What thing are you exponentially more experienced in than the average person?

Statistical modeling.

And yes, I am miffed about the use of the word “exponential” in this post’s title.

I got a PhD in philosophy. I have exponentially more experience applying for jobs and getting rejected than most people.

Math (I'm a graduate student). And "exponentially more experienced than the average" means nothing as exponential is a progression, not a comparison between two values.

So you're asking people what they do for a living?

Doing something for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week makes you a lot better at that thing than other people.

By feel I can identify 20 lb, 24 lb, 28 lb, 65 lb cover, 110 lb cover, and 12 pt matte paper. I'm increasingly impressed by people's business cards as a result, as it is often much, much heavier than 12 pt matte.

Using comparison I can distinguish 80 lb semi-gloss cover, 100 lb semi-gloss cover, 8 pt gloss, 10 pt gloss, and 12 pt gloss. (But then again, most people could, given multiple choices rather than a free-response question.)

Since the Reddit blackout I decided to learn how to solve a Rubik's Cube. My best time for solving one so far is 82 seconds. I know it's no world record but the average person can't solve a Rubik's cube so I'm way more experienced.

Being comfortable enough with myself to answer this question honestly: nothing

Socializing with cats, befriending them.

Having gone through conscription military, I have leveled up some very important abilities.

Looking busy: I can find convincing ways to spend time without actually doing anything important.

Wasting time: When nobody is looking, I can find creative and fun ways to pass the time. (this ability is maxed out)

Also gained a few special perks.

Forest fun: Who needs movies, games or the internet when you have an axe and some wood. Even pine cones, rocks and sticks will be enough to keep you preoccupied in creative ways.

Day dreaming: Who needs the forest, when you can build countless universes in your mind.

Oh, and I did learn to shoot and keep my rifle in working order. I guess that’s nice too. Didn’t get to level that anywhere near as much, but that’s ok.

I want to join in here too with the exceptionally good driving. I, like everyone else here, am totally a very much better driver than the average person on the road. Exponentially much better, even!

I have a lot of experience reconstructing whale skeletons for museums and such. I do it as a hobby with a friend of mine who is the marine mammals recovery coordinator for the state of North Carolina.

Statistics.

That word does not mean what you think it means.

I am, without trying to sound arrogant, much better at cornering, roundabouts, and general driving than a large part of the population in Australia.

I can enter a roundabout, in a preselected gear, at appropriate revs and speed. Load up the suspension just right, so I'm released into my chosen exit, kissing the apex with a release of energy that feels so sweet, smooth and safe, that it's a beautiful part of my life.

All within safe thresholds, and always when I know it's safe. And the way others use roundabouts, it's always safer than the general population.

Not littering.

Pole dancing! I’ve taught professionally for like 15 years.

Btw this instance is about to be exposed to amazing pole fitness content, prepare yourselves.

Maybe not better than an average person, but the last 10 years of my life taught me lots of handy life skills, like owning up to my mistakes, having more self esteem, showing confidence in tough situations, standing up for myself, having better people skills and to know when not to get involved and when to speak up.

Most of these are basic human skills, but the combination of these can make a huge difference. I landed jobs thanks to them, I made friends and removed toxic people from my life. I have less issues with adult responsibilities and in general I am less stressed.

Again maybe not exceptionally more experienced than an average person, but compared to my old self its a huge difference.

Anyone in this thread could probably just cite their career.

Locks, lockpicking, and teaching English grammar.

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I am "exponentially" better at nothing in comparison to others. There's always this one kid, who will do whatever I do, far better than I can ever do.

Cocktails. I'm purely an amateur home bartender (I work in software development) but I'm better at making cocktails than most paid bartenders in the city, including a number of the ones working at craft cocktail bars I've been to across the country. I make my own syrups, creams, infusions, carved ice, and dehydrated fruit. I've recently started using an iSi whipper to make foam toppers; beer foam for old fashioneds, tropical foam for Mai Tais. My avocado orgeat is awesome. Fat washing with coconut oil is easy and makes Campari and cachaça amazing. I've hosted many parties in the 15-28 person range, as well numerous smaller cocktail nights, so I have experience creating thematic menus and then prepping and serving the drinks all night.

I have a ton of knowledge about spirits in general, both breadth and depth. Most bartenders and even mixologists don't even know what baijiu is (let alone tried each aroma), know the difference between soju and shōchū, or why soju is rarely made with rice. My rum knowledge is where I've specialized and I can recommend multiple bottles of each type (Smuggler's Cove categories or Minimalist Tiki's) in varying price ranges, what cocktails they are best for, and the subtle differences between each bottle within its own category.

I'm a perfectly average programmer though.

Exponentially denotes a progression, a rate of change. You probably mean greatly or vastly

For me it would be authoring images-illustration, rendering, etc. I guess most people can answer with their job

I have decades of experience with improv storytelling. It's a niche thing, and normally I use it for tabletop games, but in a pinch I can make up campfire stories, ghost stories, or whatever else and use the slightest cues from the audience to suit what they enjoy.

How to handle multiple repeated panic attacks every day

The best skill?

Im a good driver. Very good, in fact. Not at racing, i mean. But actually driving on public roads.being predictable, parking legally, following speed limits, using the turn signal before i actually turn, etc etc

It pains me to ride as a passenger now :(

I can mould the old shower soap in to the new shower soap like an absolute boss.

I could say job-related things or my hobbies, but Ima go with Google-fu. Maybe just search engine fu.

I know way too many 'first page people' when it comes to results. No fuckin' way. Learn how to dig. Do not take no for an answer from a search engine without trying a range of strategies to find what you're looking for.

OK, I'm lying. This is part of my job. I teach academic research, and I hear these people with two sources tell me there aren't enough sources for them to do a research paper on a given topic or that all these peer-reviewed journal articles say the same thing.

But it does extend into non-academic life. I was out of town, my older brother needed a U-Haul, drove 40 minutes to a place he knew, but there was a U-Haul less than 10 minutes away that he couldn't find.

I'm surrounded by this.

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This feels like a cheat answer, but as someone who has played for 25 years and organized events for 15, I’m likely much more knowledgeable about the rules of Magic: the Gathering than the “average person”. Not sure that I am necessarily exponentially better than the average player, but maybe I am now that so many people play digitally and don’t need to know the rules as much.

Gamemastering rpgs. 20 years of experience and a good cross section of games played. Spent the last five years really trying to improve too.

Picked up soldering and small appliance repairing as a hobby couple months ago so I guess that

Ability: Coordinate system rotation. I can move 3d objects around in my mind with ease and it is clear in group settings that most people are not good at this.

Knowledge: heat transfer. I've done years of theoretical study and more years of practical application of heat transfer.

I have two useless talents:

• Highly developed sense of smell (sometimes a liability)
• Ability to identify voice actors with high accuracy

I once identified the source of a minute gas leak in my basement, which had evaded the calibrated detection equipment of the utility company, so I guess I can't say it's completely useless.

I'm good at putting a needle inside people's veins.

Diagnosis, repair, and operation of CNC lasers, both flat plate cutting lasers and tube lasers.

Pretty good generalist.

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My humility.

Joking aside though, I'd like to think I'm pretty empathetic and understanding.

...stand above the average person?

Kinda opposite of the prompt:

Scuba!

Lots of divers will tell you that buouancy control is difficult for most divers. Mine is absolutely good. I teach underwater photography and can hover within a fraction of an inch over a super silty bottom while swimming backwards and taking video without stirring up anything.

I have other instructors and professionals come to me for buoyancy training.

Being myself, I'm pretty good at it.

Playing piano, and knowing too much about headphone gear and audio measurements

Understanding how substations work. Also, knowing what substations even are...

drawing porno

Loading a vehicle or container for moving. I've had friends ask me to basically take over their move. And yeah, I may be a sucker for doing it, but I will save people hours and multiple trips while moving. I 3d tetris the hell out of a uhaul.

Height. I'm 6'6" on a good day. Top 99.897% in the world.

Reviving and programming REMBASS units. REmotely Monitored Battlefield Sensor System was a old ass piece of equipment when I was using it 20 years ago in the Army. You'd have to program different channels using another old ass piece of equipment. And very often they'd drop their fills, or not appreciate having a new, fully charged battery in it. It would frustrate people to no end because they'd spend hours trying to get it going, and then I'd stroll up talking all nice and pretty to the gear and shit would just work for me.

i got 4 nukes in MWII

Besides my professional skills, which are so boring they’re not worth mentioning, I’m good at snapping my fingers? I can do both hands really fast.
Also, standing on one leg, having internal monologues that can last for hours and other useless skills :)

Freeze-drying, it's a d(r)ying art.

If I was to base it off people I know IRL, it'd be video games. But against the collective of gamers on the internet, I don't even rank. :/

Well... I guess that's just skill. Experience, though... Many streamers and gamers are a fraction of my age, and I've been gaming since as far back as I remember.

Hacking Nintendo consoles

Linguistics, programming, rationalizing, and trackmania =)

I'm pretty good at controlling my temper... does that count?

Well, it's definitely not my height, hahahaha 🥲

But I'm pretty good at not giving up getting obsessed with a problem and basically bashing my head against the wall until the wall gives in.

Or until a new problem steals my focus.

Like, I have no mechanical experience, but I did a valve adjustment on my motorbike.

Not getting stung by bees?

Installing operating systems.

Living outside my home country.

Trimming goat and sheep hooves

Driving a forklift

Being in a freezer

exponentially more experienced

no quadratic trinomial experience ... guess i'll show myself out then

Asking intriguing questions that nobody thinks to ask.

Kayaking, ive been doing it a year and a half and I've been on every white water course in the country

Fast driving - although I've never raced competitively I've done around 50 track days and I was normally one of the fastest on circuit wet and dry (whilst not having the fastest car).

Computer stuff - worked in IT my whole life although this one isn't for fun.

Skateboarding. I've been skating since 1985, and aside from a couple years in the military, never really took a break from it.

At 48 years old, with a slew of injuries, I can't do the kind of things I did in my 20s, but can sure hold my own on a mini ramp.

Am not

I'm very comfortable doing CPR

Welding probably. Especially oxy- acetylene and TiG

Anything computer related

Wasting my time Yo.

Purely based on population I'm an exceptional climbing instructor.

I'm quite good at getting Macs to do the stuff I need them to. The vast majority of people alive right now will have never touched one for a number of reasons, so I guess I'm above average at it. I can easily patch old ones with Opencore these days.

I know more about radio and podcast production than the average person, given that I have a degree in it. Not that I was ever successful in that field, but I know how to do it to a high standard.

I'm also really good at guessing the year when radio shows do a guess the year competition. I listened to a lot of pop radio from about 1985 to 2010, so can usually place myself to when a song was popular.

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I know a lot about the Lincoln assassination.

Time management.

Ive become a fucking pro at squeezing as many tasks into a day as I possibly can. I frequently get told they have no idea how I keep on top of things. I basically work 2 and a half full time jobs for people at the same company, and I accomplish it by overlapping my time and billing per item not per hour

Manufacturing test automation software. It's a niche corner of professional software. If your stuff goes down, you don't make product. Downtime results in huge sums of potential profit being lost very rapidly. It's exciting when it goes right and downright crushing when it goes wrong. If you do it right you can make huge gains in process efficiency.

It's a game and I'm addicted.

So what now, experience or skill?

building in video games

Building custom computers. Been doing it for close to 20 years. Servers, gaming rigs, rendering workstations, console builds, ultra budget scrap builds, custom water loops, done it all.

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Campin'

I'm a massive nerd and I've always wanted to end up in a career that would let me deep dive to the point where the average person wouldn't have any idea what I'm talking about. I ended up in a generalist role so now I'm just slightly more personable than my peers and barely any more knowledgeable. It's probably good for my social skills, but I'd love to be weirdly out of touch on some niche topic.

All my coworkers say I’m an expert when it comes to diagnosing electrical issues with residential Solar. However I don’t feel that way at all. I’ve got a lot to learn. I think they just see how good I am at problem solving and mistranslate that into actual expertise.

I got a pretty good sense of smell. I can identify many spices in a sauce from a few meters away.

I guess having strong opinions based on science, logic and empathy, if I have gathered enough evidence and knowledge about it and also being honest about not knowing enough about a topic to form an opinion on that topic. This should be the norm.

Other people are sometimes amazed by my language skills. I'm German, know English pretty well, and am learning japanese since about half a year. I'm not too sure, if how many languages/how good most people speak/understand.

I'm good at being optimistic and happy I would say. I'm also very calm and rational in situations many would find themselves angry or sad. One things that definitely helps is walking. It gives you time to think and appreciate your surroundings.

And of course, I'm good with computers. I have some servers I regularly do some new stuff with, and work in Cybersecurity (as student but hey you got to start somewhere)

Knowing the name and premise of a Futurama episode within the first minute.

@Oka @asklemmy I'm pretty good at

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eBay Product/Shopping verification.

It seems people get fakes and knockoffs all the time, but I haven't.

All I do is look at the product pictures; if they're stock, I'll ignore, but if they aren't, and they are a tech product, DVD, etc., I'll cross-reference UPC/Barcode, SN, etc. with search engines.

Been using eBay since 2019.

Pretty much everything. The average person can't read and write, can't swim, can't run or hold a steering wheel with two hands, because the average person doesn't have two legs and two arms, etc