
Ask HN: Is there no place for people, who are average at something? - pks016
For applying to a company or college or anything, everyone need best people from the crowd. And that&#x27;s logical. But what happens to people who are average at something?
Do they have no chance in anything?
or Do they just have to get better at what they are doing?
======
itamarst
Most companies _say_ they need the best people. In practice:

1\. Most companies deliberately choose not to pay at the top of industry pay
range, instead aiming for 70th percentile or 50th percentile or whatever.

2\. Majority of programmers are employed. By definition more programmers are
average than "the best". So in practice most companies hire average
programmers and it's just fine.

3\. "Average" is a misleading concept. Programming (or any job) has a wide
variety of skills, and is basically a group effort. Most programmers have
strengths in some skills, weaknesses in others, and that's OK, because they
work as a team with other people.

So, don't worry about it.

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goatherders
1\. Most people drastically overestimate the talents and abilities of other
people 2\. Most people drastically underestimate their own

Be that as it may, the best ways for an "average" or even below average people
to reach the above-average arena:

1\. Education 2\. Experience 3\. Combining two different skills or knowledge
bases or passions to create scarcity. Example, I have a friend who is an
average web designer. He uses pagebuikdwrs and wouldn't know what to with an
API if it was punching him in the nose. He is also passionate about cigars. So
he targets cigar shops as client s. Competitors pitch more complex and pretty
designs and Stripe integration and such. He walks in and says "wow, looks like
you got a box of Cigar X! How exciting, those will sell fast since there were
only 200 boxes produced. Really interested to see what Maker Y did with that
new leaf for the wrapper. Should be a nice smooth taste and slow draw compared
to their other release..." who do you think wins the business?

*I obviously know nothing about cigar lingo but that's not the point.

~~~
veddox
> 1\. Most people drastically overestimate the talents and abilities of other
> people 2. Most people drastically underestimate their own

Ehm, sorry, what's your source for that claim? (c.f. the Dunning-Kruger effect
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect))

~~~
2_listerine_pls
His gut flora

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maze-le
Most people are average, thats kind of the meaning of average. I consider
myself an average programmer advancing on an average career path and had
plenty of recruiters contact me with interesting opportunities recently. Sure
its not Google or Facebook, but so what, I wouln't like to work for a mega
coorporation like that anyway. If you doubt yourself because you consider
yourself average, consider that the constant talk of excellence, highest
skilled people and so forth is mostly HR PR bullshit. Sure, there are
extremeley talented people out there, but they are pretty rare.

Interesting video, that touches the issue: "The myth of the genius
programmer"[0].

[0]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SARbwvhupQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SARbwvhupQ)

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oldcynic
You'll find average everywhere - that is rather the thing about average after
all. Every startup or small company that claims to recruit the best is usually
more about not recruiting the mediocre. Or canning them as quickly as possible
once identified - recruitment is a very imprecise art after all. Regardless of
what hoops and whiteboard games take place.

Everyone is average at some things, even most things, on average (sorry)!
Equally everyone has some things they can excel at and be above average -
those are the things to focus on and develop. And subsequently highlight.

Mediocrity seems to survive better the larger the company and especially so in
the huge consultancies. You might think of a huge corporation as where the
mediocre can go to hide.

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BjoernKW
Sure. That place is called "corporations".

They might say otherwise and of course they can't really say: "If you're
average at anything come join us." but not only is it very unlikely that the
majority in a 10,000+ employee company is above average, big corporations -
traditionally at least - optimise for mediocrity and consistency rather than
excellence and creativity.

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bsvalley
Average at what? Tests? Scores? GPA? Coding? How do we know the difference?
You can be successful without being #1 at school. In fact, there are more
successful people in life than top students. Plus, most of the top students
aren’t that successful in life. That applies to schools, companies, sports,
etc.

~~~
zapperdapper
Yeah, it's funny. I recently attended a school reunion and a few of the real
high fliers actually ended up doing OK but not in line with expectations. On
the other hand there were the low fliers who never stood out who went on to do
amazing things!

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bewe42
It's fine to be average, see other comments

If you want to raise above, you have three options:

1\. Become very good in one particular skill 2\. Become good at multiple
skills 3\. Choose a niche or something new where due to lack of competition
you are already very good

1\. is hard, especially in popular, well paid areas 2\. + 3. are much easier
to accomplish.

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csa
Often times one can be average at two different things, but the combined
skills make them above average.

A classic example is someone who is an average engineer and an average
salesperson. This type of person is highly sought after and can make serious
bank.

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AnimalMuppet
Average could mean "average of all people on the planet", which, for any given
activity, means "not very good".

But average could also mean "average of all people _who engage in that
activity_ ", which is _good enough_. For example, if I'm average for a
professional computer programmer, then I'm good enough to be a professional
computer programmer. In fact, half of them are worse than me!

Then there's the distinction between "average" and "average _at X_ ". I can be
a very average person in almost every area, but still exceptional at one
thing. (I only need one. Two is a bonus, but one's enough.)

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akulbe
Everyone is average, at some point. Some folks forget that.

The key is, to "human" well, and work to improve your life. Small bits at a
time. This goes for vocation, as well as character.

Don't be content to _remain_ average.

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Fsp2WFuH
Well, actually it's more like there are not that many average people. Let me
explain...

When you hear that an average family earns $50k/year, what (I think) is really
happening is that many earn under $25k and few earn over 100k.

I think same thing applies to individual people.

I used to work as CNC machinist, and most of my coworkers were either really
good or ok enough to not get fired.

I as a developer now feel I'm below average, and I've met many like myself.
Then there are really good devs out there I get inspired by.

Just my 2c.

~~~
3minus1
average income is typically a median, with 50% of people following above and
below the median. it's specifically used because outliers can't throw it off.

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yesenadam
A Freemason told me the Freemasons are for average people in all walks of
life.

A possibly no-more-helpful contribution: Harvey Pekar's classic "Average is
dumb!" American Splendor cover:

[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-qF6CbJo2vY/TD0odctqvYI/AAAAAAAAI7...](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_-qF6CbJo2vY/TD0odctqvYI/AAAAAAAAI7E/66xdIb3qvNs/s1600/American+Splendor+%232.jpg)

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zapperdapper
I'm average. I've had no problem building a successful career. I've had some
great jobs and a successful freelancing business too. Stop worrying about
"being average" \- you are almost certainly above average anyway, and get down
to some hard work! :)

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togusa2017
What's best . I always had this issue when I work with someone, in the initial
weeks I find him/her best and smart but as time goes buy I just see them as
average or below average just putting up a facade or may it's me - I just suck
at judging people. So the point is best is very misleading thing to look for
and very referential

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kleer001
There are projects that need bodies in seats and that's a pond average people
can be big fish in.

You're describing niches. Look at nature, it's a field of niches (among other
things).

