24
Tawzer
7y

TLDR Question:
When do you consider yourself an expert at a language?

More details: there is a really cool Data Science internship opening up near me that I want so badly it physically hurts me, but it asks for expert level knowledge of python, Java, or R.

I’ve only been studying R and Java for like 3 months, and Python for about 8 months, so I’m obviously no expert. When exactly does someone reach that threshold, though? When did you realize you were an expert at a language?

Comments
  • 10
    Just apply! Make sure to make it clear why you want to get the internship and what you would like to do there.

    If you are fit for them, you might get the place with less experience. If you don't get the place...well at least you tried!

    You can't really lose when applying to places above your skill level. Also they might have openings for easier stuff as well which aren't listed publicly ;)
  • 10
    Expert is a subjective term. You could be expert for that internship but for others you may not be
  • 5
    @arpit1997 my thoughts exactly... I suppose my question is really when do people feel confident enough to apply for jobs that ask for expert level exp?
  • 2
  • 3
    I've met people with 15 years of experience in technologies/languages i haven't even heard of and they still don't admit that they're experts.

    Then again I've lied at countless interviews admitting I've mastered things, I googled the night before :P

    Just go for the internship .. If you get it you'll probably have a tough time, but that just means you'll learn a lot. If you don't get selected .. no harm no foul ..
  • 2
    Of course expertise is subjective. I tried saying I was an expert in Java in my resume once (after learning it for 3 years) and I got shot down in an interview about it.

    I would have to agree though, now I put familiar or proficient next to any of my technologies and how many years. I feel that time is a way more useful measurement.
  • 3
    When applying for anything I would say "expert" equals to "hello world".
  • 2
    Based on the Dunning-Kruger effect, you could think you're (enough of) an expert once you start feeling that everyone else should be able to do the same as you, but better. Expertise correlates to underestimating oneself/overestimating others...

    And mostly, I side with what's been said above: if you don't try, you don't know...
  • 0
    @1989 unless you're Jon Skeet
  • 2
    @mauker Jon skeet is called as the god at Stackoverflow. He is the only man to get 1 million points on Stackoverflow.
  • 0
    In my opinion. When you can create the language from scratch.
  • 1
    @ponyboy3 paid man, paaaaaid. That’s why I’m hesitant to fake it lol
  • 1
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