zen mind, beginner's mind
Jan. 22nd, 2006 08:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrian_turtleWhat does "beginner" mean? I heard a technical presentation last week, which included some minor points about a survey of people who had used the equipment being discussed. Before getting to the substantive questions about the equipment and exactly what people did with it, the survey asked "are you a beginner, an intermediate user, or an advanced user?" and also "how many times have you used [this technology]?" The person giving the talk was really surprised to find so much variation in self-perception. Some users called themselves "advanced" after 20 experiences, others were still calling themselves "beginners" after more than 100 experiences.
I thought, "Well, duh. Of course some people are more confident than others." It seemed obvious to me that people with similar levels of skill could have their perceptions of themselves skewed in different directions (towards "beginners" or "advanced") for reasons unrelated to the skill they are practicing. But the others in the seminar understood the survey results differently. They thought people who described themselves as "beginners" were not saying they lacked confidence, or that they were aware that they had a lot to learn, but rather that their efforts often failed.
If a person is learning to do something, and has done it a dozen times without mishap, is that "intermediate?" Only if he or she knows all the branches and twigs of the process and doesn't need to consult the manual every time? Only if there isn't breath-holding and crossed-fingers and fear of something unknown going wrong? Or do more complicated processes need to be learned through more repetitions than simpler ones, even if all appears to be going well?
I thought, "Well, duh. Of course some people are more confident than others." It seemed obvious to me that people with similar levels of skill could have their perceptions of themselves skewed in different directions (towards "beginners" or "advanced") for reasons unrelated to the skill they are practicing. But the others in the seminar understood the survey results differently. They thought people who described themselves as "beginners" were not saying they lacked confidence, or that they were aware that they had a lot to learn, but rather that their efforts often failed.
If a person is learning to do something, and has done it a dozen times without mishap, is that "intermediate?" Only if he or she knows all the branches and twigs of the process and doesn't need to consult the manual every time? Only if there isn't breath-holding and crossed-fingers and fear of something unknown going wrong? Or do more complicated processes need to be learned through more repetitions than simpler ones, even if all appears to be going well?
