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Hemming's point can be summed up with this pithy question: Do you have n years of experience, or n * 1 year of experience? Spending years on the job learning
by jt2190 14y ago
Hemming's point can be summed up with this pithy question:
Do you have n years of experience, or n * 1 year of experience?
Spending years on the job learning nothing or barely learning lots of programming languages does not make one into a great programmer.
My mother taught creative writing, and it's exactly the same. Writers got good ultimately by writing, not by reading books about writing or taking classes on writing.
(edit: Let me add that this is a central problem faced by educators: The good ones know that they can't teach/train success directly, rather that the students must take that training and educate themselves about how to use it to achieve their own success.)
- summerdown2 14y ago> Writers got good ultimately by writing, not by reading books about writing or taking classes on writing. I'm not sure this is true. I've had a little success in short story writing, and have been pushing myself to get better over quite a few years now. At least for me, writing seems necessary but not sufficient. I have to: * Write * Think hard about what I write * Critique other writers * Read books by people who know the subject * Write some more The key seems to be reflecting as well as writing. It's essentially a constant struggle to improve rather than just cranking the handle. I think that's why the answer to: > Do bureaucrats after years of writing reports and instructions get better? is no. They're not striving to be better.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]