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What I learned from my time in grad school (physics) is that at least for the hard sciences, reading is not enough, you must DO. I came to say that also. I fin

What I learned from my time in grad school (physics) is that at least for the hard sciences, reading is not enough, you must DO. I came to say that also. I find that just reading a technical book is the fastest way to get drowsy, while retaining nothing (or so little, it's a negligible amount). I find that to learn anything I must have a project. Then, when I inevitably strike a roadblock, I refer to that technical book for the answer to my lack of knowledge so that I can move along with my project. If I subsequently forget that knowledge, I know that I did have an answer previously, and that I found that answer in a particular place. Also, I find myself buying fewer and fewer technical books these days. Once upon a time, the only way of obtaining knowledge was via technical books. I used to buy dozens every year. Currently it's easier and faster (and less expensive!) to use Google or similar websites.

dondraper36 5y ago
I have a master's degree in applied mathematics so it goes without saying practice is far more important than just reading. That said, for better or worse, software engineering is not as strict and formal as mathematics. There are a lot of opinions backed by somebody else's experience or, just, reputation (say, books like Clean Code or Clean Architecture). Recently, I have been reading mostly not about programming languages or algorithms. It's easier to understand these by practicing, writing code yourself, etc. When it comes to more abstract subjects, however, it's more challenging. For example, clean architecture, domain-driven design, different solution approaches in distributed systems. It's not that one has to memorize, but rather internalize the principles. It doesn't help that there is plenty of opinionated advice on the Internet with mutually exclusive approaches and recommendations.

dondraper36 5y ago

I have a master's degree in applied mathematics so it goes without saying practice is far more important than just reading. That said, for better or worse, software engineering is not as strict and formal as mathematics. There are a lot of opinions backed by somebody else's experience or, just, reputation (say, books like Clean Code or Clean Architecture). Recently, I have been reading mostly not about programming languages or algorithms. It's easier to understand these by practicing, writing code yourself, etc. When it comes to more abstract subjects, however, it's more challenging. For example, clean architecture, domain-driven design, different solution approaches in distributed systems. It's not that one has to memorize, but rather internalize the principles. It doesn't help that there is plenty of opinionated advice on the Internet with mutually exclusive approaches and recommendations.