Be Aware of False Experts
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Sometimes we have to rely on other's opinions. We are limited. We can not learn everything so that we know all the good and the right ones.
Experts are people worth following. But among them, there are experts who say something, but they do something else or even the opposite of what they say to others. Senior web developers are experts at developing websites. Some of them write articles and argue that a certain technique is better than the other. But when they do not do what they tell us to do, that confuses us.
Are they hypocrites? Should we follow their actions or their advice?
Understanding experts
If experts do not give any solutions, many people will not be interested in them. For instance, a new web developer asks, "What is the correct unit for padding?" The senior developer answers, "That depends on the context. If you need it to be responsive, use mostly the rem unit. You can also use the clamp function with rem and viewport units. If you do not need it to be responsive, use the px unit." The new developer does not feel satisfied with the answer because the expected answer is something like this: "The rem unit is the correct unit for padding."
The answer from the senior developer is fine. But the question is wrong. There is no right or wrong unit for the padding.
The senior developer needs to guide the new developer to ask the right question. Otherwise, the new developer will keep asking bad questions.
When I first learned about web development, I thought about everything in a black-and-white way. This means either right or wrong, like JavaScript's boolean. Now I see some things—not all—in a spectrum when learning about web development. For example, using the heading elements in chronological order is a must. There are no alternatives. If I use the heading elements in any other way, I am wrong. But using hex code—such as #ffffff for white—instead of hsl for colors is a matter of preference. If I use hex code, I am not wrong. But people can argue that hex code is abstract for humans. That is fine.
Specificity is required to make things right or wrong in web development. Without a clear context, the answer will be "It depends." You can make the matter of using hsl the right thing if the entire codebase uses hsl. Consistency is more important than individual preferences.
Based on those, we learn the following:
- Experts know a lot of things.
- Some experts want to sound smart.
- Experts tend to be hesitant to tell newcomers that their questions are wrong.
- In web development, not everything is about an all-or-nothing matter.
- As a learner, we need to ask specific questions to get good answers from the experts.
Finding the truth from experts
Assuming the best of experts who do not do what they say, their advice may be irrelevant to themselves. A simple example of this is a parent. Parents often tell their kids not to touch dangerous things. But they touch those dangerous things. For example, a mothball for kids looks like a candy. If a mother sees her son trying to grab it, she shouts at her son "Don't touch it!" The kid can ask back, "Why not? I saw you touched it before." Do you think the mother is a hypocrite person? No, she is not a hypocrite person. Unlike her kid, she knows what she is doing. She would not eat that mothball. Her son, however, does not know it is not something to eat. Also, if her son has no intention to eat that, what if he puts his fingers into his mouth? This can cause a lot of drama.
If some experts do not do what they say, although you know that their sayings are applied to them, those experts are either liars or hypocrites. Knowing that can be challenging since you may have a lack of knowledge. In web development, as you keep learning, you will know experts who are worthy and experts who are liars or hypocrites.
Following experts
Follow all the good things and leave all the bad ones. If senior web developers tell you something good, but they do not do it, you should follow what they tell you. Do not be the same as those who talk but do not act. If experts are trees, you pick the best fruits and forget the rest.
Then, make sure when you ask experts, you have some background knowledge. Some experts are not real experts. They claim to have knowledge but they do not. Test them if you can.
After that, be specific. If you can not be specific, ask the experts about the reasons for their answers. You need to know their thinking process to arrive at such answers. This way, you can judge the expert and their answers when you have enough knowledge or experience.
Lastly, study the experts. If they have bad records, you know what to do. Do you consult to a pimp to help your child to stop watching porn? Do you learn web accessibility from experts who are endorsed by the Web Accessibility Overlay vendors? You should not do those.
Our Lord, Jesus said the following:
Share your thoughtsWherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.