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I think this is true for many other disciplines, especially programming. You can code all you like, but reading text books on the subject and studying other peo

I think this is true for many other disciplines, especially programming. You can code all you like, but reading text books on the subject and studying other people's code will quickly improve your skill. This is something I wish I knew 20 years ago.

sharken 5y ago
It's also something i wish companies would prioritize, you will be more valuable if these activities are supported by the company and not something you must do on your own time.
- jldl805 5y ago
  They do. You can take a lower paying job while you earn improve your skills, and then get a new role or raise with the skills earned. If they wanted someone in the role without the skills already in place, they would have hired that person and paid them less.
  - BoiledCabbage 5y ago
    And misses OPs point. > You can code all you like, but reading text books on the subject and studying other people's code will quickly improve your skill. Companies need to prioritize this is the point. It's not about low pay, high pay jobs. Or obtaining a role once you have the skills, it's that companies don't prioritize learning/development as part of the role, they focus on output - and they would get more value from their employees of they did.
    - _y5hn 5y ago
      That flies in the face of the current Lord of the Flies policy and extracting maximum effort from each employee though.
- vjk800 5y ago
  Companies have very little interest in investing in their employees personal education, because once they have learned the new stuff, they might just leave to another company and take their freshly acquired knowledge with them. It's the same reason why companies want to hire only experienced people even when the skills they require could be acquired by an otherwise competent person in a few months with proper training. In economic terms, it's a market failure; no-one wants to be the one paying (either in terms of money or employee working hours) for stuff that someone else can benefit from.
mobjack 5y ago
I know everyone learns differently, but I gained most of my programming skills just from programming. You will study other people's code on the job and code reviews provide coaching. Chess is much harder for me because I don't have the discipline to study like that. With coding, I can read a quick blog post or follow a tutorial, then immediately start incorporating ideas into my work. In chess, if I study something, I might not encounter a situation where I can use that knowledge in game for a while. I don't get that immediate reinforcement so I forget things much easier.
- pbhjpbhj 5y ago
  Chess should be super-easy to use knowledge quickly after acquisition. If it's openings you can play online/against a computer and use them. If it's mid game it's going to be strategy, you're not going to ever repeat it, so you can apply the strategy in general terms. If it's endgame then surely you can setup scenarios and play against engines. Maybe, if it doesn't exist, there's a need for a game engine that will try to do a particular opening to give you practice, will try, say, to fianchetto or castle early (I imagine such settings exist) to allow practicing against those moves? But, unless you're seriously good can't you get the repetitive practice easily with engines?
- Lordarminius 5y ago
  > In chess, if I study something, I might not encounter a situation where I can use that knowledge in game for a while. That's a problem everyone has :)

sharken 5y ago

It's also something i wish companies would prioritize, you will be more valuable if these activities are supported by the company and not something you must do on your own time.

jldl805 5y ago
They do. You can take a lower paying job while you earn improve your skills, and then get a new role or raise with the skills earned. If they wanted someone in the role without the skills already in place, they would have hired that person and paid them less.
- BoiledCabbage 5y ago
  And misses OPs point. > You can code all you like, but reading text books on the subject and studying other people's code will quickly improve your skill. Companies need to prioritize this is the point. It's not about low pay, high pay jobs. Or obtaining a role once you have the skills, it's that companies don't prioritize learning/development as part of the role, they focus on output - and they would get more value from their employees of they did.
  - _y5hn 5y ago
    That flies in the face of the current Lord of the Flies policy and extracting maximum effort from each employee though.
vjk800 5y ago
Companies have very little interest in investing in their employees personal education, because once they have learned the new stuff, they might just leave to another company and take their freshly acquired knowledge with them. It's the same reason why companies want to hire only experienced people even when the skills they require could be acquired by an otherwise competent person in a few months with proper training. In economic terms, it's a market failure; no-one wants to be the one paying (either in terms of money or employee working hours) for stuff that someone else can benefit from.

mobjack 5y ago

I know everyone learns differently, but I gained most of my programming skills just from programming. You will study other people's code on the job and code reviews provide coaching. Chess is much harder for me because I don't have the discipline to study like that. With coding, I can read a quick blog post or follow a tutorial, then immediately start incorporating ideas into my work. In chess, if I study something, I might not encounter a situation where I can use that knowledge in game for a while. I don't get that immediate reinforcement so I forget things much easier.

pbhjpbhj 5y ago
Chess should be super-easy to use knowledge quickly after acquisition. If it's openings you can play online/against a computer and use them. If it's mid game it's going to be strategy, you're not going to ever repeat it, so you can apply the strategy in general terms. If it's endgame then surely you can setup scenarios and play against engines. Maybe, if it doesn't exist, there's a need for a game engine that will try to do a particular opening to give you practice, will try, say, to fianchetto or castle early (I imagine such settings exist) to allow practicing against those moves? But, unless you're seriously good can't you get the repetitive practice easily with engines?
Lordarminius 5y ago
> In chess, if I study something, I might not encounter a situation where I can use that knowledge in game for a while. That's a problem everyone has :)