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With stack overflow, blogs, irc, message boards, etc I think the idea of a live expert is face to face is overrated. Rather than going to the guru and eating hi

With stack overflow, blogs, irc, message boards, etc I think the idea of a live expert is face to face is overrated. Rather than going to the guru and eating his words as gospel, I can go on the internet and get 10 different opinions on a problem I am having. Then I can critically evaluate those different viewpoints and pick the one that is right for the way I work.

deleted 16y ago
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bradhe 16y ago
There are some nuances I'm sure you've missed. Likewise, the opportunity to bounce things off othervpeople with a vested interest is invaluable.
- angrycoder 16y ago
  Not really. If I need a face to with the people who have a vested interest, it has never been prevented by the fact that I am a contractor. If I need someone to bounce ideas off of, I just go to lunch with one of my developer friends. Being a contractor only makes you isolated if you let it.
dirkstoop 16y ago
For concrete problem solving, sure. Esp. If the problems are small or common enough. But there's more that you get out of working closely together with someone who can teach you something.
c1sc0 16y ago
In my experience listening to the company's 'experts' is often a great way to learn outdated skills.
swombat 16y ago
Technical skills are only one small part of the skill set of a modern technical worker. You can learn a hell of a lot about people-management from the right mentor, and that's going to make a whole lot more difference to your career than learning to solve technical problems.
msy 16y ago
Finding the best way of solving problem X isn't what you learn by being under/around good senior developers, what you learn is a set of mental tools and approaches for solving problems & your ethos as a developer. You can't learn that stuff on Stack Overflow.
- farmerbuzz 16y ago
  Anything that can be learned via talking to people can be learned via Stack Overflow assuming you can communicate well using text (although it may get tagged with the feared Subjective tag).
  - farmerbuzz 16y ago
    Why is this comment not welcome here? I would like not to repeat my mistake in the future but I'm not sure what I did wrong.
Gobiner 16y ago
You can't seriously believe that using StackOverflow is comparable to working alongside an expert.

deleted 16y ago

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bradhe 16y ago

There are some nuances I'm sure you've missed. Likewise, the opportunity to bounce things off othervpeople with a vested interest is invaluable.

angrycoder 16y ago
Not really. If I need a face to with the people who have a vested interest, it has never been prevented by the fact that I am a contractor. If I need someone to bounce ideas off of, I just go to lunch with one of my developer friends. Being a contractor only makes you isolated if you let it.

dirkstoop 16y ago

For concrete problem solving, sure. Esp. If the problems are small or common enough. But there's more that you get out of working closely together with someone who can teach you something.

c1sc0 16y ago

In my experience listening to the company's 'experts' is often a great way to learn outdated skills.

swombat 16y ago

Technical skills are only one small part of the skill set of a modern technical worker. You can learn a hell of a lot about people-management from the right mentor, and that's going to make a whole lot more difference to your career than learning to solve technical problems.

msy 16y ago

Finding the best way of solving problem X isn't what you learn by being under/around good senior developers, what you learn is a set of mental tools and approaches for solving problems & your ethos as a developer. You can't learn that stuff on Stack Overflow.

farmerbuzz 16y ago
Anything that can be learned via talking to people can be learned via Stack Overflow assuming you can communicate well using text (although it may get tagged with the feared Subjective tag).
- farmerbuzz 16y ago
  Why is this comment not welcome here? I would like not to repeat my mistake in the future but I'm not sure what I did wrong.

Gobiner 16y ago

You can't seriously believe that using StackOverflow is comparable to working alongside an expert.