

I am fortunate in that I am valued within my organisation for my 'generalist'
spread of skills (including communication, development, analysis & sales).
It's clear to me how useful it is to be able to approach a problem from
several angles and engage with specialists from different areas effectively.

However, if I ever want to move out of my current organisation, I feel as
though I would end up taking a significant step backwards in my career because
almost all advertised jobs are specialised roles.

This creates a constant pressure in my mind to specialise and focus more on a
single area.

~~~
drumdance
I think he would argue that you're better off hacking your way into a job.

That is, don't apply for open positions. Instead, get to know the decision
makers and demonstrate your value one on one. (His book has a whole section on
networking.)

That's hard to do for someone just out of college, but once you get a little
experience it's a sound strategy.

------
petke
That's good advice. Find a niche basically.

It don't think it works for every career though. Being good or even being the
most skilled at a niche. Musicians and actors, any job that has as much to do
with popularity as with skill. Very few make it and the ones that do, don't
seem better than most of the ones that dont.

I have been listening to enough open mic nights and small time bar gigs to
think so. Its sad really, how many talented musicians there is in this world
that never make it. Music that gives you the chills. And then you put on the
radio and its an endless stream of crap.

My career advice would be, don't get into anything that requires popularity.
Its a cruel world out there.

~~~
kevindeasis
Scott says: 1\. Become the best at one specific thing. 2\. Become very good
(top 25%) at two or more things.

You raise a fascinating point. Following Scott's format. I wonder if a person
can: 1\. be the very best musician. 2\. Be very good at networking (top 25%)
or playing at events .

Now my question to you, petke. With those two things, would any person wanting
to be a musician be a successful musician?

~~~
petke
Good point. Those musicians that made it, maybe they where just better at
networking.

The music I tend to like most is these folk type singer/songwriter with an
acoustic guitar singing sad songs. A lot of those musicians seem quite
introvert and shy, and are probably bad at networking. So it might explain why
so many of them don't make it despite their talents.

~~~
bitJericho
Haha one of my fav indie singers didn't even bother to reply when I told her
her domain was expiring. It's now lost to the shitty secondary market. I guess
she gave up. Let me know your email if you'd like to know the artist.

------
drumdance
His self-help book is excellent.

[http://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-
Still/dp/15...](http://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-
Still/dp/1591847745)

~~~
simonswords82
Thanks for linking this, just purchased a copy the reviews are outstanding.

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erobbins
I'm in the top 25% of quite a few things, and I'm not spending weekends on my
100 foot yacht in the caribbean... probably because I'm in the bottom 25% of
motivation. It's good advice, but just a piece of the puzzle.

~~~
bambax
Same here. But, to be fair to SA, I actually never tried to combine any two of
the things I'm good at, I always try to compete/compare myself to people who
are the best at one thing and I usually fall short.

Combining talents is an interesting concept.

------
monksy
He had a great interview on the Tim Ferris podcast. If I hadn't heard about
him there I would have never gotten his book.

[http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/09/22/scott-adams-the-
man-b...](http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/09/22/scott-adams-the-man-behind-
dilbert/)

------
galfarragem
IMO, the crutial point is not just being in the top 25% of some skills. It
depends on the skill.

Maybe you only need to be in the top 50% on DIY to get an useful skill but
e.g. on juggling maybe you need to be in the top 1% to have a relevant skill.

~~~
rrherr
Very true. And for some skills, like juggling specifically, even the very top
might not be good enough:

"Why did Anthony Gatto, the greatest juggler alive — and perhaps of all time —
back away from his art to open a construction business?"

[http://grantland.com/features/anthony-gatto-juggling-
cirque-...](http://grantland.com/features/anthony-gatto-juggling-cirque-du-
soleil-jason-fagone/)

------
lifeisstillgood
tl;dr Don't try to be the best at something, it's too hard. Be good at a
couple of things and make a living in the Venn diagram intersection.

It's a nice idea, but I struggle when I get to "software and ..."

Cartoons? Cycling? DIY?

~~~
adenadel
Finance, statistics, biology, mathematics, energy, manufacturing, education,
fitness... (not trying to be condescending here)

I think software could be a great pairing with many other areas. I'm not sure
if it's better to have software as a foundation or as second skill to add onto
your area of expertise.

~~~
collyw
Primary skill, if you have ever had to look at the code from self taught
bioinformaticians from biology backgrounds.

~~~
adenadel
As a bioinformatician, I completely agree with you. My question is, which
contributes more to the field? A specialist enabled by code, or a coder who
has learned something of a second field?

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nadam
This is good advice for success. On the other hand happiness is not the same
thing as success, although they are related. This is the reason I put an
unreasonable fraction of my energies into being very good at programming,
algorithmization and things like that, instead of better diversifying my
portfolio. Programming (the interesting kind) is something that I need to do
to be happy.

------
jtth
Scott Adams is one of the last people I would take advice from.

~~~
JadeNB
While I happen to agree personally, perhaps this comment would be better with
some explanation of why he's so far down the ladder?

------
nickthemagicman
He says at the beginning of the article to be in the top 25% at two things,
then, at the end of the article he says to be top 25% at three things?

So I'm guessing if we got in the top 25% at 5 things or even 50 billion things
it would probably be even better!

My career advice to everyone is this: "Be better than most people at 50
billion things and you will be successful!"

Scott Adams is super brilliant.

