4 ms·

If you spend 10.000 hours playing the same simple tune on a guitar you're not going to be a great musician. Similarly, if you spend 10.000 hours programming the

by Joeri 14y ago

If you spend 10.000 hours playing the same simple tune on a guitar you're not going to be a great musician. Similarly, if you spend 10.000 hours programming the same mediocre kind of code, you will not have become a great programmer. Programming is a craft, and like any craft it requires dedication to the craft to achieve a high level of skill in it. People without a passion for programming are not going to have that dedication, and therefore will not reach a high skill level.

mikeleeorg 14y ago
One of the assumptions of the 10,000-Hour Rule, as Malcolm Gladwell asserts, is that a person spending 10,000 hours on an activity naturally has a strong proclivity for it. So working off that assumption: IF 10,000 hours = passion AND passion = great at a craft THEN 10,000 hours = great at a craft
- georgemcbay 14y ago
  That assumption is obviously wrong when you mix financial compensation into it. I've worked with more than a few programmers who were in it for a paycheck, some of them were perfectly competent at creating code for their little niche (CRUD apps, whatever), but were single-language, single-framework, lots-of-maintenance types of guys. Needless to say, them putting 10,000 hours into programming isn't the same as someone who is really passionate about it. To paraphrase: "Some people put in 10,000 hours, some people put in 1000 hours 10 times".
SoftwareMaven 14y ago
I'm not sure how you could spend 10000 hours programming the same mediocre code if you were actually doing the things I outlined. The whole point of the list is to ensure you aren't spending the time doing that. I can't tell if you are disagreeing with me or not (I think you are), because you've said almost the same things I did. What you call dedication, I call self-selection.

4 ms·

If you spend 10.000 hours playing the same simple tune on a guitar you're not going to be a great musician. Similarly, if you spend 10.000 hours programming the

by Joeri 14y ago

mikeleeorg 14y ago
One of the assumptions of the 10,000-Hour Rule, as Malcolm Gladwell asserts, is that a person spending 10,000 hours on an activity naturally has a strong proclivity for it. So working off that assumption: IF 10,000 hours = passion AND passion = great at a craft THEN 10,000 hours = great at a craft
- georgemcbay 14y ago
  That assumption is obviously wrong when you mix financial compensation into it. I've worked with more than a few programmers who were in it for a paycheck, some of them were perfectly competent at creating code for their little niche (CRUD apps, whatever), but were single-language, single-framework, lots-of-maintenance types of guys. Needless to say, them putting 10,000 hours into programming isn't the same as someone who is really passionate about it. To paraphrase: "Some people put in 10,000 hours, some people put in 1000 hours 10 times".
SoftwareMaven 14y ago
I'm not sure how you could spend 10000 hours programming the same mediocre code if you were actually doing the things I outlined. The whole point of the list is to ensure you aren't spending the time doing that. I can't tell if you are disagreeing with me or not (I think you are), because you've said almost the same things I did. What you call dedication, I call self-selection.