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How to build a second brain as a software developer

aseemthakar.com

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Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#161

Post by TranquilMarmot »

lelanthran wrote: post #125
TranquilMarmot wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've switched to doing this, too. I've ping-ponged between Evernote, OneNote, Obsidian, Notion, Confluence, and probably half a dozen other tools over the years. Now I just write markdown files and store them in a hierarchical folder structure (never more than three folders deep!). I use VSCode to write everything which gives basic formatting for italics, bold, and code highlighting as well as an outline of the headi…

> Now I just write markdown files and store them in a hierarchical folder structure (never more than three folders deep!). I do the same, except that I use Emacs org mode. This gives me (other than highlighting): 1. Clickable hyperlinks (linking to the same document, linking to another org file, linking to any other file and linking to a URL). 2. Pretty export options (my entire blog is just a collection of org files…

I've tried org mode (and evil to get vim keybindings) but could never get into it, none of the features were really "killer" for me. VSCode has clickable hyperlinks (although not formatted nicely when editing) and for export I have a script I've written that generates a static site from the files.

Of course, VSCode is also way more resource intensive than emacs :) Kind of like using a power tool to build IKEA furniture.

Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#163

Post by I_complete_me »

TranquilMarmot wrote: post #161
lelanthran wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now I just write markdown files and store them in a hierarchical folder structure (never more than three folders deep!). I do the same, except that I use Emacs org mode. This gives me (other than highlighting): 1. Clickable hyperlinks (linking to the same document, linking to another org file, linking to any other file and linking to a URL). 2. Pretty export options (my entire blog is just a collection of org files…

I've tried org mode (and evil to get vim keybindings) but could never get into it, none of the features were really "killer" for me. VSCode has clickable hyperlinks (although not formatted nicely when editing) and for export I have a script I've written that generates a static site from the files. Of course, VSCode is also way more resource intensive than emacs :) Kind of like using a power tool to build IKEA furnitu…

I'm a vim user but I used Lockdown #2 to learn org-mode. I installed doom emacs, learnt to use org-mode (with vim keybindings) and now I will never not use org-mode. It's too damn good. I use zim-wiki for my (kinda) second brain and keep my journals in markdown using my vim editor. Three tools, I know but they just evolved organically so no cognitive overload.

Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#164

Post by pnt12 »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #6

It sounds like a lot of work and overhead for something that nine times out of ten I'll only need once and if I need it again, I'll default to Google anyway. What good is doing all this filing and organizing if it only serves you personally? It's like building and maintaining a cache, but with a high percentage of cache misses.

Writing notes and organizing your thoughts will by itself solidify your knowledge, even if you never read them later.

Also:

* when you write something, it challenges you: do you know enough to form cohesive sentences or do you just have scattered thoughts * when you write, you get to organize the information in a way that makes sense to you - it's your knowledge, not someone's else

Currently I just use some markdown notes but I'm looking forward to augment them.

Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#165

Post by pnt12 »

razzimatazz wrote: post #110

I would like to hear people's thoughts on how to coach a junior on how to get a 'second brain' (new term for me) going. Plenty of your average new developers won't have the experience to build it on their own, or maybe they just wont know what the topics and projects are that they will be working with.

I think the described processes are quite an effort and seem to imply a black and white world: no notes versus a personal intranet of your mind.

I'm looking to augment my process but I've started with a simple approach: markdown notes, scripts, and lately my own diagrams (made with excalidraw or plantuml).

The most common scenarios when I write: learning something new or when I've had to search/type a command for the nth time - time to write it down or create a script for it.

Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#166

Post by pnt12 »

jmnicolas wrote: post #131

Frankly I think it's completely irrelevant for us developers: our field is evolving so fast that whatever you store now in your second brain will probably be obsolete by next year. Basically it's like advocating for old school paper encyclopedia in the age of Google. I fail to see what is so inefficient with a web search as a second brain: the content is always up to date and you have a chance of stumbling upon somet…

Unlike a paper encyclopedia, a second brain has *your* thoughts. You write down what is useful to you, and in a style that matches your comprehension.

My "2nd brain" are mostly scattered notes and scripts: low effort but just medium reward. I'm looking to organize them better and get a high reward with moderate effort.

Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#167

Post by ozim »

pqs wrote: post #140
ozim wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one of the problems is that people want to "de duplicate" knowledge and have such solutions with "DRY - don't repeat yourself". What is my idea - I have VS Code and just write down things with tags using # - then even if I have something in two places on the same topic I don't mind. When I see it in search I will recall which one I need. Disk space for text files is nowadays basically infinite :)

The problem is that "taking notes" means different things in different contexts. For an academic sociologist, building a zettelkasten is a step in the process of writing academic publications; for me an academic in Earth Science, taking notes is documenting the software my team writes, documenting the scientific methods we use; keeping track of tasks and writing meeting notes; for a programmer, taking notes is storin…

Let's go one step further ...

One person can have multiple systems of note taking. Just daily notes that you need to write down to keep some thoughts around. Other system might be for writing a book that needs to be really structured.

I think problem is that a lot of people think that they need to have "one master system" to rule them all.

But what is my idea - that if you have some daily note that you want to include in your book, you copy that piece to your "book notes" from your "daily notes" and have 2 copies in different contexts.

Sometimes I have that grand idea that I would like to wrap my mind around entirety of my life ... it is just not possible and CONTEXT is the king.

Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#168

Post by tlavoie »

Chris2048 wrote: post #146
brazzy wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm using a self hosted and customized TiddlyWiki. The nice thing is that it stores all its data in markdown-like text files as well.

I'd love for a proper app (web-based or otherwise) that uses a regular DB (maybe an SQLite file) as the backend. Then I could just slap up a tiddly-service and connect. Incidentally, I've mostly switched to "Zim" wiki, but it's fairly similar.

Several do, I think. I use org-roam, which extends org-mode on Emacs. The files are org-mode (very much like Markdown), but there is a SQLite DB that enables speedy search.

Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#169

Post by bodge5000 »

CuriousSkeptic wrote: post #157
thrower123 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I'm absolutely not kidding. I've tried to do the OneNote thing, or get into org-mode, or manage collections of bookmarks. Too much overhead, not enough value to justify the work. So I have a browser window per "thing" that I'm dealing with, with a whole bunch of tabs, and when I'm done with the thing, the browser gets closed and the tabs go away.

This approach kind of exploded on me, and I couldn’t find any window anymore. Recently discovers tab groups, and that you can name browser windows. With those two in place I actually see some hope of recovering control.

I would say the too many windows issue is a feature, not a bug. If you have too many windows thats too many things to do, either you need to do one or prune your list

Re: How to build a second brain as a software developer

#170

Post by Crontab »

jen729w wrote: post #84
genghisjahn wrote: post #27

My second brain keeps moving. For example, I have a great setup with Notability on an iPad. Except after a few months, I start typing stuff into Workflowy. No reason, I just reach for a different tool. A few months later I'm in a random text file and then back to Notability. I don't know why I do this. One thing that sorta helps is implementing the Jonny Decimal System so that all the different pieces can be indexed.…

Gonna be cheeky and drop a link to JD here, given that it’s my site. :-) https://johnnydecimal.com

Nice site. Somehow, I hadn't seen this before.
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