10k hours of practice - including a lot of “directed” practice, where you have some advice on what to work on, and no small amount of thoughtful critique - will

10k hours of practice - including a lot of “directed” practice, where you have some advice on what to work on, and no small amount of thoughtful critique - will generally get you to “hireable in your craft”. There’s still a lot to learn. I passed that point in my art skills around 2000, and can crank out a much better drawing with a lot less thought than 2000 me could. 10k hours of fiddling around by yourself will get you somewhere, to be sure. (Quick math: 10k/5 = 2000, divide that by 365 and you have about five and a half years of spending 5h on your craft every day. Which sounds a lot like “majoring in your craft at a four-year college, then learning how it really works on your first job” to me.)