Hooray! I once was told that the specific reason that I did NOT get a job was because I was a musician; they liked me, but they were sure that all musicians must be flakes. I just thought to myself, jeepers, you people know nothing--do you think we're born being able to play advanced repertoire, and therefore have lots of extra time to sit around drinking absinthe or whatever??
LOL.
I once trained a first-chair violinist to write code. I took a chance.
This person was self-sufficient and writing high quality software in six months. They worked 50-60 hours a week without complaint, came up with creative ideas, could read manuals for information, and listened to criticism. I have since trained four other top rate musicians ( one was Indian and one was Chinese ) who had zero knowledge of software with the same results.
First or second chair university-level musicians are an untapped gold mine.
When I talk to most other people about this, they just look at me like I am an idiot. They want to hire clones with Compusci degrees and certifications rather than go find raw talent+work ethic and then train it, then they complain about people not working hard enough or who are not creative enough. Go figure.
But, look at this way - if you could hire someone who was in the top .1% in their profession, are in their early 20s, and then retrain them, would you? Do you think they will be average or be a top performer after a while?
This is why I agree with Gladwell - I see SMART people being bested by harder workers every day where I work.
