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I only became reasonably proficient in physics when I took the summer off between undergrad and graduate school and spent three months, six days a week, ten hou

I only became reasonably proficient in physics when I took the summer off between undergrad and graduate school and spent three months, six days a week, ten hours a day, doing nothing but working through four years of undergraduate physics curriculum by solving problems from my textbooks. There is no substitute for solving problems.

ak_111 3y ago
That is some dedication, well done. Interesting to know more about your career and where this lead to if you continued down the physics path.
- BenFranklin100 3y ago
  I went on to earn a doctorate in biophysics and then began a career developing instrumentation for biomedical research. While I no longer work directly in the field of physics, the physical intuition and reasoning abilities honed by a physics education has allowed me to successfully lead teams consisting of electrical and mechanical engineers, while serving as the liaison to biologists and doctors. I regard a physics education as a modern-day ‘liberal arts’ technical degree.
  - blueblimp 3y ago
    > I regard a physics education as a modern-day ‘liberal arts’ technical degree. Some anecdotal evidence for this: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/dario-amodei#details https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/dario-amodei#details > Dario Amodei: We have generally found that if we hire someone who is a Physics PhD or something, that they can learn ML and contribute just very quickly in most cases.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
shanusmagnus 3y ago
Like another commenter, I'm curious what drove you to this. Seems like clearly A Good Idea I Could Have Benefited From, but my attitude was always: I finished the class, whatever I need to learn through application, life will point me toward. Yet I wish I had done something similar to what you did. What gave you the impetus?
- BenFranklin100 3y ago
  We were required (by the state I believe) to take a comprehensive test assessing our competency at physics. I struggled with test and was disheartened that four years of strenuous effort would be all for naught. I knew I needed to do something to shore up my understanding of physics if I was going to retain the knowledge decades onwards. The other reason was a simple love for the beauty and underlying simplicity of the subject.
- BeetleB 3y ago
  > I finished the class, whatever I need to learn through application, life will point me toward. In math/physics, it often won't. Solving lots of problems serves two particular purposes: To really solidify the concepts in your mind so you won't forget, and ensuring you learn the techniques and not just the knowledge. For the former, you may find yourself in the position where you find yourself way over your head, and won't know where to start. You usually will not have a single gap, but many. You'll find yourself realizing you'll need to look up material from several textbooks to regain the knowledge you've lost. Once you begin that process, you'll pick up one of your old textbooks and while the physics knowledge may be absorbed, you'll realize you've forgotten much of the math needed to solve such problems. In the unlikely event you'll retain enough to follow the textbook, it is very unlikely you'll know the techniques well enough to solve the real world problem. And your colleagues will. You'll be alone, and you'll drop out of that group. With physics/math, there often are hard boundaries in these groups. Those who meet the bar are in. Those who don't drop out, because it really sucks being the only person in the group who is struggling with what everyone else considers as basic. SW engineering has a much more gradual change in skills amongst people, and usually the problems most people work on are fairly learnable in a short amount of time.
commandlinefan 3y ago
> There is no substitute for solving problems But you will spend the rest of your life arguing with people who insist that there must be a ("quick and dirty") substitute and you're responsible for finding it.

ak_111 3y ago

That is some dedication, well done. Interesting to know more about your career and where this lead to if you continued down the physics path.

BenFranklin100 3y ago
I went on to earn a doctorate in biophysics and then began a career developing instrumentation for biomedical research. While I no longer work directly in the field of physics, the physical intuition and reasoning abilities honed by a physics education has allowed me to successfully lead teams consisting of electrical and mechanical engineers, while serving as the liaison to biologists and doctors. I regard a physics education as a modern-day ‘liberal arts’ technical degree.
- blueblimp 3y ago
  > I regard a physics education as a modern-day ‘liberal arts’ technical degree. Some anecdotal evidence for this: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/dario-amodei#details https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/dario-amodei#details > Dario Amodei: We have generally found that if we hire someone who is a Physics PhD or something, that they can learn ML and contribute just very quickly in most cases.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

shanusmagnus 3y ago

Like another commenter, I'm curious what drove you to this. Seems like clearly A Good Idea I Could Have Benefited From, but my attitude was always: I finished the class, whatever I need to learn through application, life will point me toward. Yet I wish I had done something similar to what you did. What gave you the impetus?

BenFranklin100 3y ago
We were required (by the state I believe) to take a comprehensive test assessing our competency at physics. I struggled with test and was disheartened that four years of strenuous effort would be all for naught. I knew I needed to do something to shore up my understanding of physics if I was going to retain the knowledge decades onwards. The other reason was a simple love for the beauty and underlying simplicity of the subject.
BeetleB 3y ago
> I finished the class, whatever I need to learn through application, life will point me toward. In math/physics, it often won't. Solving lots of problems serves two particular purposes: To really solidify the concepts in your mind so you won't forget, and ensuring you learn the techniques and not just the knowledge. For the former, you may find yourself in the position where you find yourself way over your head, and won't know where to start. You usually will not have a single gap, but many. You'll find yourself realizing you'll need to look up material from several textbooks to regain the knowledge you've lost. Once you begin that process, you'll pick up one of your old textbooks and while the physics knowledge may be absorbed, you'll realize you've forgotten much of the math needed to solve such problems. In the unlikely event you'll retain enough to follow the textbook, it is very unlikely you'll know the techniques well enough to solve the real world problem. And your colleagues will. You'll be alone, and you'll drop out of that group. With physics/math, there often are hard boundaries in these groups. Those who meet the bar are in. Those who don't drop out, because it really sucks being the only person in the group who is struggling with what everyone else considers as basic. SW engineering has a much more gradual change in skills amongst people, and usually the problems most people work on are fairly learnable in a short amount of time.

commandlinefan 3y ago

> There is no substitute for solving problems But you will spend the rest of your life arguing with people who insist that there must be a ("quick and dirty") substitute and you're responsible for finding it.