(Note: It was confusing for me to decide where to put this post - in the general section or the geek section! I finally chose to put it in the geek section because it felt more geeky than normal. But I think non geeks may be able to enjoy this thread as well.)
The scale of ten is all around us! If you finish an online transaction, there is a good chance you will be asked to rate the service providers on a scale of ten. If you have just had your pizza delivered, you will likely get an SMS containing a link to a page that asks you rate the pizza service provider on a scale of ten. If you have just had your car delivered from the service center, you are likely to be asked to rate the service on a scale of ten.
For most examples of scales of ten similar to above, it is relatively easy (for me atleast!) to give a rating. Because there are some guides given on how you can choose the number. For example, they give you phrases such as "Highly unlikely" or "Completely Dissatisfied" when it comes to numbers close to 1 and corresponding phrases for numbers close to 10. You intuitively select a number and you are done with it. After all, satisfaction is a very subjective quality.
My real problem or trouble with the scales of ten comes with people who want technical capabilities to be rated on a scale of ten. If you are involved in assessments of candidates OR filling out a job application OR in an interview room; and suddenly this question pops - "How would you rate yourself in C language?" Now, that - to me - is a scary scale of ten.
Because unlike previous examples, there is a certain objectivity possible with scales like these. But most of the times, the objectivity is not a standard we have agreed upon! For example, all the concepts of the C language can be considered to be uniformly distributed across the 200 pages (not a true number) of the classical text by Kernighan and Ritchie. And you have painfully been able to explain yourself every word on 180 of these pages. Could you rate yourself 9 on a scale of 10 asking you to evaluate your skills in the C language?
A very good friend of mine had this amazing capability of learning new words at an extremely fast pace. And he made a conscious effort to use these words in his daily conversations. This practice of course alienated him from most people except a few of us who were happy to train our brains to decipher his speech. (Maybe that was his intention all along - use this as a social filtering mechanism!) But I'd always find on detailed analysis, that the words were often used in an unnatural way or were accompanied by slights in grammar.
There is a similarity between this discord of word meaning and word usage and concepts of a programming language. Just because you are aware of a concept in a given programming language does not mean you are aware of the nice or effective ways, or contexts in which you can use the concept. A seasoned programmer in C would likely expect someone who has rated themselves at 9 to be aware of concepts as well as the beautiful ways in which these can be exploited (for sake of objectivity, 90% of some agreed upon collection of idioms some programming stalwart may have compiled).
Then the other dimension to this whole rating yourself on a scale of ten is what I'd like to call dormancy of usage. When was the last time you took advantage of all your skills in C to actually do programming? With respect to the dimensions of concept and usage, you are on 9 and you've earned it but because circumstances have not allowed you to use the language... use it or loose it, the saying goes. So you've lost it. Your magical human brain can recollect it quickly but it is likely that you will not get the semantics of the language correct. Should you reduce your score on this scale of ten?
These are the questions and doubts that arise in my mind when I hear people asking each other to rate themselves in technical aspects, on a scale of ten. And I am petrified of giving numbers to myself in such cases. So far I've been asked this question only in informal settings and I've always given philosophical answers such as "When I do not know the size of the ocean, how can I estimate what fraction of droplets I've managed to study?" I think in a more formal setting, I am likely to counter question and say, "Define 1 and define 10."
So, what do you think? Do scales of ten scare you? Do you believe they are standardized, albeit in an unofficial manner? Would love to hear your thoughts below.