Hulver's site || Is common sense enough to do your job?

Is common sense enough to do your job?

Yes, if by "do" you mean "irretrievably fuck up."	13 votes - 43 %
Yes, my job is easy and obvious.	3 votes - 10 %
Yes, because I did not complete my training; rushed off to face him, I did.	3 votes - 10 %
No, I am a neurosurgeon. Suck my elite chaps.	1 vote - 3 %
No, I am a rocket scientist. Zooooooom!	7 votes - 23 %
No, I took a training course and got a certificate and you didn't.	6 votes - 20 %
I don't have a job.	3 votes - 10 %
I would like a hand-job.	17 votes - 56 %
ZOMFG!!!!!!!!	12 votes - 40 %

30 Total Votes

Curse of the Weekend Filmmaker | 28 comments (28 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

Ob It lives! It lives! Nice to see you're still by greyrat (4.00 / 1) #1 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 04:12:26 PM EST

alive and a corporate slave.

Also:Ob "For God's sake Smithers! This isn't rocket science, it's brain surgery!"
~
There is absolutely no correlation or causation amongst intelligence, power, talent and wealth.
Kha-Nyou

As a matter of fact... by ana (4.00 / 4) #2 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 04:20:28 PM EST

I am a rocket scientist. That said, there's still a substantial amount of common sense involved, and it's often overlooked.

"And this ... is a piece of Synergy." --Kellnerin

I've often thought about this. by ni (4.00 / 3) #12 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 09:32:31 PM EST

You're not the first astrophysicist I've known who has described themselves as a rocket scientist. Generally, in so far as any career path has claimed the phrase, you guy seem to. But you don't actually do much with rockets, do you? I mean, surely you're a rocket scientist in the same way that we could describe, say, a biologist as a 'microscope scientist'. Isn't aeronautical engineering really the career with the better claim?

Which isn't to say that what you do isn't extremely skilled, difficult work, of course. Indeed, at this point it's probably more skilled than aeronautical engineering is. But something merely being skilled doesn't make it rocket science. I mean, my alcohol consumption far exceeds that of the average person. I'm not sure I'm a professional (at least, Revenue Canada doesn't seem to think I am) at it, but there is surely a great deal of skill and training behind it. There's the matter of pre-eating, with all of its nutritional requirements to think about, and careful choice of beverage (which often, complicating, changes as the night wears on), and speed control (which requires modeling as a non-linear system). This says nothing of the complex field of Hangover Management, which is an entire sub-discipline. But despite this, sir, I make no pretense toward being a rocket scientist.

"What woman wouldn't love a guy in WW2 aviator glasses eating their ass?" -- dest
[ Parent ]

: True enough. by ana (4.00 / 1) #13 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 10:33:02 PM EST

I haven't ever built a rocket, which I think is what the original phrase "rocket science" was about. And in fact, not being on the experimental/instrumentation side of things, I haven't actually flown an instrument I worked on, on a sounding rocket, though a bunch of people I've worked with have done just that.
I have been involved in three projects now that were launched on the Space Shuttle; two attached payloads (operated from the ground while the shuttle was in orbit) and one deployable one (still up there, doing science, though controlled from the ground).
"And this ... is a piece of Synergy." --Kellnerin
[ Parent ]
: Yeah, there was that chick in Top Gun by georgeha (2.00 / 0) #17 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 09:21:27 AM EST

giving dogfighting tips to the flyboys because she was an astrophysicists, what's up with that?

[ Parent ]
: how bout this -- i'm an anti-rocket scientist. by garlic (2.00 / 0) #21 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 01:34:30 PM EST

Well, engineer. and they're more properly called missiles than rockets. But my job is to make them fail to do their job, so at least the anti is right.

[ Parent ]

Is there some kind of word for people like that? by lm (4.00 / 1) #3 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 04:30:44 PM EST

If there isn't a label for people who speak as if they were experts but who actually know little about that of which they speak, there should be. Whatever the term might be, that client sounds like one.

There is no more degenerate kind of state than that in which the richest are supposed to be the best.
Cicero, The Republic

"Americans" ? by Driusan (4.00 / 4) #9 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 06:57:34 PM EST

--
I needed a new sig. And now I have one.
[ Parent ]

that's funny because i was thinking by alprazolam (2.00 / 0) #14 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 11:13:22 PM EST

"everybody"

[ Parent ]

: Well yeah by Driusan (4.00 / 3) #15 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 11:20:22 PM EST

But that's because you live in America.
--
I needed a new sig. And now I have one.
[ Parent ]

Prosumer by duxup (2.00 / 0) #27 Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 08:27:13 AM EST

n/t
____
[ Parent ]

"Also, I'd like a pony." by nightflameblue (2.00 / 0) #4 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 04:34:21 PM EST

I have got to steal that line for my next project planning meeting.

Do you know what the management says, out loud, and without a hint of irony around here? The definition of an expert is anyone that comes from more than a hundred miles away.

In other words, the second you were hired, you ceased being an expert and became a complete moron simply by virtue of being hired.

Ahem. by toxicfur (4.00 / 8) #5 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 04:49:24 PM EST

-----
If you don't get a Bonnie, my universe will not make sense. --blixco
[ Parent ]

Expert by Herring (4.00 / 2) #6 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 05:03:26 PM EST

LCC takes a similar definition. And they have a point - anyone stupid enough to work for them shouldn't be trusted.

When my grandfather became ill, my grandmother rubbed goose-fat into his back. He went downhill quite quickly after that. - Milton Jones
[ Parent ]

Worse than that. by Breaker (4.00 / 2) #7 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 06:42:41 PM EST

I am here on site in Chermany. The company I work for charges 1200 UKian pounds per day for the privilege of me being here.

I have been with this company for over 2 years so I'd like to think I know our software pretty well.

I also ran the systems for a small hedge fund for 7 years. P&L, risk, the whole lot.

My opinions on how they implement things are "biased in favour of $PARENT_COMPANY" apparently, so they'd rather believe a Cherman consultant who has never seen live market date before.

So yes, despite the usurious daily rate, I am clearly not an expert.

[ Parent ]

But you've been there for two years. by nightflameblue (2.00 / 0) #18 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 09:41:07 AM EST

That's guilt by affiliation if I've ever seen it.

[ Parent ]

He's with a client. by ambrosen (2.00 / 0) #23 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 03:30:09 PM EST

[ Parent ]

: Ah, I think I misunderstood. by nightflameblue (2.00 / 0) #24 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 03:42:23 PM EST

I thought he'd been at the clients for two years. I'm a little muddy about the noggin' today.

[ Parent ]

People I work with ask me for ponies all the time. by greyrat (2.00 / 0) #8 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 06:43:12 PM EST

A "pony" is a deliverable they wish me to provide that is "important but not urgent" in Covey's quadrants, and is (usually) not budgeted. Each person can ask for one and only one pony at a time. I can, like any parent, say "No." Only when I give them their current pony are they able to ask for another. I get good results with this system, and it's fun to have a VP walk up and ask: "Can I have my pony yet?"
~
There is absolutely no correlation or causation amongst intelligence, power, talent and wealth.
Kha-Nyou
[ Parent ]

clock always asks for by StackyMcRacky (4.00 / 2) #11 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 07:53:39 PM EST

a pony, cotton candy, and a red balloon in his meetings.

[ Parent ]

: COTTON CANDY! by nightflameblue (2.00 / 0) #19 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 09:42:22 AM EST

I've no doubt that I could actually get the company to purchase a cotton candy machine in the name of morale. In fact, that's not a bad idea. I'm adding it to my next meeting agenda.

[ Parent ]

He has a vision. by wiredog (4.00 / 2) #10 Thu Jan 10, 2008 at 07:27:39 PM EST

So does George W. Bush.

Earth First!
_{(We can strip mine the rest later.)}

Document, document, document by ShadowNode (2.00 / 0) #16 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 07:05:55 AM EST

Why your client's chosen course of action is asinine. Put it in writing, and then if they continue to insist, do it and have the evidence later.

Or better yet, have another client by the time it's an issue.

I'm a big fucking amateur by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #20 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 11:13:51 AM EST

I'm an amateur journalist
I'm an amateur fiction writer
I'm an amateur photographer
Given the equipment I'd be an amateur film maker

I do all these things because I enjoy learning, I enjoy the processes, I like having to something to think about other than myself and I like being creative. Any kind of success, artistically or otherwise, is a big and very rare bonus. I think this is the right attitude.

--------
It's political correctness gone mad!

: It Is A Delightful Attitude by CheeseburgerBrown (2.00 / 0) #28 Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:33:25 PM EST

And I commend you, sir.

The only exception to this is in a case where you've gone out and hired professionals to do it for you. That's when the amateur should recognize that it's best to let them do their jobs.

Weekend filmmakers are great. Weekend filmmakers horning in on my weekday ninjitsu -- that's bad form.

I am from a small, unknown country in the north called Ca-na-da.
[ Parent ]

Lost me with the first line by Alan Crowe (2.00 / 0) #22 Fri Jan 11, 2008 at 02:13:02 PM EST

Everybody watches television, which means that everybody considers themselves a kind of authority on the subject of broadcast design.

The TV people are professionals at delivering eye-balls to advertisers. Their game is "getting Alan to watch more TV than he actually enjoys". My game is limiting my TV watching to the stuff that makes me happy. I am an amateur at this.

After about 40 years on the losing side of professional versus amateur fights, I gave up and got rid of my TV. This has worked out very well.

You could spin this as saying that I do respect the superior skills of professionals, at least when they are the enemy.

If the client is writing the cheques by vorheesleatherface (2.00 / 0) #25 Sat Jan 12, 2008 at 08:48:03 AM EST

then just do what the client wants. Every time you have a "concern" about something, just document it and have said client sign off. It's their money. I'm sure your name can be left off of the project. Let the fool make a colossal piece of shit. Maybe if the end product is ridiculed enough that person will quit, or learn to do it better next time. Everyone starts somewhere. Or, I suppose you could just keep being a good guy like you are and helping to do it right in the first place.

"Stabbing someone in the head with a pitchfork is rarely beneficial to the relationship." - MereKat

*hug* by duxup (2.00 / 0) #26 Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 08:25:08 AM EST

Everybody watches television, which means that everybody considers themselves a kind of authority on the subject of broadcast design.

Not that it makes anyone more of an expert, but it probably doesn't help that so much of television sucks. Heck I used to watch a fair amount of my local cable access shows as they were more interesting. Most of those shows began with apologies about the sound, and the those that didn't should have.
____

Curse of the Weekend Filmmaker | 28 comments (28 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback


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