Are the top-ranked Matlab users working for MathWorks, or do they have another job ?

Are the top-ranked Matlab users working for MathWorks, or do they have another job ?

Answer 1

[Jan]

You can recognize persons working for The MathWorks by the tag "staff" beside their names.

Most of the top-ranked members do not belong to the staff.

[Sim]

Thanks a lot @Jan for your reply!

But then, I would have another question... If many of them are not employees of MathWorks, how is it possible that - almost always - their replies are so incredibly fast ? I am really, and very positively, astonished :-) ..Also, I am really grateful to them for their great work!

[John D'Errico]

There is almost always somebody looking at Answers. So one gets a fast answer as long as someone is willing to answer a question, has the time to do so, and they have the necessary knowledge. If the question is about something exotic, it may take more time to get an answer.

[DGM]

Not that I'm "a top-ranked user", but speaking for myself, some of us just have nothing better to do at the moment.

Also, consider that certain people are particularly interested in certain topics and are well-practiced in answering common forms of questions their sphere of interest, possibly even having existing material for their responses. People can get good at what they do when they enjoy doing it.

[Bruno Luong]

It seems there are some top-rank users non-TMW employees initially and become one later.

[Sim]

@Jan @John D'Errico @DGM @Bruno Luong

Many thanks to all of you for your contributions to this thread.

I find your comments very interesting, thanks!

Note: I set the question up by mentioning the "top-ranked Matlab users", but this has not to be discriminatory towards all of them who are less expert in Matlab and who reply and contribute to this forum with less frequency. It was just a way to formulate a question :-)

Answer 2

[John D'Errico]

In most cases, we are not MathWorks employees. Those who do work there, have the word "staff" attached to their names. But Answers is a volunteer forum. Even those who do work for MathWorks are generally answering questions by their own choosing.

Do we have other jobs? Sometimes. Some of us are retired, and just enjoy using the tool to solve problems. My previous job was as an in-house corporate consultant in a major company, but now just retired. Just because you are not paid to do something means you must then just give it up completely.

Some individuals are grad students, some are faculty members. There are scientists in all sorts of fields. And even if one is an expert in the use of MATLAB, there is still more to learn from Answers, especially as new tools are added to the language itself.

[Sim]

Thank you very much for your exhaustive reply! :-)

I found this statement very motivational and inspirational: "Just because you are not paid to do something means you must then just give it up completely"

Many thanks for your work :-)