

Beware the self-taught know it all - Alfred2
http://blog.acthompson.net/2013/08/beware-self-taught-know-it-all.html

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dollar
I am absolutely overflowing with computer science PhDs from IBM, CA, and
academia. I would give away 10 pompous entitled know-it-all Computer Science
PhD types for just one single self-taught know-it-all. Maybe the real problem
is that your over-achieving self-taught know-it-all types are unchallenged and
agitated by your basic curriculum. Maybe the education system in this country
is so abysmally broken, that professors waste their time criticizing talented
students on the Internet, while those talented students sit unchallenged in
boring basic classes they should not have to take in the first place.

~~~
vault_
Chill out a bit. Classes are for more people than the self-taught know-it-
all's in the room. Most of those people attend the class because they want to
learn the "basic curriculum" and they probably aren't interested in listening
to some self-taught guy argue with the professor.

The author of the article is not condemning people for being self-taught; he's
condemning them for being arrogant. I would self-identify as a self-taught
know-it-all and understand the behavior he's talking about in the article:
pointing out minor inaccuracies in things the professor says, answering every
question (to the exclusion of others being able to answer), and asking
irrelevant "questions" largely just to demonstrate how much better you are
than the other students. It's really not that hard to realize that this
behavior is disruptive and avoid it.

~~~
dollar
Arrogance is a disruptive personality characteristic whether the individual is
an academoc or self-taught, and no one likes a know-it-all of any type.
However, the behaviors you describe are extremely common among gifted and
talented individuals, and are part of the reason that such individuals often
struggle in the general student population (and real life). Often that talent,
enthusiasm, and zest for sharing knowledge that these people possess is
interpreted as arrogance. It's no excuse for the behavior - clearly quirky
talented types must live in society - but it does mean that the education
system should account for these individuals and help them down the road. But
it doesn't. The system fails miserably in this regard, and the author of this
article needs to realize he is part of the problem.

------
ctdonath
It's the gaping holes in their knowledge base, reinforced work-arounds in
place because they didn't know there was a gap or that it could be bridged,
which I find glaringly problematic. Formal training strives to ensure
everything has been covered to an appropriate degree, and subsequent self-
teaching is done with an awareness that such thoroughness should be sought.
The self-taught know-it-all (as contrasted with self-taught humility) does not
grasp the vast fabric of knowledge, instead equating "good enough" with
"that's all there is".

~~~
MortenK
On the other hand, the computer scientist might still be fiddling with trying
to achieve the "correct" architecture long after the self taught guy's
software is in production, and earning money.

~~~
ctdonath
_Robots were instructed to bring the backup central mission module from the
shielded strong room, where they guarded it, to the ship’s logic chamber for
installation.

This involved the lengthy exchange of emergency codes and protocols as the
robots interrogated the agents as to the authenticity of the instructions. At
last the robots were satisfied that all procedures were correct. They unpacked
the backup central mission module from its storage housing, carried it out of
the storage chamber, fell out of the ship and went spinning off into the void.

This provided the first major clue as to what it was that was wrong.

Further investigation quickly established what it was that had happened. A
meteorite had knocked a large hole in the ship. This ship had not previously
detected this because the meteorite had neatly knocked out that part of the
ship’s processing equipment which was supposed to detect if the ship had been
hit by a meteorite.

The first thing to do was to try to seal up the hole. This turned out to be
impossible, because the ship’s sensors couldn’t see that there was a hole, and
the supervisors, which should have said that the sensors weren’t working
properly, weren’t working properly and kept saying that the sensors were fine.
The ship could only deduce the existence of the hole from the fact that the
robots had clearly fallen out of it, taking its spare brain - which would have
enabled it to see the hole - with them._

\- Douglas Adams, _Mostly Harmless_

To wit: gaping holes in one's understanding can be chronically problematic
when what should be in the gaping hole includes that which lets one know that
there is, in fact, a gaping hole. One may be capable of proceeding nonetheless
(resulting in the rest of the quoted-from book), but with great difficulty.

Of course, arguing over whether Stupid A is stupider than Stupid B is stupid.
Better to be neither the self-taught dysfunctional nor the fully-trained
dysfunctional. TFA wasn't condemning the self-taught, it was condemning the
_arrogant_ self-taught who don't, can't, and won't recognize that there may be
a better and simpler way.

------
a_bonobo
I see the same thing crop up on HN so often - this whole "I taught myself and
it works, therefore we should abandon universities and all self-teach". Here's
one of these threads:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6176222](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6176222)

~~~
ekyo777
I taught myself and I believe it works for me.

My 2 attempts at going to university ended up being noise with little signal
and I dropped out after building up some depression due to that. I had the
similar issues with prior schooling and turns out building products with
others seems to be the most effective way to learn for me.

It may very well not be the case for everyone so universities have their
place, but there were many other flaws in the small subset I've experienced
that should be fixed before I consider recommending them.

I also still have friends from that university, and most of them had to learn
to self teach as soon as they got out.

So I think... in Computer Science, some people going to universities should
self teach instead or find a better university. Showing childrens to teach
themselves at an early age and having a school system supporting it could also
be a good improvement for the future.

In your quote, the 'all' is probably an over-statement. But more people could
give it a try.

