Being an Expert

I am in the last death throws of testing and preparation for putting some code into Production later today.  We had stopped testing for a week to make time and room for a higher priority within the client.

As always these pressure cooker settings are great for telling stories and getting to know somebody.  Today I was talking with someone about a former colleague.  The person was telling me of the time just recently when he told the former colleague about some great experts that are available in a work environment.  Not so surprising the person in question took offence and said that he was an expert and had been working on DataStage Ascential since before it was DataStage (I forget the name).

The guy was surprised by the fierceness of the response especially in light of the fact that we have had to do a code review and often rewrite of the code of this person in question.

But outside of this issue it made me pause and think about the drawbacks of being an expert.

  1. Theres always someone smarter than you around the corner
  2. Sometimes people just want to try and embarrass you to feel better
  3. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be I bet.
  1. Jim Reply

    I have always found being referred to as an expert by others made me very nervous for several reasons. First the people are trying to distance themselves from me. I wonder why. Secondly I was being set up for fall from grace or a put-down. Thirdly I knew the person had some hidden agenda.
    So be careful if you are being touted as the expert. Anticipate a put-down.

  2. Jacob Reply

    It was Ardent DataStage before it was Ascential DataStage. Am I an expert now?

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