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Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

jotaen.net

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Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#91

Post by lonelappde »

christiansakai wrote: post #9

I am not doing any Sabbatical right now, but I am currently soul searching. I've been working as a fullstack dev for more about 5 years. I do have CS background, and think myself as quite a decent programmer. But in my day job, or I suspect in most day jobs out there, CRUD stuff, nothing is really interesting and it is really hard to make a leap in improvement in technical skills. Though of course, you improve bit by…

People "at that level" were already at that level before age 20. Buying and reading a book won't change who you are, especially if that's why you bought the book.

Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#92

Post by cerberusss »

palerdot wrote: post #89
cerberusss wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The easiest way is to start subcontracting. It's easier to start saving money, and sometimes, you'll hit on a project where you spot a business opportunity. For instance, you learn the ins and outs of a particular industry, and suddenly spot a niche product. I haven't made the leap yet, because I like the subcontracting so much. But I've spotted many (perceived) opportunities.

Can you explain a bit more about the subcontracting part leading to business opportunities ?

I'll give you an example. I once did an Android app for a conference. However the data model was so generic that it basically could've been reused for any other conference. If you're motivated as such, the whole thing could very well be an excellent opportunity to sell a product, instead of one single month of subcontracting.

Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#93

Post by ebrewste »

samename wrote: post #67
ebrewste wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal tech journey has been doing more advising within the corporation regarding how to roll out new IoT stuff. Spending more time the with more senior people in the corp and seeing projects that are having problems because they don't really have a vision has been an eye opener. I'm a tech person and want to code or otherwise engineer my way out of every problem, but I'm seeing over and over, it's the clear cus…

How did you get to that role, is it a management position? I’m in a junior dev role but constantly find myself focused on the bigger idea and vision that solves people experience everyday.

I was on a team that would do present to groups about how to improve their products and would some short presentation on a tech topic, like rolling out Wi-Fi in real products. Being part of the team, I listened to all of the talks and participated in break outs with engineers. Seeing the commonalities was number one. Then coaching the really reluctant engineers. Little by little, by parroting what the business and C-levels were saying (when it resonated with me), I would see the light and polish my message. It's been a bit by bit journey, but I no longer avoid jobs like calling a bunch of customers to see what their needs are.

Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#94

Post by playing_colours »

palerdot wrote: post #89
cerberusss wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The easiest way is to start subcontracting. It's easier to start saving money, and sometimes, you'll hit on a project where you spot a business opportunity. For instance, you learn the ins and outs of a particular industry, and suddenly spot a niche product. I haven't made the leap yet, because I like the subcontracting so much. But I've spotted many (perceived) opportunities.

Can you explain a bit more about the subcontracting part leading to business opportunities ?

I can try to answer from my position.

1. As a contractor, you can work on shorter term projects, so within couple of years you will be get familiar with a number of problems and situations,

2. If you are an engineer who cultivates business mindset and focus on understanding and solving clients’ problems, you will ask right questions, and be able to communicate to them how you see their situation and how you can help. Potentially, they will see you not like a coder, but like a problem solver, they will trust you more, will be more confident in your decisions, tell you more about their business, give you more work.

If you focus on being a business oriented, learn a bit of marketing, product management, speak their language and terminology - in couple years, you will accumulate good understanding of problems and solutions, have connections and ideas.

Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#95

Post by playing_colours »

hos234 wrote: post #79
playing_colours wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it is really hard to make a leap in improvement in technical skills. This is true, particularly, if you work full-time, and your job is not connected to the subject of your passion. You will have few hours in the evening, but for a hard subject you may not have enough energy. You can try remote work, it worked for me. Currently, my client allows 2-3 days a week of working from home, and also now I’m looking for my…

The barriers are all in the mind. The simplest way to upgrade skills is to work with teams working on problems of interest to you, where you have to meet up with them, atleast once a week if not more. The social aspect is what drives learning. Doesn't matter if you are working full time. Find a subject that interests you THEN find/contact research labs/profs/startups working on it. Tell them you have X hours a week (…

This is a great comment. We need to keep questioning our internal barriers and self-limiting assumptions. Thanks for reminding!

Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#97

Post by christiansakai »

cerberusss wrote: post #85
christiansakai wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One day I do want to start my own business. Once I have some leeway in terms of finance, and maybe found a niche that I can tap to.

The easiest way is to start subcontracting. It's easier to start saving money, and sometimes, you'll hit on a project where you spot a business opportunity. For instance, you learn the ins and outs of a particular industry, and suddenly spot a niche product. I haven't made the leap yet, because I like the subcontracting so much. But I've spotted many (perceived) opportunities.

This is interesting. I'll keep this in mind for the future.

Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#98

Post by christiansakai »

lonelappde wrote: post #91
christiansakai wrote: post #9

I am not doing any Sabbatical right now, but I am currently soul searching. I've been working as a fullstack dev for more about 5 years. I do have CS background, and think myself as quite a decent programmer. But in my day job, or I suspect in most day jobs out there, CRUD stuff, nothing is really interesting and it is really hard to make a leap in improvement in technical skills. Though of course, you improve bit by…

People "at that level" were already at that level before age 20. Buying and reading a book won't change who you are, especially if that's why you bought the book.

Sounds like a defeatist mentality. What should I do then?

Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#99

Post by munificent »

christiansakai wrote: post #53
munificent wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I'd probably recommend the latest edition of the Dragon Book before "Engineering a Compiler" too. The Dragon Book does a good job of establishing a lot of the foundation for a compiler. It is so dominant in the field that most other compiler textbooks either deliberately or inadvertently assume a reader is familiar with it. The Dragon Book has a repututation for being unapproachable and it is pre…

I just subscribed to your site, and currently enjoying it so far. I took programming languages CS course. We didn't exactly build a full compiler from scratch but we did do parsing, generating AST and bytecode. That being said, I still consider myself an ultra beginner in compiler, do you think the latest edition of Dragon book can be approachable by me?

> do you think the latest edition of Dragon book can be approachable by me?

That's a pretty personal question because everyone has different reading styles and approaches to textbooks. It's dense and not a lot of fun to read, so it will require some discipline and effort on your part. If you're the kind of person who has enough willpower to grind it out, you'll be fine.

There's a difference between hard books and bad books. The latter are unnecessarily difficult because of the author's deficiencies. The Dragon Book is a good book, but it's a hard book.

Re: Reflecting on 8 months of full-time self-study

#100

Post by jczhang »

alistproducer2 wrote: post #2

I'm doing something similar. I got undergraduate degrees in CS and business and worked 5 years for a large corp right out of school. I saved my money and, using a rollover for business startup, I funded my business. I'm lucky enough to have a 2-earner household and a partner that is giving me time to figure out where I want to go next. I've been on "sabbatical" for a little over a year. I've had a couple false starts…

What do you mean by using a rollover?
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