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How to teach yourself hard things
- mooreds 8y agoThis is a fundamental skill for modern jobs. If you don't want your labor to be commoditized or be out on the other end of an API, you need to be able to do hard, creative things. Unfortunately what is "hard" changes every year, so you need to be a continuous learner.
- toomuchtodo 8y agoYou also need to maximize your earnings, minimize your spending, and ensure you have enough runway between jobs (6-12 months) or enough cushion to take some time off when you're burned out. Because you will burn out. Humans are not machinery meant to be run at 110% constantly.
- chillwaves 8y agoEvery part of this post is important to understand and internalize. I didn't think it would happen to me (burn out) until it did. Still struggling.
- rectang 8y agoYeah, taking on this kind of challenging, continuous-learning work is fun... but it's generally only sustainable as long as the total time you put in to both "education" and "work" doesn't exceed full-time. Trying to negotiate that up-front, though, is hard. Most employers don't like paying much for education and research, and they don't like people who want to work less than full-time, either.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoIt's tricky. If you have an intelligent employer, they will understand that as a professional, learning is as much part of your job as fixing bugs. If your employer is not intelligent like that, but the company isn't a sweatshop, you probably might be able to "slow down" your ticket crunching a little bit in order to get some directly relevant learning in[0] (that, over time, will actually improve your work results). If your job is a sweatshop, be happy that in this industry it's still relatively easy to change jobs. -- [0] - not saying use your job time to learn CV-padding stuff; just if you suddenly need to work on a codebase in a language you don't know, don't be afraid to read an actual book instead of minimal amount of StackOverflow answers needed to kill your fist ticket.
- xor1 8y agoNot to mention access to amphetamines if you're someone like me who burns out easily without them. Fortunately it's completely trivial to get them legally in the US.
- bkircher 8y agoTurning to drugs to improve learning performance is bad advice. Note: I don’t say what you do is bad, this is totally up to you. But giving someone else the advice using drugs is just bad.
- sizzle 8y agoWow relevant username to post ratio
- bkircher 8y agoThis is bad advice, sorry. Not the financial one I mean, it’s always good to save up some money for bad times, but the “you will burn out” part. If you think that you will eventually burn out, like in “its just a matter of time”, you should seriously consider switching jobs, work in a less demanding industry, or do something else. There is so much more to life than just this work and nothing keeps you from working just at half the pace. You even might get some different insights from that. Seriously, I don’t want to sound like a total jerk but when this is the approach you choose, it’s going to be needlessly rough. Your username indicates your attitude, btw. Talk to a friend or professional. Maybe you need some good advice. edit: spelling
- toomuchtodo 8y agoBurnout is very real, and is more prevalent than you might expect [1] ("57% of Tech Workers Are Suffering From Job Burnout"). > you should seriously consider switching jobs, work in a less demanding industry, or do something else The cognitive dissonance expressed here is...wow. When you have people to support (or even just yourself), you don't just "switch jobs or industries, or do something else" on a whim when you've become burned out. To trivialize the complexity of handling burnout shows a complete lack of understanding what it is like to burn out. My username is a holdover from an inside joke 20 years ago in my teens, btw. And I don't think I'm the one who needs good advice. [1] https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/57-percent-of-tech-workers-are-suffering-from-job-burnout/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/57-percent-...
- kirubakaran 8y ago> you don't just "switch jobs or industries, or do something else" on a whim when you've become burned out IMHO That's not at all what they're saying. I think they're suggesting making changes long before that, when one hasn't burned out but feels that it is just a matter of time. As far as general suggestion goes (i.e. not directed at you, though it was a reply to you; this is a public forum after all, so you're essentially a stand-in for a wider group of people), I think they're spot on. It may not be relevant to you specifically, since we don't know the details of your situation.
- mooreds 8y agoI don't know. I'd prefer to find or build a company that recognizes a sustainable pace, so that I can avoid burnout. Maybe it is where I am at, but I know of at least three in the area (with different benefits and detriments).
- grimbly 8y agoAll labor is commoditized.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- atemerev 8y agoCurrently trying to learn quantum physics on my own (with no previous education in physics, only a CS degree). Very hard, but surprisingly, some analogies from machine learning can be helpful (a ket vector is like the sample, a bra vector is the set of coefficients, multiplying both gives you a measurement... this kind of thing). It can be wrong, but similarities in mathematical structures help immensely.
- zatkin 8y agoIf you're ever interested in digging into other areas of physics, take a look at this blog post by Susan J Fowler which gives a comprehensive overview with references to various topics: https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-learn-physics https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2016/8/13/so-you-want-to-l...
- throwawaymath 8y agoThat's fundamentally because they're both just linear algebra. You'd have an even easier time if you thoroughly mastered linear algebra and then "merely" applied your knowledge to whatever you'd like to learn in CS and physics that requires it.
- Koshkin 8y agohttp://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ https://openstax.org/details/books/university-physics-volume-1 https://openstax.org/details/books/university-physics-volume...
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- randomsearch 8y agoAlso: high quality sleep makes a huge difference to retention (fact) and makes it easier to tackle new material (personal experience).
- nisa 8y agoThe problem with these guides is that if you are able to follow the advice through you probably didn't need the guide in the first place. Lack of stress and plenty quality time for learning and the discipline and motivation to follow through and the ability to focus on a single topic for a long period are the unspoken basic requirements to do this succesfully.
- dorchadas 8y agoI've always found the last two harder to maintain when I've got the first two. The opposite is true as well; when I've got the last two, the first two never work out.
- trisomy21 8y agoSometimes, I wish someone who didn’t need a guide like this would still read it and be inspired to create a guide that would be more effective for people who did need it.
- avremel 8y agoExactly. I suspect that the popularity of these types of articles is that it resonates deeply with highly motivated, self directed learners. Same goes for articles targeting productivity geeks, and anything self-help related
- rcdwealth 8y agoFundamentally there are few barriers to study and they were researched well by L. Ron Hubbard, and are applied through Applied Scholastics http://www.appliedscholastics.org/ http://www.appliedscholastics.org/ The technology to study is exact, and also involved clarification of any words and symbols and meaning that one does not understand. http://www.appliedscholastics.org/study-tech/a-breakthrough-in-learning.html http://www.appliedscholastics.org/study-tech/a-breakthrough-... Everybody can learn anything, there are no stupid kids or students, there are students with misunderstoods and those may be clarified.
- Cyph0n 8y agoSorry, but it's hard for me to trust anything that is related to Scientology. Do you have any neutral references on this "technique"?
- gerdesj 8y agoEverybody can learn anything, there are no stupid kids or students, there are students with misunderstoods and those may be clarified. A very odd statement: * Everybody can learn anything, - no we cannot, for obvious reasons * there are no stupid kids or students, - fair enough, I agree * there are students with misunderstoods - assuming a speling mistak, "misunderstandings" doesn't work here either * and those may be clarified. - Not sure how you clarify a misunderstanding: it is already a misunderstanding, unless you are actually referring to butter for some reason.
- jacobolus 8y agoYou could try to be charitably skeptical instead of pedantic, dismissive, and gratuitously insulting. From the website linked, we can infer that “misunderstood” is supposed to be “misunderstood word”.
- noonespecial 8y agoI always though that this "wisdom" from LRH was about as useful as the rest of Scientology itself. All I have to do to learn is look up the words I don't understand? You don't say. Let me guess, all I have to do to walk from San Francisco to New York is take steps. All I have to do to lose weight is eat less. Its silly reductionism dressed up to sound profound in order to sell an enormous fraud. File it under true but not especially useful.
- madeuptempacct 8y agoI think good quality materials or teachers are key, and will always be key. I taught myself most things I know, and I am an idiot for it (though sometimes I had no other option). There is no substitute for knowing CS50 exists for learning to program. There is no substitute to "Speed Secrets" (the book) for learning to drive fast, etc, etc. The problem is that, as a beginner, you don't know what's good. As a beginner, you don't know that this really will prevent any knee instability: http://www.moveforwardpt.com/assets/cbe46e14-86d6-4ed1-8d53-83044d0e2302/635314216498400000/kneeaclexercises-pdf http://www.moveforwardpt.com/assets/cbe46e14-86d6-4ed1-8d53-... (PDF warning) or these really are ALL great exercises: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA8GzhFh_CQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA8GzhFh_CQ Etc. I wish I had someone give me these things as a kid. I would have wasted much less time.
- toomuchtodo 8y agoIt's cliche, but "you don't know what you don't know", and that's the hardest part.
- Z1515M8147 8y agoThe best way out of unconscious incompetence is having a mentor, but knowing to get a mentor is often a test of your ego, which can be the hardest part to overcome.
- gerdesj 8y agoI like learning! It’s fun! That's the take away here.
- ssivark 8y agoI strongly recommend watching Edward Kmett’s talk — Stop treading water: learning to learn https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8KcCU-p8QA https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8KcCU-p8QA
- Sapph 8y agoI feel while a learning methodology may make it go faster, what matters more is having the intrinsic motivation to actually get started and keep going (especially when you hit roadblocks). What works for me is having a project or goal I'm excited about. That motivates me to learn the skills and knowledge to achieve it. Back in my teens, I really wanted to customize a Neopets guild (remember those? ;) ) so I started learning HTML to be able to. After, it was "I really want my own site" so I learned PHP to customize Wordpress and so on. When I was in school and some of the information I had to learn wasn't directly applicable, I made a game out of testing study techniques. Such as taking annotated screenshots out of Youtube videos (10x better than textbook diagrams and walls of text). This game (which was really about changing my own perception from "ugh, rote memorization" to "let's test study techniques") helped me through the denser materials.
- yesenadam 8y ago(Sorry to nitpick, but) I think you mean "learning method"? A method is a method; a methodology is the reasons, rationale, explanation for why you've used that particular method. I see this error everywhere, although it's much longer and incorrect. I guess it sounds/looks impressive, kinda scientific.
- TeMPOraL 8y agoIs it really an error if everything from Google to Merriam-Webster apparently makes it? https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/methodology https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/methodology > a body of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline : a particular procedure or set of procedures I.e. methodology is a set of methods.
- yesenadam 8y agoI didn't quite understand your question, but yes it's really an error. No, that's not what methodology means. Although if everyone uses it to mean the same as method, as seems increasingly the case, then that will be what it means and be printed in dictionaries. Personally, I like short words and think they should be preferred, besides the two concepts being entirely different.
- roesel 8y agoIt would be useful to have a guide like this for a scientific field, since a lot of things coders take for granted like SO etc does not exist and a lot of knowledge in the field is hidden behind complicate democracy language or secretive authors.
- DrNuke 8y agoIf it is science what you are looking for, on one side you need extreme discipline to force yourself on hard, alien subjects that you will mostly not understand at a glance. On the other side, you much probably need a mentor to discuss things in a sequential or progressive manner, assimilate the underlying theory with its nuances for real and test yourself against a rock solid reference. I acted as an informal tutor for a number of fellow students at uni and both circumstances were needed to get them results (and pass their exams).
- pacuna 8y agoIn my experience, learning something hard without applying it to a real problem during several weeks or months, spending hours trying to solve weird errors is impossible. Keep in mind that learn something is very different to understand something. Maybe I understand functional programming, but if I haven't worked on a real project that uses a functional programming language, I probably suck at it.
- gawkface 8y agoExactly, the difference in retention that comes from theory vs it's application is too wide
- joewee 8y agoThe approach I’m trying now is to start at the destination and work my way backwards. It’s similar to how some people prep for test by starting with a test and then focusing on the weak areas. It feels similar to how I learn in the course of working in a professional environment. Try to do something, get stuck and then go understand the thing you’re stuck on. The idea is that if I start at the destination the necessity for and application of the missing knowledge is much clearer to me. Of course you can go back multiple levels to gain a understanding of something, I tend to stop at the point where I have a practical understanding but I find as I progress the areas I get stuck on tend to have some root base of knowledge that’s further back, perhaps theoretical in nature, learning that makes everything just “click.” (I’m currently doing this to understand deep learning and music composition).
- gawkface 8y agoKind of test-driver development :) If u make some notes of ur foray into these two topics (I am a noob in both, and just "interested" in both atm, and in music theory more than composition), it might be helpful for others so if you do plan to make a blog of your journey, pls email the link to me at gawkface@gmail.com, thanks!
- dakshgautam6 8y agoCan anyone please suggest how go about learning subjects like Analysis of Algorithms which is quite a math heavy subject?
- machiaweliczny 8y agoI don't think it's that math heavy. AFAIK there are 3 kinds of analysis: 1) execution counting: loops count (n, n^2) etc., with sorting: nlogn, recursion (c^n) - used to prove worst case. You have to be familiar with big O notation. 2) amortised analysis - proves average case 3) proving lower bounds (usually based on tree of possibilites) - proves that something can't be done more efficiently (this might be math heavy) Just grab some book on algorithms - they usually start with algorithm analysis intro.
- charlysl 8y agoIf your are interested in learning hard subjects, I highly recommend Richard Hamming's wonderful course The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn [1], and the related book [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD4b-52jtos&list=PL2FF649D0C4407B30 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD4b-52jtos&list=PL2FF649D0C... [2] https://www.amazon.com/Art-Doing-Science-Engineering-Learning/dp/9056995006 https://www.amazon.com/Art-Doing-Science-Engineering-Learnin...