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by lucidlive 1192 days ago
Calling yourself a polymath is akin to calling your self a genius.
3 comments

Perhaps so, however I did not call myself humble.

Apologies. I overstated. How about "I study a lot of stuff"

And now the reply, if I've accurately modeled it, is "So you've studied a lot of stuff, what makes you an expert on any of it?"

Programming at its heart has always been cross-discipline, so there's really no judgment of ability aside from solving problems involving those disciplines you're working for. I find myself with a lack of adjectives that will keep our conversation short.

For future reference, you can just use "autodidact."

Next time if you want to brag without looking like an ass, describe something really impressive you did in detail to illustrate a point using highly understated language. Not only will you not get penalized for bragging, people will give you bonus points for being humble.

this is a bit exaggerated.

Polymath > A polymath is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.

If that's who you are, there's no shame in identifying as so. Don't let hacker news comments gatekeep you.

There's nothing wrong with being confident with your skills. Humbleness is only seen as a virtue because people have an ego and don't like to be reminded that they are unskilled.
Let me guess, not doing great socially?
By all means, no one stops you from making guesses.