Ask HN: Would you work for a team where you're the smartest person? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Would you work for a team where you're the smartest person?

7 pointsamnesiac3 comments

I recently interviewed with a team; it became apparent that if I were to hire on, I would be the "smartest person on the team" and probably wouldn't have any intellectual peers (this is unlikely, I know, but based on whom I interviewed with I'm not optimistic).

I've usually worked at places where I was an above-average person and enjoyed the mentoring of the really smart people. I'm at a point in my career where I'm considering taking a less technical role to help mentor an inexperienced team, but I'm wondering if those who have made this decision before could give some of their experience and/or advice.

Do you like being the top dog? What do you miss? Have things worked out? Regrets?

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It might depend on the gap between you and the others on the team. If the gap is small enough that they can keep up most of the time, learn with/from you and, most importantly, listen to you seriously when you give suggestions or point out problems, then it could probably work out. If the gap is big enough that they don't recognize good suggestions or important concerns from you when you bring it up, definitely stay away.

The above suggestion is partly based on my personal experience of working with a team where the two main leaders weren't the smartest in what they were trying to do (building the organizational structure of a growing business), which happened to be my forte since it's what I love to understand and study. As time went by, there were increasing problems with getting sales and building the business, which I felt were directly related with how we structured how people worked together.

I raised and pinpointed several issues more than a few times, and even had a two-hour face-to-face session where I had the chance to strongly emphasize the importance of the problems and had outlined steps to solving them. While they would listen to me out of consideration, they had their own assumptions about how the issues should be addressed and none of my suggestions were implemented. I eventually left in about a month, and most of the consequences I predicted came true so that they're having a much harder time than they need to.

If it was true as a general rule that "you should never be the smartest person a team", then all teams would break down if everyone followed that principle, because the smartest person would leave, then the previous second smartest would be the smartest and they would leave, and so on. This is not to say that you should necessarily accept the position in question; only that your decision should be based on a different principle.

If the real question is, "should I work on a team of people who are not smart enough to accomplish their goals" then obviously the answer is no.

If there is no one to push you, you will have to find ways to push yourself and keep growing.

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