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Experience is worth something, even if it comes from toy projects. The downside of "lazy learning" is you can't know what tools you'll need in the future. I wa

Experience is worth something, even if it comes from toy projects. The downside of "lazy learning" is you can't know what tools you'll need in the future. I was able to win at one of my favorite work projects because I'd played with signal processing and machine learning for fun. Had I not, I would've concluded I couldn't beat the terrible solution we had—I wouldn't have had the tools to know better. And of course, your reinvented wheel might turn out to be an actual improvement!

anon4 12y ago
I would say that lazy learning is a pretty big boon overall for both you as a person and society at large. On one hand, you have niche skills that can be applied professionally, and on the other, you can find people with knowledge in some niche subject that they can develop on the job pretty quickly. You will never not find an application for some bit of knowledge.
- LnxPrgr3 12y ago
  Apologies for the late reply, but that's precisely my point: if I only did lazy learning, I would've missed awesome opportunities. Of course, I can never know everything. I do both: I learn things as needed to get something done, and I learn things just because they fascinate me and might prove useful later. That latter part—gaining knowledge for the sake of knowledge—has been an amazing benefit, specifically by giving me a better map of what's possible, and how the seemingly impossible might be done. IOW, I consider lazy learning necessary, because no one can know everything, but not something I'd encourage for its own sake, because sometimes you have to know something before you can know when it'll be useful. I absolutely encourage playing around just to learn more about your craft—you'll learn things that will prove useful later.
vegedor 12y ago
To reinvent basically means repair, but reinvention of the wheel also implies that nothing was broken in the first place.

anon4 12y ago

I would say that lazy learning is a pretty big boon overall for both you as a person and society at large. On one hand, you have niche skills that can be applied professionally, and on the other, you can find people with knowledge in some niche subject that they can develop on the job pretty quickly. You will never not find an application for some bit of knowledge.

LnxPrgr3 12y ago
Apologies for the late reply, but that's precisely my point: if I only did lazy learning, I would've missed awesome opportunities. Of course, I can never know everything. I do both: I learn things as needed to get something done, and I learn things just because they fascinate me and might prove useful later. That latter part—gaining knowledge for the sake of knowledge—has been an amazing benefit, specifically by giving me a better map of what's possible, and how the seemingly impossible might be done. IOW, I consider lazy learning necessary, because no one can know everything, but not something I'd encourage for its own sake, because sometimes you have to know something before you can know when it'll be useful. I absolutely encourage playing around just to learn more about your craft—you'll learn things that will prove useful later.

vegedor 12y ago

To reinvent basically means repair, but reinvention of the wheel also implies that nothing was broken in the first place.