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Comment by TheSOB88 | Hacker News Reader

Really awesome story.

From the guy's page, it looks like he's a super hacker - learning to program at nine, embedding a Scheme interpreter in the Linux kernel. Between this and jacquesm's recent "it's easy" post, I wonder, do you have to be this kind of crazy passionate coder to be able to accomplish this kind of thing? I feel like I could be passionate about coding certain things, but nothing I'm doing now comes close.

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Thanks! I'm really glad you liked it.

Don't worry about people being better at hacking than you though. There's always someone better, and in the end the only thing that really matters is your ability to get stuff done.

I'm currently grappling with "Computer science for dummies", wonder how I feel ;)

If you can get things done, then this counts for a lot. I know people who are geniuses and polymaths -- the kind of guys who do the calculus to optimize patterns for making their own juggling balls as a leisure activity. That doesn't mean that they are the best at getting things done though.

Be able to get things done. Be good at taking into account what you don't know. Know how to cooperate and delegate. This is the stuff that's most useful.

Another important thing isn't the complexity of the project, but the impact it has. Sometimes people tend to build on the big side when the best thing they can do is the simplest, just look at Facebook or Google.

I just found this, googling for Pat Methenys quote:

Be the worst guy in every band you’re in.

http://apprenticeship-patterns.labs.oreilly.com/index.html

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