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Frankly I think that's the worst advice you could give anyone for whatever subject: i.e. "when you find something you don't know about, study it". The best cour

Frankly I think that's the worst advice you could give anyone for whatever subject: i.e. "when you find something you don't know about, study it". The best course would be to pursue a targeted learning, and by that I mean, do you wanna be a data scientist? Then you should study probability theory and statistics along with the relative algorithms instead of reading something about Prolog. Do you wanna become a software engineer? Then you should study software engineering, programming, algorithms, advanced algorithms and data structures, patterns, and so on. Getting a "shallow knowledge of all of the major CS areas quickly" with a "scattershot approach" is a recipe for disaster. The ultimate goal is to gain skills needed for your dream job.

petercooper 13y ago
I concede it's not the best approach if someone has a specific goal like, as you suggest, becoming a "data scientist", a "compiler developer", or a quant, etc. In my case (and what I felt was the case for the OP) a general, broad level of knowledge is paramount. I then study deeper on an as-needed basis off the back of my broad but shallow knowledge. Being able to tie together the basics of many unrelated areas really helps in my work, but is surely not for everyone. I already have my dream job for life so my goal is more on becoming well rounded rather than getting a specific job. From a career POV, should the OP specifically focus on a specific target rather than just aim to get a general CS understanding? Quite possibly! But that's a different discussion/recommendation that I think you could kick off in your own response to OP. So I'm voting you up not because I agree with your criticism, but because perhaps the OP does need to think more solidly about the end goal.
- deleted 13y ago
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- jophde 13y ago
  The goal is simply acquire a much deeper understanding of computing that I feel I missed out on by not studying CS in college. I see myself as extremely employable doing app and web development for the immediate future. Under the hood everything is like magic to me and I don't want to feel like that. I also feel like I don't know enough to know what my dream job in computing is yet. Your thoughts are limited by your knowledge.
  - petercooper 13y ago
    You might like to try the old "go down the stack" process as a first exercise then. There was a post about it recently on here. A Web app developer who knows a lot about things work right down to the metal is a lot more valuable than one who doesn't. How do the processes behind your webapps work? Why or why can't your app support 10,000 clients hitting it at once? What's happening at the HTTP level? The TCP/IP level? Just understanding some of the algorithms behind routing and TCP congestion avoidance could give a ton of food for thought, still get you into learning algorithms, notation, and reading CS papers, but still be more directly beneficial to the day job. I wish you luck however you end up approaching it! :-) The only bit I want to repeat is take a lot of notes.. do blog posts, write articles.. anything to ensure you retain that knowledge because it's so easily lost as you get older.
    - jophde 13y ago
      Taking notes has always been my weakest point as a student so that is something I will definitely have to focus on. I think it's sound advice though.
- platz 13y ago
  I'm hearing a lot of companies talking about the desire for "T-Shaped" Developers. I believe this means they do have deep knowledge in at least one area, but also have more general knowledge in a range of topics besides their specialty.

petercooper 13y ago

I concede it's not the best approach if someone has a specific goal like, as you suggest, becoming a "data scientist", a "compiler developer", or a quant, etc. In my case (and what I felt was the case for the OP) a general, broad level of knowledge is paramount. I then study deeper on an as-needed basis off the back of my broad but shallow knowledge. Being able to tie together the basics of many unrelated areas really helps in my work, but is surely not for everyone. I already have my dream job for life so my goal is more on becoming well rounded rather than getting a specific job. From a career POV, should the OP specifically focus on a specific target rather than just aim to get a general CS understanding? Quite possibly! But that's a different discussion/recommendation that I think you could kick off in your own response to OP. So I'm voting you up not because I agree with your criticism, but because perhaps the OP does need to think more solidly about the end goal.

deleted 13y ago
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jophde 13y ago
The goal is simply acquire a much deeper understanding of computing that I feel I missed out on by not studying CS in college. I see myself as extremely employable doing app and web development for the immediate future. Under the hood everything is like magic to me and I don't want to feel like that. I also feel like I don't know enough to know what my dream job in computing is yet. Your thoughts are limited by your knowledge.
- petercooper 13y ago
  You might like to try the old "go down the stack" process as a first exercise then. There was a post about it recently on here. A Web app developer who knows a lot about things work right down to the metal is a lot more valuable than one who doesn't. How do the processes behind your webapps work? Why or why can't your app support 10,000 clients hitting it at once? What's happening at the HTTP level? The TCP/IP level? Just understanding some of the algorithms behind routing and TCP congestion avoidance could give a ton of food for thought, still get you into learning algorithms, notation, and reading CS papers, but still be more directly beneficial to the day job. I wish you luck however you end up approaching it! :-) The only bit I want to repeat is take a lot of notes.. do blog posts, write articles.. anything to ensure you retain that knowledge because it's so easily lost as you get older.
  - jophde 13y ago
    Taking notes has always been my weakest point as a student so that is something I will definitely have to focus on. I think it's sound advice though.
platz 13y ago
I'm hearing a lot of companies talking about the desire for "T-Shaped" Developers. I believe this means they do have deep knowledge in at least one area, but also have more general knowledge in a range of topics besides their specialty.