[roncesvalles]

I've come to learn that "do only what only you can do" is not great advice at all. It's leagues better to be the 10,000th-best SWE at Meta than the world's best basketweaver. Often doing something super unique is an excuse for shying away from mainstream competition.

[neilyio]

I couldn’t resist a quick Google search for this.

“Mary Jackson is a world-famous African-American sweetgrass basket weaver. In 2008, she was named a MacArthur Fellow for her basket weaving.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jackson_(artist)?wprov=sf...

I have to say, that sounds more fulfilling than anything I will ever do. People who become the best at anything are usually truly extraordinary.

[Aurornis]

Focusing on the best of anything is usually misleading.

The deep end of anything almost always has some positives attached to it. The best basketball players make a ton of money. That doesn’t make it a good career option.

For more obscure activities it takes an unreal amount of effort and sacrifice to get near the deep end of the pool. I grew up knowing a lot of people who were the best of the best at their sports and poured their life into it, but none of them ended up making it professionally or getting into the Olympics despite a lot of trying.

For a hobby or sport it’s more enjoyable if you’re not trying to turn it into something more. Leave it as a relaxing thing you do on the side.

[roncesvalles]

1. The 2nd-best basketweaver will die in obscurity.

2. The MacArthur Grant, while obviously greatly commendable as an achievement, is monetarily worth less than what the 10,000th Meta engineer makes in one or two years.

[canpan]

I don't know about basket weaving, but..

I once had a talk with one of (the?) world's best bonsai gardener in Edogawa, Tokyo. Trees cut by him are worth millions and he has pictures of himself with FANG leaders. This guy wakes up every morning at 5 and works until it's dark outside even though he clearly does not need to work for money, but because he loves it.

[iamalizard]

I think some people just aren't wired to love doing something over and over, especially something so monotonous. Basket weaving or bonsai gardening is much more monotonous than solving difficult crimes or difficult science problems or difficult tech problems. There are people who absolutely love solving difficult problems but get tired of it after a few years and switch to another field. For those people doing weaving or gardening would get boring very quickly. I think it may come to whether people like the idea of things or the things themselves. If I was a basket weaver, I'd quickly realize there aren't that many groundbreaking weaving ideas I'll have in my lifetime, that most baskets are very similar in how they're made. I'll say to myself "I could make these 50 amazing baskets but they'll all fall under these 5 types of baskets with these 10 skills required to make them. So why do it if I can imagine doing it and if I know I'll be able to do it?". I may even envision a mega basket that incorporates every trick in the trade, like a skyscraper compared to a hut. I'll know that I'm capable of making it. That will satisfy my love for the idea of baskets but if I don't love the thing itself, why do it at all? The idea is 90% of the mega basket. The execution could be automated in a few years, why bother doing it for 5000 hours?

[squidbeak]

I think you underestimate just how competitive obscure fields and crafts can be. The world's second-best basketweaver is likely to be painfully aware of their superior rival, and push themselves hard to catch up and surpass them.

What you're really arguing is that SWEs are superior to basketweavers. But I wouldn't be so sure. That basket might well be around and admired long after the software's obsolete and gone.

[vagrantJin]

I have to strongly disagree with this one. People should strive to do hard things, solve uniquely hard problems. SWE is not hard or particularly unique.

[rrvsh]

What? I would much rather be the world's best basketweaver than the 10,000th best SWE at Meta. Are you sure you aren't projecting your biases on what you think is more fulfilling?