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Thank you for the feedback! I created the list for underclassmen in my college to start learning technologies outside of school work, so a title like this will
by vic317yeh 10y ago
Thank you for the feedback!
I created the list for underclassmen in my college to start learning technologies outside of school work, so a title like this will create incentive for them to start learning on their own. Many students here turned out to like the list so I decided to share it here as well.
- jmspring 10y agoI've been regularly coding in C for 30+ years. The language has evolved, the behavior on what you can do "to be dangerous" depends on the architecture, as opposed to the things you can do "to be dumb". Do I consider myself an expert, no. A pro? No. Libraries, processors, application being built always expose challenges and things to be aware of. This is why I take exception with the phrasing of "Pro" based off of a reading list.
- stephengillie 10y agoBack in my day, "Pro" meant Professional, as in one who earns their living doing this.
- jmspring 10y agoA language caters to an ecosystem. Most ecosystems change and unless you are continually learning, the definition of "pro" becomes ambiguous. Despite who my employer is, I know much more about the internals and libraries associated with BSD and Linux related programming in the language of "C" than I do Win. Where do I declare myself an expert? "stdlib"? "stdio"? And so forth. I'm continually a student in the areas that pop up that interest me (and the ones I wish to maintain).
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- melvinmt 10y agoPro doesn't stand for Professor or anything. If you have 30 years of experience with something, then generally speaking, you're a pro.
- sillysaurus3 10y agoThere's little upside in thinking of yourself as a pro. The upside is in aspiring to be a pro: attention to detail, questioning your choices, actively seeking the edge of your field, putting in the time to practice, and so on. Those who aspire to be a pro are more likely to have these qualities, whereas pros tend to assume they do.
- kstenerud 10y agoOn the contrary; it's a very GOOD idea to think of yourself as a pro. A good professional takes pride in his work, and aspires to improve his craft. False modesty gets you nowhere.
- sillysaurus3 10y agoTo clarify, I'm not referring to the image that society forces you to project. It's obviously a bad idea to claim incompetence. That said, are you sure it's a good idea to remove modesty from your mind? It seems like more have fallen to pride than were lost to modesty.
- kstenerud 10y agoNot in my experience.
- ThenAsNow 10y agoThere's not an objection to the list per se, but terms like "pro" and "expert" have real meaning. "All you need is one link to become a pro in some area" is a bit insulting to everyone's intelligence, and isn't true for any widely-recognized meaning of the term "pro". It detracts from what is otherwise a well-intentioned curated list of learning resources.
- vic317yeh 10y agoThank you for the suggestion. I've changed the description to 'A list of the best resources to help you get started in becoming a pro'
- kriro 10y agoIt might be a good idea to add a meta section with resources on learning to learn. Books would be stuff like "Pragmatic Thinking and Learning", "The first 20 hours", "The Talent Code", "Inner Game of Tennis" etc. Link to a cool TED-talk (20 hours): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY :)
- vic317yeh 10y agoGood idea! Will add that to the list!
- cholantesh 10y agoThe Talent Code is fantastic! I would add Deep Work by Cal Newton to such a list as well.