The Dunning-Kruger Effect: Why Incompetent People Think They're Experts

I once watched a junior developer with three months of React experience tell a senior architect with 15 years of experience that “Redux is dead and anyone still using it doesn’t understand modern development.” The senior architect smiled politely and continued the code review. That junior developer was me. And I was living proof of the Dunning-Kruger Effect. If you’ve ever wondered why the least knowledgeable people often have the strongest opinions, or why beginners sometimes appear more confident than experts, you’re about to understand one of the most fascinating cognitive biases in psychology. ...

January 15, 2024 · 18 min · Rafiul Alam