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Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?

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Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?

#81

Post by TomaszZielinski »

gfodor wrote: post #41
TomaszZielinski wrote: post #39

In 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.

Learning the basics of new frameworks/libraries can be done in two weeks. Learning an entirely new field of study or research can be justified in terms of many months.

I disagree - unless you are talking about becoming an expert. But I prefer to become an expert in the course of using things in the real world.

This applies to the theoretical knowledge as well - you can easily learn new data structures or algorithms in two weeks. Then you can master them when you have a problem that requires you to use them.

Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?

#82

Post by eneveu »

Just posted this on Google Plus. Thought I should re-post it here too.

I often think about doing exactly this. There is so much I want to learn:

- many awesome free online courses ( http://www.crypto-class.org , http://www.ai-class.com , http://www.ml-class.org , http://www.modelthinker-class.org , ... )

- dozens of non-fiction books sitting on my shelf I have yet to read (on computer science, programming, design, UX, software project management, system administration, computer security, business, time management...)

- thousands of articles and blog posts, bookmarked in my "to-read-later" folder

I've sometimes been asked if I'd want to go back to school to do a master that would complement my engineering diploma (e.g. MBA). But I think I could learn so much more by simply taking a year off and doing self-directed learning, using all these resources... Of course, I've set aside some learning time outside of work, but it feels like I'll never catch up.

Reminds me of this great article: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/04/21/135508305/the-...

Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?

#83

Post by adaptives »

stungeye wrote: post #54

In late 2003 I was laid off from my job as a hardware/firmware design engineer. I spent the next two years away from work. During this time I spent nearly a year on self-study, got married, and then went travelling with my wife in Europe and south-east Asia. We worked on and off while travelling to be able to afford to continue our adventures. If you are a self-motivated learner I would highly recommend a study break…

I second the idea of creating a portfolio of work as a blog. I have done this and it lead to several opportunities for training workshops and consulting.

Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?

#84

Post by adaptives »

eneveu wrote: post #82

Just posted this on Google Plus. Thought I should re-post it here too. I often think about doing exactly this. There is so much I want to learn: - many awesome free online courses ( http://www.crypto-class.org , http://www.ai-class.com , http://www.ml-class.org , http://www.modelthinker-class.org , ... ) - dozens of non-fiction books sitting on my shelf I have yet to read (on computer science, programming, design, UX…

I think self directed learning is far better than going back to school. You can pic and choose and curate the exact learning experiences you want.

Don't mean to self promote, but you are welcome to be part of the free peer learning community on http://diycomputerscience.com/ You might actually like the 'Elements of Computing Systems' course a lot.

Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?

#86

Post by adaptives »

I have worked independently for over a decade., so I often factor in time for study in my regular work schedule, but at times I have also taken longer breaks.

One I too about a year off on a startup idea I had. It did not work out, but I learned some important lessons.

I have also taken 3 months off to be part of a startup accelerator as a fellow. I did not have any product, but just spend my time working on a few experiments / prototypes and generally helping other teams wherever I could.

The ideas experimented did become my startup, which I have been working on since the past year or so. It is actually related to peer based learning (http://diycomputerscience.com/), so I am hoping that learning will be an integral part of working for me.

Re: Ask HN: Have you taken 6 months to 1 year break to do self study?

#87

Post by bstpierre »

earl wrote: post #76
georgieporgie wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

There's some big problems with individual high-limit coverage: (1) $10K is a big deductible if anything actually happens; if there's anything serious, you should assume you'll hit the $10k. (2) Some of the better medical offices (eg my orthopaedic surgeon) are pretty picky about what brand of insurance they take because what the insurance pays for, how much they pay, how quickly, and with how much hassle vary quite w…

All good points. To some extent you can work up to a $10k deductible using an HSA. First year, you elect a $4k deductible -- the premiums are more expensive but you have lower exposure. Drop the max into your HSA. If, at the end of the year, you've been healthy and haven't spent much out of the HSA, then change your insurance up to the next deductible level (e.g. $7500). Drop the max into your HSA. Assuming you stay healthy, your HSA accumulates a large balance and you can gradually lower your premiums. Keep in mind that you aren't required to spend from your HSA if you have expenses: if you can pay out of pocket for minor expenses, do it. This keeps your HSA balance up so you can afford the risk exposure of the higher deductible.

As a bonus, the HSA contributions are tax deductible and if you hit retirement age with a balance in the account, you can (more or less) treat it like your other retirement accounts.

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