When in doubt, learn more math.
This also converges with my comment about giving more priority to learning things that will help me learn even more things and faster in the future.
Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
51–60 of 104 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
someone please do this!
Why don't you do it?
well I want this and I don't do it because I'm already deep in doing other stuff (I bet the parent comment has the same reason). And even if I wasn't doing the stuff I already am doing I have a backlog of stuff, some of which would be highly innovative, that I am not doing that I should find the time to dust off and begin working on again. Asking someone to do something is really just saying - I'm too busy, if someone with the requisite skill is looking for something to do please consider this an upvote!
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#53I pick some technology that has the following characteristics:
- A complete paradigm shift. I want something that will force me to rethink how I approach problems. I want to force my brain to develop new pathways, so to speak.
- Something will at least a minimum of documentation and community online. I've had to abandon dreams of learning some really awesome language before (ATS) because there was simply no resources and that would make my progress too slow.
- Something that could be fun to use in a side project. I need to be able to find occasions to use it. I learn best by doing rather than by only reading. If I can't think of an application, then I won't be able to become proficient, so I'd rather learn something else.
- And finally, it has to be something fun that feels like falling in love with programming all over again.
EDIT: I usually don't pick more than 1 technology to REALLY LEARN per year, so I don't make these decisions lightly.
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#54I think the key here is to have long-term goals. I am trying to at least roughly understand where I wanna be in future (1, 5, 10 years) in terms of my skillset, abilities and knowledge. Then topics I learn should be aligned with those goals. There are definitely too much interesting things, but before I jump into something new I ask if it really helps me to get where I want to be in the future.
There are sometimes exceptions to this, when I just want to learn something for fun, do it as a recreational activity.
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#55I am surprised that no one has mentioned consultation with a MENTOR.
Really, if you "don't know what you don't know", you need some type of trusted guide who understands your aptitudes and motivations and can recommend a path of study or provide some clarity of thought.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with fumbling around in the dark and discovering stuff on your own, but if you're asking this question, it means you're resource-constrained and need some clear goals to work towards. This is where a mentor or at least a colleague can help out a lot. In addition to providing guidance, a mentor can critique and analyze the direction you're taking.
"Todo" lists are perfectly fine tools for mastering some narrow focused topic or for achieving completion of a small project, but they're not a strategic tool. Deciding what to learn next is very much a STRATEGIC question, and those kinds of decisions benefit greatly from dialog with an expert who cares about your success.
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#56Something I've always wanted is "a Netflix queue for tech I want to learn" Ideal features would include: - a regular review of the things you've listed to see if they're still relevant and to help you prioritize - a way to see what's trending amongst everything you've listed (ex. I have three front end web frameworks on my list but React is collectively popular, so perhaps I should start there) - it could notify you…
Treehouse pretty much hits those points. They have a library of videos and tutorials across a variety of topics. This content is organized intro tracks, which are tailored collections from the library so you can track your progress of learning a specific discipline. Some of these tracks share the same subtasks.
There is a public ranking system for users based on points. You receive points for watching videos, completing quizzes, and doing code challenges. It's pretty meaningless, but these points are categorized based on what type of track they were earned from, so you can see what people are most recently learning.
They don't tailor their notifications to specific niches. You always get a Netflix like notification whenever they upload new content. Their feed doesn't have the option to sort by what's trending/popular either. It's a relatively expensive service and is criticized for being pretty dumbed-down in how they deliver learning material, but I think it can be useful.
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read 2 college textbooks on linear algebra, abstract algebra last year and managed to finish most of the exercise questions. It was never useful to me and I remember zero content from either of those now.
Which textbooks?
Gilbert Strang - linear algebra
A First Course in Abstract Algebra - rotman
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I read 2 college textbooks on linear algebra, abstract algebra last year and managed to finish most of the exercise questions. It was never useful to me and I remember zero content from either of those now.
Take that knowledge in linear algebra and put it to use by learning how machine learning algorithms work.
Not really interested in machine learning.
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#59I usually learn what I need for my job.
Re: Ask HN: How do you decide what to learn next?
#60Metacademy has been made just for something like this.