valuable introspection and conversation
Interesting observations from a recent conversation I had with elusivesilence:
So I'll just compare my friend Bobby and I a bit.
Me:
I work very slowly, and it takes a long time for me to parse a question, and as soon as I start looking at it I perform a very broad search for anything that could help solve the problem. I tend to notice certain interesting aspects of the problem, and I get so absorbed in aesthetic and phrasing details that I tend to lose sight of the original problem. I tend to make all sorts of connections as I'm doing a problem, and I get very passionately distracted about those connections to the extent that they tend to matter more than the actual problem. I run into lots of difficultly solving problems whenever there are tons of decisions to be made. I never want to close myself off at any point in time.
On the other hand, he likes apply what he knows to a problem. If he knows how to solve a problem, it will usually take him very little time to solve it. He is very good at picking out the key aspects of the problem that pertain to what he knows and then applying what he knows to the problem. He generally is able to get things done very quickly. He runs into difficultly solving problems when he encounters something that he doesn't actually have the knowledge to solve.
I've thought of a few comparisions (watch out, these may be nerdy):
BFS (me) vs. DFS (him)
high recall, low precision search (me) vs. high precision, low recall search (him)
general solution (me) vs. specific solution (him)
Theoretical CS (me) vs. Mech E. (him)
Research (me) vs. Work in the real world (him)
Relatively speaking, he hates the learning process, and I love it. On the other hand, he loves applying what he knows, and I just don't particularly like applying my knowledge.
As far as time organization goes, we both love to do new things. However, he generally has very good estimations of how long something will take, whereas I have terrible estimations of how long something will take. He constantly finds himself with lots of free time, and I constantly find myself running out of time. He schedules things and is in complete control of the schedule; I make a priority list and do things whenever I have free time.
We also differ on relationships:
life before relationship (me) vs. relationship before everything (him)
wants to find a relationship after settling into a career (me) vs. wants to find a job after finding a mate (him)
stumbles into a relationship (me) vs. actively seeks a relationship (him)
crushes form after friendships (me) vs. friendships form because of a crush (him)
We differ on a lot of aspects, but there are two interesting points about this that I want to draw. First is that comparing myself to someone who is very different in someway allows me to learn a lot about myself. Secondly, and more interestingly, is that we have very similar senses of humor, we tend to reach the same conclusions about certain matters, and we work very well in a team. We also tend never to get on each other's nerves, and we have a lot of fun together. We really make an excellent team. He is really one of the few people I have worked extremely well on a team with. When we work I a team, I can feel free to think about how all of the pieces connect and how we can solve something, and he can happily turn a mass of ideas into a concrete solution, and do it efficiently. I really like the high recall, low precision vs. high precision, low recall analogy because I tend to come up with lots of different ideas and explore all sorts of weird connections, but most of them are completely useless, and he sorts through everything I come up with and tells me what is actually useful. We figure out essentially what the solution process will be together, then he implements the solution. He implements a solution very efficiently, and then I look over it and come up with ideas, explanations, and possible solutions to problems we encounter. Then for each of those problems we do the same thing. Then if we need to write something up, either I will write out a very complete document, and he will help me trim the fat, or he will write a very concise document, and I will help him make sure it contains everything. However, we can also take a different approach and swap all of the tasks assigned. The way that might work is he comes up with an idea and explores it to it's conclusion. Then based on that idea, I can usually get a very good idea of where we need to problem solve more, and then I can use each of the points in his idea to determine the entire scope of the problem. Then I can implement a clunky solution, and he recreate it more efficiently or streamline my solution. It usually doesn't matter which way we solve problems, and they both probably happen just as frequently.
Additionally, he always understands what I'm saying even when I'm having trouble phrasing it or when I can't fully explain something, and I can always understand what he's saying even if his explaination is very concise or if it doesn't come out quite correctly. Essentially he knows what I'm trying to say even if I only get part of the way through, and I know what he's trying to say even if it's ambiguous.
In any case, I love working with Bobby, and I really want to work on some project with him in the future. I guess this brings me to another point: if you are looking for an OS partner for what will likely be fall of next year, and you are a lot like him and are looking for a person who is a lot like me, you should really consider contacting me ^_^
So I guess I was wondering a couple of things: How many people would consider themselves pretty darn similar to me? How many similar to Bobby? How many similar to neither? I guess I didn't talk about our similarities too much, but would anyone consider him/herself to have very different similarities to another person Bobby and I have but very similar difference to that person.
I also have another question which may affect how much I post on livejournal significantly: I tend to think about things like people, curiousities, amusements, and other thoughts. Did anyone find this post interesting enough that s/he thinks I should post whatever interesting (to me at least) thoughts I have?
I actually put a lot of thought into this entry, so I would greatly appreciate if it if anyone reads through all the cuts and maybe comments as well.
So I'll just compare my friend Bobby and I a bit.
Me:
I work very slowly, and it takes a long time for me to parse a question, and as soon as I start looking at it I perform a very broad search for anything that could help solve the problem. I tend to notice certain interesting aspects of the problem, and I get so absorbed in aesthetic and phrasing details that I tend to lose sight of the original problem. I tend to make all sorts of connections as I'm doing a problem, and I get very passionately distracted about those connections to the extent that they tend to matter more than the actual problem. I run into lots of difficultly solving problems whenever there are tons of decisions to be made. I never want to close myself off at any point in time.
On the other hand, he likes apply what he knows to a problem. If he knows how to solve a problem, it will usually take him very little time to solve it. He is very good at picking out the key aspects of the problem that pertain to what he knows and then applying what he knows to the problem. He generally is able to get things done very quickly. He runs into difficultly solving problems when he encounters something that he doesn't actually have the knowledge to solve.
I've thought of a few comparisions (watch out, these may be nerdy):
BFS (me) vs. DFS (him)
high recall, low precision search (me) vs. high precision, low recall search (him)
general solution (me) vs. specific solution (him)
Theoretical CS (me) vs. Mech E. (him)
Research (me) vs. Work in the real world (him)
Relatively speaking, he hates the learning process, and I love it. On the other hand, he loves applying what he knows, and I just don't particularly like applying my knowledge.
As far as time organization goes, we both love to do new things. However, he generally has very good estimations of how long something will take, whereas I have terrible estimations of how long something will take. He constantly finds himself with lots of free time, and I constantly find myself running out of time. He schedules things and is in complete control of the schedule; I make a priority list and do things whenever I have free time.
We also differ on relationships:
life before relationship (me) vs. relationship before everything (him)
wants to find a relationship after settling into a career (me) vs. wants to find a job after finding a mate (him)
stumbles into a relationship (me) vs. actively seeks a relationship (him)
crushes form after friendships (me) vs. friendships form because of a crush (him)
We differ on a lot of aspects, but there are two interesting points about this that I want to draw. First is that comparing myself to someone who is very different in someway allows me to learn a lot about myself. Secondly, and more interestingly, is that we have very similar senses of humor, we tend to reach the same conclusions about certain matters, and we work very well in a team. We also tend never to get on each other's nerves, and we have a lot of fun together. We really make an excellent team. He is really one of the few people I have worked extremely well on a team with. When we work I a team, I can feel free to think about how all of the pieces connect and how we can solve something, and he can happily turn a mass of ideas into a concrete solution, and do it efficiently. I really like the high recall, low precision vs. high precision, low recall analogy because I tend to come up with lots of different ideas and explore all sorts of weird connections, but most of them are completely useless, and he sorts through everything I come up with and tells me what is actually useful. We figure out essentially what the solution process will be together, then he implements the solution. He implements a solution very efficiently, and then I look over it and come up with ideas, explanations, and possible solutions to problems we encounter. Then for each of those problems we do the same thing. Then if we need to write something up, either I will write out a very complete document, and he will help me trim the fat, or he will write a very concise document, and I will help him make sure it contains everything. However, we can also take a different approach and swap all of the tasks assigned. The way that might work is he comes up with an idea and explores it to it's conclusion. Then based on that idea, I can usually get a very good idea of where we need to problem solve more, and then I can use each of the points in his idea to determine the entire scope of the problem. Then I can implement a clunky solution, and he recreate it more efficiently or streamline my solution. It usually doesn't matter which way we solve problems, and they both probably happen just as frequently.
Additionally, he always understands what I'm saying even when I'm having trouble phrasing it or when I can't fully explain something, and I can always understand what he's saying even if his explaination is very concise or if it doesn't come out quite correctly. Essentially he knows what I'm trying to say even if I only get part of the way through, and I know what he's trying to say even if it's ambiguous.
In any case, I love working with Bobby, and I really want to work on some project with him in the future. I guess this brings me to another point: if you are looking for an OS partner for what will likely be fall of next year, and you are a lot like him and are looking for a person who is a lot like me, you should really consider contacting me ^_^
So I guess I was wondering a couple of things: How many people would consider themselves pretty darn similar to me? How many similar to Bobby? How many similar to neither? I guess I didn't talk about our similarities too much, but would anyone consider him/herself to have very different similarities to another person Bobby and I have but very similar difference to that person.
I also have another question which may affect how much I post on livejournal significantly: I tend to think about things like people, curiousities, amusements, and other thoughts. Did anyone find this post interesting enough that s/he thinks I should post whatever interesting (to me at least) thoughts I have?
I actually put a lot of thought into this entry, so I would greatly appreciate if it if anyone reads through all the cuts and maybe comments as well.