4 ms·

> "Why pay attention to an English major?" one of my best devs was an english major. So ....I don't discount ANYONE for being an english major. edit, another

> "Why pay attention to an English major?" one of my best devs was an english major. So ....I don't discount ANYONE for being an english major. edit, another point: I wish there was more advice on how to separate good from bad advice based on more than what is described in the article text - english major, not having been a CEO etc.

javajosh 11y ago
I've noticed that some of the best devs come from the humanities, too. I think a lot of it has to do with a certain calm, centered approach to learning. If you watch a young CS major "learn" something, they approach it with a manic, wild-eyed approach where they try to do things as fast as possible because their time is so valuable, they don't read docs because they don't need them, and so on. Confession: I approached Docker like a maniac before humbly working my way through the official Docker user guide slowly and methodically, without distractions, doing all the exercises (and taking notes with questions). When I look back, I've done this with Maven and git, too. In every case my frantic scramble up the learning curve left me with broken, incomplete and unreliable knowledge that had to be repaired later. Lesson learned!
- andyidsinga 11y ago
  ha! the first paragraph in this article (letter to Isaac Asimov: http://chem.tufts.edu/answersinscience/relativityofwrong.htm http://chem.tufts.edu/answersinscience/relativityofwrong.htm) touches on the key issue: > In the first sentence, the writer told me he was majoring in English literature, but felt he needed to teach me science. (I sighed a bit, for I knew very few English Lit majors who are equipped to teach me science, but I am very aware of the vast state of my ignorance and I am prepared to learn as much as I can from anyone, so I read on.)

4 ms·

> "Why pay attention to an English major?" one of my best devs was an english major. So ....I don't discount ANYONE for being an english major. edit, another

by andyidsinga 11y ago

javajosh 11y ago
I've noticed that some of the best devs come from the humanities, too. I think a lot of it has to do with a certain calm, centered approach to learning. If you watch a young CS major "learn" something, they approach it with a manic, wild-eyed approach where they try to do things as fast as possible because their time is so valuable, they don't read docs because they don't need them, and so on. Confession: I approached Docker like a maniac before humbly working my way through the official Docker user guide slowly and methodically, without distractions, doing all the exercises (and taking notes with questions). When I look back, I've done this with Maven and git, too. In every case my frantic scramble up the learning curve left me with broken, incomplete and unreliable knowledge that had to be repaired later. Lesson learned!
- andyidsinga 11y ago
  ha! the first paragraph in this article (letter to Isaac Asimov: http://chem.tufts.edu/answersinscience/relativityofwrong.htm http://chem.tufts.edu/answersinscience/relativityofwrong.htm) touches on the key issue: > In the first sentence, the writer told me he was majoring in English literature, but felt he needed to teach me science. (I sighed a bit, for I knew very few English Lit majors who are equipped to teach me science, but I am very aware of the vast state of my ignorance and I am prepared to learn as much as I can from anyone, so I read on.)