Yes. I dropped out of high school during my sophomore year, I spent the next 18 months of so teaching myself to program, economics, and a bunch of other stuff. It wasn't taking a break from work, but I figure it's relevant.
Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
31–40 of 87 posts
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#32How do future employers look at this time of unemployment?
Sorry if I'm just ignoring something(I'm not from the USA) but isn't it possible to say you were freelancing or something similar to cover the gap?.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#33Honestly, I've found that getting a job in a field that I'm interested in is a much faster way to learn. You have the advantage of working with people already in the field, an existing codebase and set of data to tap into, and clear projects with deadlines and impact to the bottom line.
Example: Machine Learning. I learned much more in a few weeks at a job at a Machine Learning company than I ever did trying working through Elements of Statistical Learning on my own.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#34Good question. I've done this a couple of times. Self-study can be incredibly useful. Being able to do it within the "distraction" of a full time job can also be extremely rewarding. I have a very conservative financial point of view in that if I got fired tomorrow I would want to be fine for the next year without working. This has in the past allowed me to work on my own stuff a couple of times without much worry (a…
lack of health insurance isn't the issue it is in the US Here's what I've found about health insurance in the US: 1) It's not terribly difficult or expensive to get, at least, emergency coverage. In my 30s and single, I've found interesting plans for around $150 per month which cover simple doctor's visits a few times per year, with around a $10k deductible for 'real' stuff. This is very doable with reasonable financ…
In the UK, it costs $0, employed or not, previous neck injury or not, prior condition or not!
No insurance required and it's always good care from experience.
Healthcare is the last thing you want to have to worry about if you are unemployed.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#35In the UK we have The Open University (which is open for international study too).
You can get a real degree in your spare time without a massive spend, working or not.
I'm doing a mathematics degree at the moment, whilst employed. No holiday/vacation required!
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#36Honestly, I've found that getting a job in a field that I'm interested in is a much faster way to learn. You have the advantage of working with people already in the field, an existing codebase and set of data to tap into, and clear projects with deadlines and impact to the bottom line. Example: Machine Learning. I learned much more in a few weeks at a job at a Machine Learning company than I ever did trying working…
How do you get into Machine Learning company in the first place? You need certain basics to get into one.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is that still a thing? It's not like you'll be applying to law firms. I've found making yourself less available only makes your demand higher.
It is absolutely still a thing. Since the current top comment (from cletus) mentions working at Google I'll relate a story from when I interviewed there. From what I understand, I made it pretty far in the process (to the "executive committee review") and that's when they asked me to explain a gap in my resume. They pressed me for a detailed breakdown of what I did during the gap and the reasons behind it, and said t…
> It is absolutely still a thing.
A bit of a pity.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#38You can self-study your entire life, whenever you make the time for it. I do.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#39In my opinion 1 year break is far too long. I find that 2 weeks of intensive self education every now and then is perfectly enough to stay up to date with the industry.
Example: Last week I played with backbone.js & Co., this week I'm playing with the cutting edge stuff from HTML5. And next week I'll probably get another job for which I'll be able to use my new knowledge.
Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?
#40Honestly, I've found that getting a job in a field that I'm interested in is a much faster way to learn. You have the advantage of working with people already in the field, an existing codebase and set of data to tap into, and clear projects with deadlines and impact to the bottom line. Example: Machine Learning. I learned much more in a few weeks at a job at a Machine Learning company than I ever did trying working…
How do you get into Machine Learning company in the first place? You need certain basics to get into one.
If you can prove that you're smart and capable of contributing to the bottom line, it's very possible to get hired with the assumption that you'll quickly pick up anything you need to know.
Eg, at a previous job I'd saved the company $3MM/year using a technology I'd never really worked with before. With that kind of track record this company was happy to hire me even if I didn't have direct ML experience.