Ask HN: How to best acquire theoretical computer science knowledge?

If someone wants to develop their mathematical thinking and is good at programming descrete math isn't going to help them much because they have probably already seen much of it. They need to be exposed to high level calc and linear algebra to develop their mathematical thinking.

If you actually get the degree it will save you a lot of talk time in interviews and take away your primary disadvantage with the 'big guns' (who basically won't hire you to do theoretical CS type problems without one since they have a bunch of people with CS degrees already applying and so the risk that you're assertion you've done all the work is eliminated by hiring someone with a certificate from a third party saying that you have done all the work)

Without a CS degree you're path is to join doing something non-CS critical and then using networking and influence inside the company to move into the role you want. Takes longer and not as quick until you get to the 'fun stuff.'

Pick an interesting "hard" problem in computer science and attempt to solve it. This works best if either there are no published solutions (e.g. massively parallelizing ad hoc graph search) or the solution space varies widely under the possible parameters (e.g. the design of a unique high-performance database kernel). Iterate, be creative, search the literature for interesting ideas that you can borrow from, and evaluate new designs you come up with. If something does not work, understand how and why and try to fix it. Wash, rinse, repeat.

This sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but there are three unique upsides. First, the challenge of it can be quite a bit of fun in its own right and there is a clear goal of what you are trying to achieve which helps keep you motivated and measures progress. Second, you will cover more of the phase space and explore some tangential theoretical areas while hunting for solutions to narrow sub-problems that you would never be exposed to in a more structured setting. Third, you will invariably explore some unusual or unorthodox ideas that you simply would not be exposed to in a directed, formal program. From the standpoint of being an effective theoretical computer scientist, it will help you develop a unique perspective of the problem space that is different than the perspective that arises from more structured programs.

Also, you might actually solve one of the unsolved theoretical computer science problems you have as your challenge in addition to developing a deep understanding of the surrounding problem space. That happened to me (and then replicated later once I realized it was possible) and it would never happen if I was simply taking courses on the subject matter.

This was an effective way for me to gain in-depth understanding of a diverse range of theoretical computer science areas on an informal basis. One of the downsides is that your rote knowledge will not perfectly overlap what is taught in CS curricula even though what you do know will likely be more valuable (e.g. in spatial indexing some CS courses teach priority trees even though they have no memorable theoretical value).

http://uva.onlinejudge.org/index.php?option=com_onlinejudge&...