How to Listen to Experts

You're about to watch an interview with Jacques, a professional programmer who works at Udacity. When you're a novice (in anything, but especially with programming), it can be difficult to communicate with experts.

That's because experts are so familiar with their field that they've forgotten what it was like to get there. This often means that experts will:

• assume you have knowledge that you don't
• use jargon you don't understand
• speak too quickly for you to understand.

When people do this, remember that they probably aren't trying to confuse you or show off. They have usually just forgotten how hard it was for them when they were learning the same thing. In these situations, don't be afraid to ask questions even if they seem basic. The person you're talking to will probably be excited to talk about anything in their field if someone is willing to listen.

Luckily, Jacques does a good job of avoiding "expert blind spot." As he speaks, listen to the technological empathy he has! When he sees a picture, he immediately sees it the way a browser sees HTML: as boxes within boxes within boxes…

This kind of expertise takes lots and lots of practice to develop. But if you enjoy this sort of thing, you may want to check out Udacity's Front End Web Developer Nanodegree when you're done with this one.