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The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

azeria-labs.com

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Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#11

Post by colmvp »

brightball wrote: post #5
auntad wrote: post #2

I really like his example at the end - step-by-step deep dive into a specific topic. 30 hours of learning, direct links to resources, come out the other end as informed and aware of the topic at hand. I usually find it difficult to wade through the mountains of possible (often outdated) resources on a topic I'm unfamiliar with - At one point I was thinking it'd be useful to crowdsource those kind of step-by-step guid…

Honestly, this is why I just read technical books cover to cover. It’s just about the best point to point resource out there. I think I remember seeing where Cornell offered a course structure where you’d do one course, all day, for 3 weeks and then move to the next. It was years ago, but I remember thinking I would have loved it.

I've tried that for a couple topics (Reinforcement Learning, Linear Algebra, Bayesian Stats) over the last six months and I found for myself it was much harder to retain information than spacing it out over several months and chipping away at it little by little (which I'm doing with Python, Algorithms, Control Theory). I personally prefer practicing interleaving, as I find that applying one subject to another make me remember a lot more of the concepts than block learning techniques.

Also in the grand scheme of things, three weeks isn't a lot of time. Granted, I'm not a fast learner!

Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#12

Post by adamweld »

auntad wrote: post #2

I really like his example at the end - step-by-step deep dive into a specific topic. 30 hours of learning, direct links to resources, come out the other end as informed and aware of the topic at hand. I usually find it difficult to wade through the mountains of possible (often outdated) resources on a topic I'm unfamiliar with - At one point I was thinking it'd be useful to crowdsource those kind of step-by-step guid…

I think this is a great idea. It's really saddened me watching the internet turn from a place where people deeply invested in a topic or passion share their work personally to a SEO-ranked shit show where millions of low-effort 'blogs' compile second hand knowledge for views and commissions.

While compiling great resources in one place is a good stop-gap I'd love to hear some ideas about how we can move towards a Web where people are rewarded for creating original content and putting effort into their work, rather than the current mess of clickbait and rehosted/paraphrased content. Doing a Google search for a technical topic is much less effective now than in the past, by my reckoning.

Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#13

Post by zwischenzug »

adamnemecek wrote: post #7

I agree one hundred percent with this. I quit my job a while back to hack on a project and it’s insane how much shit you can accomplish in a good week. I recommend it to anyone questioning their current employment situation. Hit me up (email is in my profile) if you want to explore this life style. The crazy thing is that even if you fail, you’ll be ten times the programmer as when you left.

Yeah, just don't try building Kubernetes clusters in 2015 :)

Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#14

Post by mlthoughts2018 »

One thing I cannot understand is why we have both:

(a) a long history of research proving to us that principles like "High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus)" are accurate and highly related to extracting the most economically valuable outputs from knowledge workers.

(b) open plan offices.

Maybe the tech industry is daunting for newcomers because we cram people into a sardine can, give them a ping pong paddle and a craft beer, and say "don't go home tonight until you've Disrupted Everything."

Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#15

Post by adamnemecek »

cgb223 wrote: post #8
adamnemecek wrote: post #7

I agree one hundred percent with this. I quit my job a while back to hack on a project and it’s insane how much shit you can accomplish in a good week. I recommend it to anyone questioning their current employment situation. Hit me up (email is in my profile) if you want to explore this life style. The crazy thing is that even if you fail, you’ll be ten times the programmer as when you left.

I’d love to do something like this, but without any kind of income I’d probably be homeless in a few months How do you bring in money while hacking on your passion?

I saved hardcore. I also made some ok stock decisions which helped me somewhat. Besides rent you won’t have too many expenses. But rent sucks.

Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#16

Post by seanmcdirmid »

brightball wrote: post #5
auntad wrote: post #2

I really like his example at the end - step-by-step deep dive into a specific topic. 30 hours of learning, direct links to resources, come out the other end as informed and aware of the topic at hand. I usually find it difficult to wade through the mountains of possible (often outdated) resources on a topic I'm unfamiliar with - At one point I was thinking it'd be useful to crowdsource those kind of step-by-step guid…

Honestly, this is why I just read technical books cover to cover. It’s just about the best point to point resource out there. I think I remember seeing where Cornell offered a course structure where you’d do one course, all day, for 3 weeks and then move to the next. It was years ago, but I remember thinking I would have loved it.

Intensive courses in the summer aren’t unusual, especially in the summer and especially for language classes.

Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#18

Post by megaman22 »

adamnemecek wrote: post #7

I agree one hundred percent with this. I quit my job a while back to hack on a project and it’s insane how much shit you can accomplish in a good week. I recommend it to anyone questioning their current employment situation. Hit me up (email is in my profile) if you want to explore this life style. The crazy thing is that even if you fail, you’ll be ten times the programmer as when you left.

If you can swing some kind of work-from-home heavy situation with your employer, it's also astounding the amount of stuff you can get done. At my best, I was going into the office on Monday, for status meetings and planning, then I'd work from home Tuesday through Friday. I got more done in those six months than I have in the two and a half years since, now that I'm back in the office most of the time again.

Unfortunately, people just love to see asses in seats.

Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#19

Post by nubb »

this article really hit home for me. With all of the cbt/lynda/udemy/YouTube/blablabla content out there, I'm usually exhausted after the info gathering phase. Putting a time constraint on that is smart.

Like another commenter said, finding the perfect difficulty level to attack is really the hard part. I've finished info gathering just to get bored or frustrated by said info.

Re: The Importance of Deep Work and the 30-Hour Method for Learning a New Skill

#20

Post by sndean »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #16
brightball wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, this is why I just read technical books cover to cover. It’s just about the best point to point resource out there. I think I remember seeing where Cornell offered a course structure where you’d do one course, all day, for 3 weeks and then move to the next. It was years ago, but I remember thinking I would have loved it.

Intensive courses in the summer aren’t unusual, especially in the summer and especially for language classes.

This also reminded me of some summer classes. Maybe one month, 5 days/week?

Some of the things that best remember from undergrad were learned over the summer.

I still don't know whether it was the short/intensive set up of the courses that improved learning, or if it was the fact that I was only willing to do summer courses in topics I knew I'd do well in. Either way, it's my best memory of school.

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