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Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#11

Post by jnovek »

"I assume this problem doesn't only apply to people in a big corporation but even more so for people in a startup, where time is scarce and execution is king."

I found that I stopped learning things when I started working for someone else. Then when I started working on my startup, I started learning things again.

In a startup, getting stuff done is the most important thing. There's no one else to get stuff done, so if you need something and you don't know how to do it, you have to learn how. And unless you're an amazing programmer, it's usually predictably awful.

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#12

Post by aerique »

ax0n wrote: post #10

I was recently laid off from (oddly) a Three-Letter-Corporation after a 3.5 year run of things, but probably not the one you work for. For the last 20 years, I've been passionate about technology, and for more than half of that, I've been publishing technical articles (or at least rants) on my findings. It's now been a little over a week since I was let go and you'd think I'd be up to my elbows in projects and knowle…

Such things take time. Take a break and if you've got the monetary reserves go travel on your own or start learning to play guitar.

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#13

Post by ax0n »

aerique wrote: post #12
ax0n wrote: post #10

I was recently laid off from (oddly) a Three-Letter-Corporation after a 3.5 year run of things, but probably not the one you work for. For the last 20 years, I've been passionate about technology, and for more than half of that, I've been publishing technical articles (or at least rants) on my findings. It's now been a little over a week since I was let go and you'd think I'd be up to my elbows in projects and knowle…

Such things take time. Take a break and if you've got the monetary reserves go travel on your own or start learning to play guitar.

I play bass guitar and I love it. I don't have much cash on hand, but the misses and I can probably make it last to the beginning of march. Definitely not enough for me to fly off somewhere. It's also too cold in Kansas City for me to go one one of my bicycle camping adventures. I should probably get out and ride some more, though. Maybe that'll help.

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#14

Post by aaronblohowiak »

The dedication to continual education is difficult and something that you have to fight for. Some employers are more understanding than others. If you fail to keep learning, your skills will be obsolete and it will be harder to find work.

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#15

Post by geeko »

Ixiaus wrote: post #8

I came to a similar conclusion as you have about seven months ago. My conclusion was that 9-to-5 takes far too much time and energy out of my own life; I'm essentially giving all of that time to someone just for the ability to pay bills and enjoy eating out on the weekends. I had very little time to do any of my personal self education or projects (not all of them are programming related either). I chose to resign fr…

@Ixiaus, are you on twitter? Would love to continue reading how you're doing. Your homepage link works as well of course.

Feel free to drop me an email (vp[at]dinhmail.de) when you're traveling to Germany. Beers on me :-)

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#16

Post by julsonl »

geeko wrote: post #15
Ixiaus wrote: post #8

I came to a similar conclusion as you have about seven months ago. My conclusion was that 9-to-5 takes far too much time and energy out of my own life; I'm essentially giving all of that time to someone just for the ability to pay bills and enjoy eating out on the weekends. I had very little time to do any of my personal self education or projects (not all of them are programming related either). I chose to resign fr…

@Ixiaus, are you on twitter? Would love to continue reading how you're doing. Your homepage link works as well of course. Feel free to drop me an email (vp[at]dinhmail.de) when you're traveling to Germany. Beers on me :-)

I'm also intending of following down this path. There are so much things that I want to learn that I neglected to do when I had copious amounts of free time (hint university). I would also like to know how you're handling this.

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#17

Post by mrtron »

geeko wrote: post #3
benedwards wrote: post #2

I learn by building stuff. Being able to show off something you've built is better than showing a certificate for something you studied for.

It sounds easy to do so. Too often however, I find myself reading how-tos and copy-pasting tutorials while building stuff...and forgetting everything after I finished. I have the feeling that google has significantly changed the way I store things in my head (for the better or worse). Instead of remembering how things are done and why so, I at best save a mental hyperlink to the information or worse, I just rely on g…

Read a book on Zen.

Approach everything with a "beginner's mind". Never blow through a new tutorial cutting and pasting even if you are very experienced in the area. Take your time, learn as a beginner, but leverage your experience to instantly jump from beginner to expert once you have the necessary domain knowledge.

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#18

Post by eraad »

I work at my own startup where I manage my own time and usually, the best time to read/learn is when I get stuck in the process of building something.

Reading hacker news, stack overflow or even researching ideas on how to get through the problem in what I´m building allows me to "merge" learning and building.

It´s hard to build stuff in Erlang and learning Lisp at the same time, for example.

Try to merge both activities in some way and you will be good.

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#19

Post by DTrejo »

mrtron wrote: post #17
geeko wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds easy to do so. Too often however, I find myself reading how-tos and copy-pasting tutorials while building stuff...and forgetting everything after I finished. I have the feeling that google has significantly changed the way I store things in my head (for the better or worse). Instead of remembering how things are done and why so, I at best save a mental hyperlink to the information or worse, I just rely on g…

Read a book on Zen. Approach everything with a "beginner's mind". Never blow through a new tutorial cutting and pasting even if you are very experienced in the area. Take your time, learn as a beginner, but leverage your experience to instantly jump from beginner to expert once you have the necessary domain knowledge.

Is there a specific book you found helpful?

Re: Ask HN: How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things?

#20

Post by davidw »

ax0n wrote: post #13
aerique wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such things take time. Take a break and if you've got the monetary reserves go travel on your own or start learning to play guitar.

I play bass guitar and I love it. I don't have much cash on hand, but the misses and I can probably make it last to the beginning of march. Definitely not enough for me to fly off somewhere. It's also too cold in Kansas City for me to go one one of my bicycle camping adventures. I should probably get out and ride some more, though. Maybe that'll help.

If you like cycling, maybe moving someplace nicer for it would be a good idea and a good change of pace.
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