The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs
updated 1mo ago
The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs
- But I was learning that succeeding at a research institution like Penn required skills that had little to do with science. You needed the ability to sell yourself and your work. You needed to attract funding. You needed the kind of interpersonal savvy that got you invited to speak at conferences and made people eager to mentor and support you. You ... See more
from The Weird Nerd comes with trade-offs
nico kokonas added
- I didn't realize that the reason we nerds didn't fit in was that in some ways we were a step ahead. We were already thinking about the kind of things that matter in the real world, instead of spending all our time playing an exacting but mostly pointless game like the others.
from Why Nerds are Unpopular by Paul Graham
Ajinkya Wadhwa added
- Some of the most important topics are the hardest to teach, and real world experience is the only school. How to advertise your skills and accomplishments without being insufferable. How to be curious about fields that have nothing to do with your career. How to deal with a certain level of hassle and nonsense without losing your cool. How to balan... See more
from Very Important and Hard to Teach by Morgan Housel
sari added
- What one wants is to be able to talk with a diverse club of smart people, arrange to do short one-off research projects and simulations, publish papers or capture intellectual property quickly and easily, and move on to another conversation. Quickly. Easily. For a living. Can’t do that in industry. Can’t do that in the Academy. Y
... See morefrom Diverse themes observed at GECCO 2006 | Notional Slurry by Tozier
Alara added
- people value intelligence and cleverness without similarly valuing on-the-ground knowledge or intellectual rigor. People often discuss the standard trendy topics (some recent ones I've observed at multiple parties are how to build a competitor to Google search and how to solve the problem of high transit construction costs) and explain why pe... See more
from Cocktail party ideas by Dan Luu
sari added
- I know that sometimes, persistence is not a virtue. I would trade my other abilities to be an exceptional songwriter. I gave it a serious enough try to know that I don’t have the knack, for years, and I’m not interested in being publicly mediocre at the performing arts. My life is incalculably better for having let the dream go. The world will be h... See more
from 50 Things I Know by Sasha Chapin
Tom Scott and added
Johanna and added