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Comment by cedws | Hacker News Reader

I think the author is too hard on themselves for not knowing things, probably coming from shame. I can only speak for myself but learning to shrug that off just how to say "I don't know X" or "I forgot X" is very freeing. I say I don't know shit all the time at work, and so do people I work with. We aren't encyclopedias. Just chuckle about it and figure it out and learn.

I much prefer working with people who can just be honest about what they don't know, it's way better than pretending to know or trying to save face, and generally people in the former camp seem to have higher EQ.

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My boss actually said that to me once. He said he really appreciated that I would say "I don't know" instead of bullshitting him. Of course I would also try to brainstorm with him or find the answer later on by searching.

For some reason I'm able to say "I don't know" to coworkers and superiors at work with no problem, but I have a much harder time online where it may affect future employers' opinions of me.

Where are you conversing online that this is a concern?

My blog.

- I blog with my real name, which includes an uncommon first name. It's easy for hiring managers to search the web for.

- My blog is linked from the website I host on the domain name I use for my email address, including for job applications. Anybody I email is likely to follow that thread.

I agree. I think, at least for me, it's because I know my colleagues know my overall capability, so admitting I don't know a specific thing isn't a big deal because I've already proven I'm capable of overcoming any specific gap. But to strangers, perhaps that may be all they know of me -- that I don't know this one thing. There's no preexisting relationship or past body of work (in other words: no trust) to balance that gap out or put it in perspective.

I think this is objectively mostly a silly and counter-productive worry. But I still feel it.

Kudos on publishing this piece!

It’s so hard to ask people how git rebase works during an interview. They tend to assume you want the intricate technical details, which, while fun to know, completely miss the point. The only thing I care about is whether you can use the tool well enough that I don’t have to spend any time reconstructing branches :P

If I'm asked how something "works", to me that indicates the asker is looking to understand the inner workings of that something. If I asked you how an electric motor works, presumably you would tell me about electromagnetism and how the magnets pulse at specific intervals or whatever. I would be a little perplexed if you instead told me about applications of electric motors.

Would it make more sense to ask how to apply git rebase in certain scenarios?

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