[lfjokes] Competence

[Adam Shand]

From: Kevin Zollinger <kevin at zollinger.org>
Via: DIMON at nbivms.nbi.dk (Peter Dimon)

Moind's Fourth Postulate
--------------------------

The degree of certainty in one's level of competency is inversely
proportional to the actual level.

Corollaries:

1. The hopelessly incompetent are absolutely certain of their abilities.

2. The competent always have sensible doubts, precisely for the reason
   that they can realistically assess the situation.

3. The incompetent never realize they are incompetent, precisely for the
   reason that they lack the competence necessary to discern the
   difference.

4. The work of the incompetent tends to be superficial and bombastic. By
   extension of Corollary 3, they are completely unaware of this and 
   usually regard their work as profound and important. The converse also
   tends to be true:  those who regard their work as profound and
   important usually have an unrealistic appreciation of their abilities
   (or lack thereof).

5. The incompetent tend to hire people like themselves, since, for obvious
   reasons, they do not find their own kind threatening. Moreover, they
   usually confuse the sensible doubts of the competent (see Corollary 2)
   with a bad attitude, and the overconfidence of the incompetent (see
   Corollary 4) with great promise.

6. The competent are only tolerated because they are needed to perform all
   the necessary tasks that the incompetent regard as beneath them, but
   which are, in reality, beyond their ability.

7. The truly gifted don't even think about any of this. They just do their
   thing.  The converse, however, is far from true.