If you have the proper technical background(the author says he does) then getting tips with a team is a most productive learning experience. BUT. If you do no

If you have the proper technical background(the author says he does) then getting tips with a team is a most productive learning experience. BUT. If you do not have the proper theoretical background, then learning from peers without proper books and the "alone time" will most certainly turn you into a hack. Even highly skilled coders like demoscene hackers and hardware specialists had to have some proper theoretical background. Linus Torvalds was in a good university and used Tanenbaum's books to later defy Tanenbaum himself. The fact is Linus didn't just crop out of nowhere and hacked Linux together, he had proper theory to go with his major league hacking foo. Social interaction is great, fun and a wonderful way to learn and trade cards, but there is a time to code alone and it's a necessary one for you to improve.