Ask HN - Best way to pick new skills | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN - Best way to pick new skills

3 pointsrailslearner3 comments

What, in your experience is the best way to learn anything new? I'm learning RoR, using Railsspace book. (I'm just taking RoR just as an example, could be anything from programming to cooking) Obviously it would be nice to learn as much as possible in the shortest possible time. I understand that what works for one person might now work for another. Still, it would be interesting to know how the hackers here learn new things.

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I agree with jz about how to choose _what_ to learn, and I agree that actually implementing some useful tool keeps motivation high. The next step that I do is learn the basics and start accumulating questions that aren't solved readily in the books or by reviewing the documentation. Then I find an expert and buy that person a beer to discuss the problems that I have on a semi-regular basis. Finally, I attempt to teach and share what I have learned to others. This final step really cements the understanding of the new skill. Expertise comes from repeating the steps above over and over for ten years or so (according to many scientists). Sometimes I hire a teacher depending on the amount of background knowledge I have in the new skill. For example, when learning a new programming language I would skip a teacher, but learning to golf would require a teacher for my personal skillsets.

I try to learn things that scratch an itch I have. I've found that if I try to learn the latest and greatest thing on hacker news on a whim, I end up getting distracted by the next latest and greatest thing. But if I am learning something as a means to an end, I find that I'm more focused and see it through.

It's a personal style issue. I read a lot of introductory/survey articles to keep up with what's out there, and HN is a good starting place. Sometimes I do a literature search to see what the academics are doing. I even buy a book every few weeks to did in deeper. But that's not really Learning (big L) it's more like cramming or recreational reading.

To really Learn, you need to build something, not just do the tutorials. Scratch your own itch, Eat your own dog food. Build a web site for your SO. (That gets you an instant critic that you have to prove your creds to. HN will forget you in a day. S/he wont.)

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