I know not everyone of us has a special talent, but many of us do. Some are just incredible. So, what are they??
Edit: Please don’t be humble. Let it out. Be proud of it and share so we can marvel.
I’m a software developer and for some reason I have the knack for breaking anything I touch.
I once wanted to add a calendar from a URL, and assumed that putting it into the “add calendar” entry would do that. Nope, turns out that just creates a new calendar with an invalid name. I kept getting emails about having a folder with an invalid name that my work’s IT team couldn’t actually remove.
That’s a gift that a QA team might pay a premium for.
I learned as a developer that I can see the flaws in systems before most other folk which led me to become a system architect. I had one boss ask me “when you look at a forest do you just see paths for fire to spread?”
I’m naturally good at making disparate connections and taking in a whole area of a business/tech etc and understanding it. But any ideas I then have are seen as too hairbrained or rediculous or out of the box or impossible and put down by others instead of being seen as clever and interesting and useful.
Conceptual thinking apparently. I guess most people think with words. I think with concepts, visuals, emotions, and other sensory inputs. It means I can understand things much more quickly by associating concepts. And combine those things quickly to make something new. I rarely need to memorize all the details of something if I can extrapolate those things from the conceptual models in my head as needed.
But it does mean that every word that I use needs to be translated from a concept first. Translation takes time and energy, just like it does for the majority of people who speak multiple languages with widely varying grammatical patterns.
This is relatable. It’s very useful for doing science, but the problem then is that you have all of these ideas in your head that are impossible to express succinctly because you need to invent new words, so it’s very hard to sell the idea to anyone, and you end up working alone on everything and achieving very little.
Ooh, I think I’m the same way. How can someone figure out how their thinking works, be it conceptual, language, visual, etc?
I have what I can best describe as a general knack for reverse engineering or understanding other people’s work the hard way. I learned to code by reverse engineering original DOOM, and back when I worked at a hobby shop my manager called me a mad scientist because I would, among other things, mix up my own paints to see if I figured it out. I also pick up how existing codebases work pretty quickly, which would probably be useful if I actually got hired. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
just a funny one:
following instructions, apparently?
as a youth, we had a guest lecture at school (computing) and were given a software tutorial to follow. i completed it and the instructors were impressed, to my absolute confusion.
“i just… followed the instructions?”
“you’d be surprised how many can’t do that!”
in hindsight, i do wonder if it’s a slight autism “perk” just because i think literally and follow instructions accurately so long as they aren’t vague. i wonder if some people will struggle with specific instructions but excel at parsing vague things.
it’s just so funny to me to get complimented on that specifically. but also the student teaching assistant was definitely flirting, which baby autistic me DID pick up on but considered mostly irrelevant to the strange praise??? xD
I had a similar experience. I’m not a computer programmer, but I took a computer programming class in high school. We had an assignment that I completed like normal. This was a long time ago, but if I remember correctly, it was something about making 3 separate programs, then making another program that all it did was run the 3 other programs in sequence. Apparently, I was the only one in the class that did it right and everyone else bombed it. All I did was follow instructions. I have no idea how anyone else didn’t complete the assignment correctly. Did they just add their own desires to it? Did they disagree with the instructions? How did they mess it up??
The book “Collaborative Intelligence” is on the 3 most-common of the 4 innate-mind-languages we think in.
- Visual-thinking
- Auditory-thinking
- Kinesthetic-thinking
It totally ignores the 4th.
- Implication-Pattern-thinking/Abstract-Thoughtshape-thinking
which, from what I’ve read, is possibly more than 50% of the physicists people.
I think in abstract-shapes, which means that instead of seeing the appearances of something, I need to see how it works, before I can then abstract-out its thoughtshape, which is what my mind holds onto.
I’ve no internal-visual, which is falsely-labeled “aphantasia” ( no-imagination ) by psychology.
I’ve plenty of imagination, but it works within the mind-function that I have, not in some mind-function I don’t have.
This difference allows me to “see through” appearances to more fundamental/underlying reality, much more easily than more-conventional minds do.
As Temple Grandin’s TED talk on kinds of minds pointed-out, however, I’m mindblind to many things that the more-common mind-functions catch:
She wouldn’t have put the emergency-generators at Fukushima at the bottom of a pit, beside a tsunami-infested sea, because she would have seen them flood ( she thinks in movies ).
I wouldn’t ever have noticed any potential problem, because I’d have been “looking at” the function withing each generator, & feeling the beneficial-protection of having them not easily attackable, or something.
You NEED to have all-4 innate-mind-languages working on any product/service that you’re going to release, as each has its own mind-blindnesses.
Don’t leave any 1 of 'em out!
But being of the least-common ( & ignored by much/all of the psychology profession/industry ), is a kind of superpower, when their prejudice isn’t grinding on one’s validity, fersure.
: P
I’ve no internal-visual, which is falsely-labeled “aphantasia” ( no-imagination ) by psychology.
It means you don’t have mental imagery. People with aphantasia can still have an imagination.
that’s super interesting! thanks for sharing. now, I’m think about reading that book. maybe my library will have it.
I am good at finding things because I think about things in context of their place in the world.
At my job, I am good at finding problems in data because I know how all the files work and how our systems interlink. If something is missing, I know where it gets taken from and work backwards from there. If some additional is there that shouldn’t be, I know the rules of why things get taken and can figure out why.
At home, I can find objects easily because I know what they are used for and have a good memory, so I can easily remember the last thing an item was used for and start there. This helps a lot with a partner who has ADHD and is constantly misplacing things.
My finding skills have also been great for finding stuff on the Internet, but Search Engine Optimization is slowly degrading that. I am still very good at finding deals on things people need on Craigslist though, as I am very good at figuring out which listings are good and which are ads just based on the description given.
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Problem solving, and spotting issues or risks before they happen - I guess I learned that skill the hard way when I was younger. I also do computers for fun in my spare and im a bit good, although everyone who doesnt know computers well thinks im some kind of tech wizard, when really I just know how to search engine well and follow instructions. And im good at switching off and going on autopilot in an emergency, im good with first aid and serious incidents.
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My pattern recognition is off the charts. I can’t explain it very well as I don’t know “how” I do it, but I often know what went wrong and where which lends well to the job that I do. I’m that person going to IT/dev teams like, “you gotta trust me bro”, and I don’t think I’ve been wrong yet at my current job (knock on wood). Beyond work it is very helpful as well.
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Super visual memory. If I’ve been there once, I remember it, not an elaboration. Even locations that have changed with time, or it’s been years since my last visit. I can’t wayfind using names of streets but I can visually guide myself. I can visually picture myself walking through malls to locate the exact location of stores, shelves, items on the shelves. An extreme super power to min/max my outdoor time spent. It’s also kind of fun watching YouTubers I like and then randomly spotting something mundane in the background and knowing exactly where they are; and pulling it up on Google maps to prove it to people in the room who doubt my abilities.
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Similarly to the above, if I’ve read it, I know where it is. My mom has an actual photographic memory so she remembers the facts and where she read them. I only got half of that, and remember where I read it (on the page). It’s more helpful than it seems, especially when you remember a vague fact and you pull the book out to the exact page to reconfirm your knowledge or use a direct quote in a paper. I do also remember the information/facts but not as exact as photographic memory/special interest peeps; but much better than the average person so I can still wow people with random trivia.
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Finding alternative solutions to problems. The problem is still resolved, just maybe not using the most “obvious” solution. Very unfortunately, I had a job interview for a PM(?) role in which that they used 3 brain teasers to evaluate my performance for the position (ugh, I know). I ended up solving all 3 teasers, but just not in the way that was intended or matched the “correct answer” on Google. I didn’t get the role, but jokes on them, I think that being able to think of our of the box solutions to problems is actually more beneficial for a PM(?) role than a cookie cutter answer!
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Some overlap with other people in the thread: Musical inclination, autopiloting/good in medical emergencies, following instructions apparently (+1 on the general mood of this lol) and by extension writing instructions.
My pattern recognition is off the charts. I can’t explain it very well as I don’t know “how” I do it, but I often know what went wrong and where which lends well to the job that I do. I’m that person going to IT/dev teams like, “you gotta trust me bro”, and I don’t think I’ve been wrong yet at my current job (knock on wood). Beyond work it is very helpful as well.
I’m also in IT and can troubleshoot like crazy. It’s quite common for me to identify root cause in packaged applications where the vendor support is unable. In one case I was able to tell them exactly the mistake they were looking for in their Java code despite having zero access to their code. I always warn support staff that I bring them two types of problems - utter brain farts where I usually solve it right after submitting or something that is just bizarre/complex as hell. In those bizarre/complex scenarios, the main limitation in my solving the problem is typically proprietary/secret information that they don’t make available. I often have to guide the troubleshooting in those support cases knowing generically what is wrong, but not having the details to just solve it.
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I’m incredibly quick at learning music/songs by ear, mostly singing cuz even tho I’ve played a couple instruments for… God 15 years… I still can’t fucking find a tune on them to save my life
But if I hear a song with coherant lyrics 1 or 2 times then I can repeat it from memory acapella, instrumental solos and all, with perfect accuracy on lyrics and like 95% accuracy on the notes due to my iffy singing voice
Probably related: on the fly ad-libs replacement of lyrics. Like coming up with a weird Al parody on the spot (not saying mine are as funny or anything just giving an idea). I can even make them coherent and properly rhyme for a verse or two sometimes if I’m really on a roll. Too bad I get so embarrassed in front of people that only a few have seen it IRL, but it’s always been a hit at the DND table when I needed to improv tavern singing or something
But if I hear a song with coherant lyrics 1 or 2 times then I can repeat it from memory acapella, instrumental solos and all, with perfect accuracy on lyrics and like 95% accuracy on the notes due to my iffy singing voice
Woww! That is some Mozart level stuff
I’ve got a similar power, maybe a step lower than yours. I managed to complete and compete in higher levels of orchestra band without actually learning how to read music. I would be able to play the song after hearing it a few times. I use sheet music as an instruction (if needed) on which notes to play (this note equals this fingering on the instrument) rather than speed/tempo of the song. Applies to whistling/singing too.
And very similarly the on the fly ad-libs which makes for some funny “jokes” I can throw around with friends as I’m not very good with actual jokes.
I’ve always been good at basic math (up to and including highschool ball-park algebra) on an intuitive level, to a degree that was so wildly unhelpful and didn’t align at all with my schooling experience. Did extremely well in elementary and most middle school math, but in 8th grade algebra is where it really started to cause issues. We’d have a new concept shown in the form of equations and I’d always arrive at an answer by just plugging in numbers and solving it in my head until I honed in on the right answer (essentially just brute-forcing a correct answer).
Of course this didn’t work in that class, because the teacher wanted me to “show my work”, and wouldn’t accept an answer of “I just did it in my head” or “I looked for an answer in my head and found it”. I eventually learned what “show your work” really meant (show the step by step algebraic process that the teacher wants you to do), but I pick up on that until long after I’d given up on highschool (I was forced to retake algebra in 9th grade, and then put into a lower math class in 10th, and by that point, I just stopped going to math class entirely).
Fun fact, I got suspended from school a couple times for skipping class. The process was basically this:
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Skip class
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Be assigned detention for skipping class
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Skip class again when they were going to tell me I had detention
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Skip detention that I was never informed of
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Assigned, but never informed of, double detention
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Skip detention that I was still never informed of
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Suspended from school (still never informed of)
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Have a teacher see me on campus and tell me I’m suspended and need to leave school grounds (which is the first I heard of any of it)
School system at its finest, y’all. Skip class enough and they punish you by saying you’re not allowed to go to class.
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I am insanely good at word bomb
what’s word bomb?
a game where it gives you some letters and you have to use them (in order) to make a word within the time limit, the prompts get harder over time until there is only one person remaining
example 1:
- it gives prompt ‘and’
- you could give it: ‘and’ or ‘land’ or ‘random’ etc.
example 2:
- it gives prompt ‘ngl’
- you could give it ‘angle’ or ‘tangle’ or ‘anglerfish’
Min/Maxing? In any sufficiently complex game I can determine something that would be an efficient path to victory and pursue it harder than anyone else. I seem to really have a knack for making something work precisely to what I want even if it struggles in other respects.
It’s most apparent when I play Stellaris with friends. I self-impose a penalty not to play particular builds that are the best at my min/maxing preference but my not-tryharding play-style will still put me at twice the research output of the next player extremely quickly. Granted my empire has extreme and exploitable weaknesses that theirs doesn’t but my gamble frequently pays off.
I have a harder time making it work in Civ6 but that’s likely because I play it really infrequently. I believe I’ve figured out what needs to be done to make it happen though.
