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With the rare exception, everyone 'sucks' at things like algorithms and math. That feeling of sucking and frustration is the normal feeling the vast majority of
by natalyarostova 8y ago
With the rare exception, everyone 'sucks' at things like algorithms and math. That feeling of sucking and frustration is the normal feeling the vast majority of people have when trying to teach themselves or learn complex logic. Some of this can be rust i.e. you have not been thinking this way for some years. But the truth is it's also a slog.
Progress in things like algorithms and math, at least from my experience, is measured in 100s of hours, not tens of hours.
You need to 'embrace' the frustration. That's just what learning hard stuff is all about. It makes you feel stupid.
Even the successful academics all have their small list of role models, all of whom make them feel stupid (a list I think ends with Von Neuman).
fwiw I just started studying CS basics at age 29 (although I'm a data scientist professionally). I'm doing it for 'myself' though, not for interviewing.
- sidcool 8y agoThis gives me some respite. I started CLRS a month ago, and although the progress has been excruciatingly slow, I am moving pages. It's quite fulfilling to understand how languages work underneath..
- natalyarostova 8y agoI started a month ago too, and I also find it excruciatingly slow. Make sure you use the MIT opencourseware that uses the book, as they provide problem sets and answers, which is very valuable. Although as learning things always goes, I "feel" like I am learning nothing and making no real progress, but then I look back on what I now know that I didn't before, and it's a lot!
- sidcool 8y agoCan you please provide a link to the courseware?
- natalyarostova 8y agohttps://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-046j-introduction-to-algorithms-sma-5503-fall-2005/index.htm https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-compu...
- sidcool 8y agoThanks
- b3b0p 8y agoI've read some of and done exercises in The Algorithm Design Manual instead of CLRS as I was always told and read CLRS is more a reference. I found The Algorithm Design Manual interesting and nicely paced, not slow at all. I actually very much enjoy it and will often re-read chapters or sections and pick out things I might have just slightly glossed over. I can't say anything about CLRS as I haven't read it or any parts of it.
- hnuser355 8y agoTo me, a one semester course is 150 hours (10 hours classroom and homework and home study per week, 15 weeks). If you study on your own, without lectures or office hours, I imagine it should be harder. I’m trying to read a good chunk of a math book (Analysis on Manifolds) while following a syllabus for it so that I know I’m covering roughly one semester of material in one semester of study hours. The most I can realistically devote right now is 30 minutes per day, most days per week. That means this is basically a one year project if I’m consistent enough to spend time on it everyday. Some people seem to act like it’s extremely easy to teach yourself technical material, but I really don’t buy it unless you do one or more of 1) learn at a very shallow level 2) ignore keeping rest of your life in order and can sacrifice lots of time 3) work in a situation where you have a lot of resources and free time to do it (eg a technical lab at graduate school where reading the book is part of your actual research duties) So I agree with you completely
- natalyarostova 8y agoI think a lot of people learn at a shallow level. That's what I used to do. I'd "read" textbooks with the illusion of gaining knowledge. But real knowledge I've learned is earned through a level of torture in trying to answer practice problems that's almost self-torture.