Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Those who teach

ninjasandrobots.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 31 posts

Re: Those who teach

#11

Post by zwieback »

I can relate to this very much as I've learned and relearned a lot of the basics by tutoring other kids and now my own.

However, there are things that are more teachable than others. Math, science and basic school curriculums are teachable but a lot of management and marketing is not. Over the years I've seen so much damage done to my company through consultants that teach things that should never have seen the light of day. Perhaps some of them are poor teachers but I think the bigger problem is the assumptions that what worked in one situation will work in most others.

Re: Those who teach

#12

Post by tikhonj »

simonsarris wrote: post #9

(pre-emptive horn-toot warning/apology, its a career story, as my entire software career so far has followed from stuff learned and done on SO. If you read this I hope it makes you consider contributing to something like StackOverflow. The rewards can be much more concrete than "just" knowledge and a website score.) I did the StackExchange (StackOverflow) and start-a-blog approaches that this article suggests and it…

Yeah, StackOverflow is an incredible way to learn things. It's basically how I went from knowing nothing about functional programming to being obsessed with Haskell and category theory. In a pretty short time, at that.

I now want to try teaching people more directly, but it's somewhat difficult. My university is unfortunately really biased against functional programming (much less the interesting theory stuff). There are some cool meetups around, and I'll probably give some talks there in the near future--after summer--but it would have been cool to TA a class to. One day.

This is also why I think that having a good culture of education, both on the learning side but also on the teaching side--is so important for a company. That's one of the main things I'm looking for now when I consider where I would like to work.

Re: Those who teach

#13

Post by simonsarris »

tikhonj wrote: post #12
simonsarris wrote: post #9

(pre-emptive horn-toot warning/apology, its a career story, as my entire software career so far has followed from stuff learned and done on SO. If you read this I hope it makes you consider contributing to something like StackOverflow. The rewards can be much more concrete than "just" knowledge and a website score.) I did the StackExchange (StackOverflow) and start-a-blog approaches that this article suggests and it…

Yeah, StackOverflow is an incredible way to learn things. It's basically how I went from knowing nothing about functional programming to being obsessed with Haskell and category theory. In a pretty short time, at that. I now want to try teaching people more directly, but it's somewhat difficult. My university is unfortunately really biased against functional programming (much less the interesting theory stuff). There…

I think it would be a really cool idea if you asked different CS professors if you could make a guest presentation one class to talk about functional programming languages. Some of them would probably be thrilled with the idea.

Re: Those who teach

#14

Post by johnohara »

To teach is to learn. -- Japanese Proverb

To teach is to learn twice. -- Joseph Joubert

I taught CS to high school students for ten years. I found the most welcome questions were always the ones I had not considered. Especially if it meant admitting you did not know. There is something in that admission that builds student confidence. Preparing an explanation and going over it with the class awards a tacit accolade to them all that tends to inspire more questions.

Re: Those who teach

#15

Post by niuzeta »

After the second year at my university I took a summer job to teach the first year kids C and functional languages. My understanding of imperative and sequential paradigm(and the functional) had never been so succinct before.

Re: Those who teach

#16

Post by jofer »

simonsarris wrote: post #9

(pre-emptive horn-toot warning/apology, its a career story, as my entire software career so far has followed from stuff learned and done on SO. If you read this I hope it makes you consider contributing to something like StackOverflow. The rewards can be much more concrete than "just" knowledge and a website score.) I did the StackExchange (StackOverflow) and start-a-blog approaches that this article suggests and it…

> The answer-er was myself. I didn't even remember writing the particular answer, but there it was, and past me literally (re)explained to future me..

That exact same thing happened to me recently. I'm glad I'm not the only one! It's a weird feeling! (Though I still wouldn't consider myself an expert on anything.)

Re: Those who teach

#17

Post by jonhmchan »

I used to be a teaching fellow at NYU for iOS programming - what OP says about teaching to learn is absolutely true.

I don't think I'd be nearly as skilled or knowledgable about Objective-C, Cocoa, APIs, or mobile development generally if I didn't have to guide my students. The added benefit of my situation in particular was that each student worked in teams to get something pushed to the App Store - helping me figure out how to manage multiple "dev teams" at once.

If you want to get really skilled at something, teach it.

Re: Those who teach

#19

Post by Xurinos »

obviouslygreen wrote: post #3

I'm definitely not going to disagree with this, but there's also a lot to be said for age and experience when it comes to understanding things. Being exposed to it once starts you off, but even if you don't think about or work at it consciously, the second time -- particularly years later -- unless you've been living under a rock, you're likely to see a massive improvement in your understanding right off the bat. Thi…

> there's also a lot to be said for age and experience

I would propose that deliberate practice (http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/05/04/deliberate-practice-h...) is more key than age (I could be goofing off for 40 years) and experience (I could be poorly repeating the same inefficient niche for a long time).

Re: Those who teach

#20

Post by losethos »

God teaches me all day.

God says...

31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

31:14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house? 31:15 Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also our money.

31:16 For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children's: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.

31:17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels; 31:18 And he carried away all his cattle, and all his goods which he had gotten, the cattle of his getting, which he had gotten in Padanaram, for to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan.

31:19 And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's.

----

God says...

palm Yes not_in_kansas_anymore harmonising trustees None satiety -Spiritual ails affecting cheer invited He surpassest

Post reply on HN