Interns

We've got a new intern and boy, is she making me nervous. The reason is that she's nervous herself and it's almost painful to watch sometimes: the facial ticks, the stuttering, the compulsive hesitation.

Now, I empathise with her and go out of my way to chat with her about non-work stuff so she can loosen up. But it's looking like a lost cause. I can sense that her direct supervisor has developed a disliking for her. And when people don't like you in a work setting, you're toast.

It strikes me that we're all interns at one stage of our lives; professionally and personally. I'm referring to a situation where we know so little that there's almost no way we can provide a meaningful contribution without fucking up. But that's just the thing. The one thing people are not prepared for, after graduation, is the sheer mass of ignorance and inexperience they carry around with them. That it's okay to be that ignorant and that by testing your ignorance, you learn. That hesitating and choking is WORSE than fucking up.

Maybe that's not realistic since people are sensitive about making mistakes. I wish there was more of a distinction between 'ignorance' and 'inexperience'. The former means you never acquired the knowledge, the latter means you haven't had a chance to use it yet.