Never praise a programmer. Why would you? Really? Do you do that? They are doing stuffs you can't do, so?
Don't get me wrong. I code for a living. I speak three main languages in the backend and speak all the languages of web front end, meaning I am a genius. (I like to praise myself) but don't praise me, let me wallow in the world of self-praise. Although, you can praise me for the years of hard work I put into building different things that ended up building my skills but never call me a genius.
Maybe I am but here is what I am trying to say:
All my life, I am yet to see someone who got good at what they didn't put in the work for. No one, even the so-called Messi that is said to be a natural said it took him 13 years of consistent intense hard work to become a natural.
So when someone is good at something like programming, sports, e.t.c, they worked hard at it.
Don't ever get fooled when they make it look like they were born with the skill. We all have natural tendencies to be better at certain things but I am forced to believe that these tendencies are not as they are overblown, so don't stress it.
When you see a virtuoso, praise his hard work for the hard work behind the skill, don't praise his being. There is an opinionated exception though: kids could be full of surprises. They could be so good at things in certain ways you never expected: catching up beyond expectation, so it could be very tempting to call certain kids geniuses.
Bottom line of my ranting is that "No one is better than you are". If you live with such idea, please stop it, it is not good for you. Living with the idea of * putting in the work to become a natural* makes you a natural.
Image Source: hackernoon.com
