Ask HN: 10k hours rule to master anything. Could I switch career when I am 43?

Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein

Your example says it all.... gig time as practice is something only a non-musician and/or someone who really doesn't understand practice would say. He gives air time to the idea of deliberate practice and then uses examples that show how that he doesn't get it. AT ALL. I can only assume he came up with the Beatles example and thought it was such a compelling story that he was determined not to let the facts get in the way. Ericsson goes over his criteria for what deliberate practice is.... and nightly gigs are not it in the least!

Read Ericsson and I'll be you will get disillusioned as did I.

My "career" switches with each job. I go from Defense, to Logistics, to Mathematics, to Systems Software, to now Databases.

I'm not trained in all these to 10,000 hours. I have 25+ years at this, and I still have to learn at every job when I start.

So, the most important thing is the core. The very core competencies of a programmer:

- Rigor - You must be willing to rigorously think things through.

- Mathematics - With the above, most of what a computer does is... math in the end. Algerbra is probably the most essential, ironically. Followed by Discrete Math. The rest is all nice to have.

- A bit of "Computer Science". Learning algorithms, what O(n) means, etc. This helps you understand how to think.

Note: I never mentioned a computer language.

A computer language is how you take all the above and turn it into something.

You should work on learning a few. But honestly, one you know 2 languages, you know 90% of all languages, and can read most code.

The languages I'd suggest: Python, and C.

People will curse me for C. But honestly for understanding how a computer works at a low level, there is no better language, it strips away the bullshit and leaves you to deal with the machine, but it doesn't force your nose into assembly, which is probably a bit much for a young programmer.

Python, is what you learn to do "real work". I interview in Python, Python and Python... and maybe a bit of Python. There's a reason. It is a language that you can really get things done in quickly, and manipulate things easily. It is the "anti-C" in many ways :).

One can argue for Java also. But really, Java is miserable without an IDE, and the machine does so much coding for you, I think it is a bad early language. Once you know the first two... I think it is a great one to pick up.

Lumping all self-help resources into not being useful or even harmful doesn't help. There will always be some quacks, but there will always be some people with genuine insights and the ability to help others understand themselves better and move towards their goals.

I've never paid for Tony Robbins material but would say its been helpful.

In the OP's case they could use the material to understand what is behind wanting the change. Understanding their why.

Is it a feeling of significance / love / variety / contribution that they're lacking? How could they go about getting what's missing? What are their options?

These are the types of things that I get from Tony Robbins - almost like a problem solving framework for personal problems.

All that being said, do people use self help as a form of procrastination? Yes I'd say many do. However I believe the people with all the resources that refuse to take action are no worse off than they would have been anyway.

As they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized...