Re:The Programming Talent Myth (2015)
by aidenn0 on Wednesday April 11, 2018 @01:46PM
(#16813560)
After (as an adult) watching kids develop, there is a huge positive feedback loop for various abilities.
When you are slightly better or faster or just find doing it (whatever "it" is) more rewarding compared to your peers, then it takes lower effort to get the same reward. This means you are more likely to spend more time doing it. This means that after a while you have more practice than your peers, so the difference in ability is amplified. Now various grownups around you notice and complement you on it, get you lessons to do it better, provide you with supplies, &c. and the difference grows.
By the time you are looking at teenagers, it's hard to tell how much of the difference stems from natural ability, and how much of it is this snowball effect.
When you are slightly better or faster or just find doing it (whatever "it" is) more rewarding compared to your peers, then it takes lower effort to get the same reward. This means you are more likely to spend more time doing it. This means that after a while you have more practice than your peers, so the difference in ability is amplified. Now various grownups around you notice and complement you on it, get you lessons to do it better, provide you with supplies, &c. and the difference grows.
By the time you are looking at teenagers, it's hard to tell how much of the difference stems from natural ability, and how much of it is this snowball effect.