Are you an Expert?

[Ethernut]

“An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.” – Niels Bohr

I love this quote by Niels Bohr... So, are you an expert? In what? What mistakes have you made that brought you to that point. Some great school of life stories! I'm a thinkin' on a few of my own that I'll share .

[PigFish]

...and I always though an expert was an asshole in a suit, with a briefcase 300 miles from home! Go figure!!! -LOL

Expert, I know from a little to a lot about many subjects. BUT, I don't own a briefcase!

Yet, over the last decade I have spent an enormous amount of time learning about the hygroscopic aspects of tobacco and how to maintain it in a stable environment. Since we are on a cigar board here, I figure that I am an expert at controlled humidor engineering and analysis. Considering that my email is perpetually full of people asking me questions, I suppose that I have some evidence that I am not delusional, and some people actually agree that I am.

So what makes a person an expert? Is it a self-realization, or is it based on others that concur? -Piggy

[Habana Mike]

I once heard someone say an expert is a former drip under pressure.....

That and if you know just a little more than anyone else in the room....

[LGC]

How is one supposed to know when ALL mistakes have been encountered??

Also, one must actually learn from the mistakes and make proper corrections.

I find most experts to be self-proclaimed...

[laficion]

8 hours ago, Ethernut said:

“An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field.” – Niels Bohr

Yes, like this, I must be an EXPERT then.  LOL LOL

Guy

 

 

[Ryan]

I don't describe myself as an expert in anything, though I try to be crap at a broad range of endeavors!

The Niels Bohr quote reminds me though of when I was in college, I had a professor who smoked cigars in the lab (the good old days). I was working on a project which included a robotic arm, which I had built and a circuit board interface, which I had also built, driven by machine code on a BBC computer which I had written myself. I was quite proud of the thing and I think he noticed this.

"Is your code finished?" he asks one day in the lab.

"Yeah I think so."

Then he pushes the "up" instruction for the arm over and over again until the linkage snaps and the arm collapses. 

"You're not finished." he says. "Fix that" It was a good lesson, one I haven't forgotten. The number one lesson every developer should know (even though the computer code at the time was only a small part of the project), Manage every input and outcome. Not doing that is the cause of 100% of bugs.

There's a saying, "A good developer looks both ways when crossing a one-way street."

To add to the insult, on the way out he dropped his ash on my circuit board, "That should be in a box."

[Guest]

There are suggestions that 10,000 hours of dedicated, diligent practice at a task will make someone an expert.

I love golf, and don't think 20,000 hours will get me even close to having expertise.

im pretty good at other useless stuff though.

 

[shlomo]

Im an expert in my preferences. Nobody knows me better than me.

[TheMonk]

I don't describe myself as an expert in anything, though I try to be crap at a broad range of endeavors!

The Niels Bohr quote reminds me though of when I was in college, I had a professor who smoked cigars in the lab (the good old days). I was working on a project which included a robotic arm, which I had built and a circuit board interface, which I had also built, driven by machine code on a BBC computer which I had written myself. I was quite proud of the thing and I think he noticed this.

"Is your code finished?" he asks one day in the lab.

"Yeah I think so."

Then he pushes the "up" instruction for the arm over and over again until the linkage snaps and the arm collapses. 

"You're not finished." he says. "Fix that" It was a good lesson, one I haven't forgotten. The number one lesson every developer should know (even though the computer code at the time was only a small part of the project), Manage every input and outcome. Not doing that is the cause of 100% of bugs.

There's a saying, "A good developer looks both ways when crossing a one-way street."

To add to the insult, on the way out he dropped his ash on my circuit board, "That should be in a box."

Great story, Ryan, and I guess I live be by that saying, even though I'd never heard it before.

[Smoke6]

I've stayed many nights in Holiday Inns with travel, so........

[cigcars]

   I prepare state and federal income tax returns for friends and acquaintances, and have been since 1991, but I don't consider myself an "expert" because there's always much more to be learned - always.  But it's something that I can do, and have been learning many tax codes, references, exceptions to some taxable liabilities (like early withdrawal from 401k's and so on), and utilize that knowledge for those friends' and acquaintances' benefit. 

[GavLew79]

11 hours ago, Ryan said:

I don't describe myself as an expert in anything, though I try to be crap at a broad range of endeavors!

The Niels Bohr quote reminds me though of when I was in college, I had a professor who smoked cigars in the lab (the good old days). I was working on a project which included a robotic arm, which I had built and a circuit board interface, which I had also built, driven by machine code on a BBC computer which I had written myself. I was quite proud of the thing and I think he noticed this.

"Is your code finished?" he asks one day in the lab.

"Yeah I think so."

Then he pushes the "up" instruction for the arm over and over again until the linkage snaps and the arm collapses. 

"You're not finished." he says. "Fix that" It was a good lesson, one I haven't forgotten. The number one lesson every developer should know (even though the computer code at the time was only a small part of the project), Manage every input and outcome. Not doing that is the cause of 100% of bugs.

There's a saying, "A good developer looks both ways when crossing a one-way street."

To add to the insult, on the way out he dropped his ash on my circuit board, "That should be in a box."

You're in Engineering Andrew? Me too. 

 

The 10,000 hrs is about right for software, but RF takes 100,000! ?

[polarbear]

My father once told me "its the things you learn AFTER you think you know everything that are the most important"

I've also like "if you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room"

Personally, I'd rather know a lit about a lot than a lot about a little

[archosaur]

I am an expert at picking out avocados from the grocery store.  I will confidently stride up to a large pile of Hass, Fuertes or even Pinkertons and walk away with the best and ripest 2 or 3 in short order.  I've made all the mistakes...underripe, overripe, watery, stringy, bruised, accidentally bought a Florida/Caribbean avocado (the horror), you name it.

I have made this claim for years and nowadays, nobody argues with me...so it must be true! 

[gweilgi]

11 hours ago, Hutch said:

Not sure I've made all my mistakes yet bass fishing, but I've fallen out of the boat, run it 100 yards onto dry land, crashed it, dropped it into the water without a bowline tied on, launched it with no gas, failed to charge the batteries the night before a 3 hour drive to the lake, launched it having left most of my rods at home...hooked myself (more times than I'd like to remember), dropped the bait over the side having cut the wrong piece of line, hooked my partner, achieved some EPIC birds nests first cast into the wind, used too light line in a tournament, failed to check my line after landing a big fish, smacked a plastic bait into a bridge piling, tripped and spilled my entire catch off the dock at a tournament, failed to cull down to the limit in a tournament, over culled in a tournament, not turned on the aerator during a tournament.... I could probably go on for a while.  But I have learned from most of them, and haven't made too many of them more than once...except that hooking myself thing. If the quote is true, I'd say I'm a world class expert  

 

Does bass fishing count as an extreme sport?  

[LGC]

It can get pretty extreme

Have you ever not made it into the woods in time when trying to shore the boat and run up the bank??

[canadianbeaver]

I would say that an absolute expert here knows who has been around forever and loves their advise or expertise always. More than advise or expertise, the chat becomes just the latest scoop upon anything we know about our cigars and we simply cannot speak about enough. Should the chat switch to booze, friends, travel or sports, this works too.

 

xxxxooo.

[Hurltim]

I would imagine that the first sign of NOT being an expert is saying..

I am the (insert made up title) expert."

We had a "concrete paving expert" as a consultant for a railroad intermodal yard project.

He said "I am a concrete paving expert."

I said "How old are you??"

"23"

I just busted out laughing and walked away.

[dicko]

I guess what an "expert" is depends on the complexity, scope and difficulty of the field or part thereof you claim to be an expert in.

I think some combination of considerable experience, demonstrable skill or knowledge, training, formal qualifications (at least for professionals not so much for hobbyists) and pre-eminence is required.

 

I think there is definitely some experts in relation to various aspects of our cigar hobby on this board whether its tasting, collecting, history, storage (like Ray) and of course business (Rob Ayala!).

[cigcars]

1 hour ago, Hurltim said:

I would imagine that the first sign of NOT being an expert is saying..

I am the (insert made up title) expert."

We had a "concrete paving expert" as a consultant for a railroad intermodal yard project.

He said "I am a concrete paving expert."

I said "How old are you??"

"23"

I just busted out laughing and walked away.

    * When I was in my early twenties I experienced my first broken heart from some crumb who won me over then dumped me! Got his jollies like that, I guess. Anyway, a few years later my mom was going through broken heart pangs because she and my stepdad were having spousal difficulties. Well, having gone through the emotional sufferings of Hell as far as I was concerned, and having survived such - I felt very qualified to "advise" her on what she was going through*** Laugh tracks enter here*** And I was following her around trying to "counsel" her - and she just wouldn't stand still! She just kept walking off from me, not listening, not giving me ANY credence! And so finally I said, "You know Mom...I'm TWENTY-THREE!" She suddenly stops, looks at me wide eyed and says, " *gasp* - Ya AARRREE!!?? Look, kid - I've learned and forgotten things that you're just now learnin'!"  And thus, my excursion into what I thought was my 23 year old earned "expertise"!