31–40 of 71 posts
If you're coding for your job, why go home and code more on open source stuff? If you miss the discovery and excitement of learning science, you should consider putting the OSS time toward reading papers and working on problems.
You say you have a day job, make regular open source contributions, have a girlfriend, a social life and not much free time. Sounds like you've got things figured out pretty well as it is. I would mostly stick with the current plan if I were you. Maybe you could pick up some scientific textbooks to read during your commute or during a lunch break. But it sounds like more than that could negatively affect your work/li…
You're probably quite right. I guess that, as someone who has spent most of their teenage and adult life absorbing knowledge at a very rapid rate, it's both new and slightly disconcerting to know that I simply have less time to _learn_.
Lots of learning, and definitely rewarding, but there's certainly less time for hacking/learning.
I have a full time job as a web developer, do not make open source contributions, do not have a girlfriend or a social life, and do have a healthy amount of free time. I spend much of my free time reading technical articles and textbooks in CS and finance (although I could be reading up on representation theory if I wanted to). I also program in my spare time. Sadly, you've left out many of the details that would hel…
I actually have 3 credits (equivalent to one class) in a non-science related field left to my degree, which I will be finishing in the next semester. Most of the classes I took were honours level, and my GPA was quite average. My grades suffered a bit from me needing to work quite a bit to pay tuition, but that's not something that particularly bothers me. I learned much from working in the 'real world', and the few…
Don't do it. Unless you want to become an academic, with all the attendant downsides and risks -- which you apparently do not.
It sounds like you've got the usual problem: You were used to school, you were good at school, you had thoroughly internalized the vague and quixotic goal of the student ("the insatiable quest for knowledge") -- and now you're up against the reality that school only lasts for a few years and the rest of your life lasts for decades.
The most likely outcome of going back to school is that you will spend a couple of happy years in the environment that you were raised in and that you are now missing. Then you will graduate and be exactly where you are now, except older, and poorer. I've seen this happen several times.
So I advise that you stick with your current plan. It sounds fine. Try reading more publications, try some scientifically-oriented open-source work. Do what you like. If you want to study information theory... keep reading! Buy more CS textbooks and teach yourself. Watch lectures on the web. Pepper your fellow HN readers with questions about Haskell or Lisp macros or whatever. Buy a subscription to Nature. Or work your own way through Knuth or the Princeton Companion to Mathematics or The Molecular Biology of the Cell. [1]
If you've got a good job and friends and romance and an open-source project, try to consider the possibility that you might be happy and successful.
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[1] These are all on my list of things to do. At my current rate, I will never finish. And that's fine. Nobody is keeping score.
Set lofty goals. Attain them. Repeat. Right now you're living a mediocre life. You live in an apartment, you program web sites and haven't finished college. What's so special about that? Why do you need to be incredibly sharp for that? You don't. Do something you need to be sharp to do and you will become sharp. My best advice for you is to not worry about this shit until you're 25 and have a normal young adulthood i…
I am a CS grad and am 30 now and have tried to learn several things in the past that have interested me in a variety of areas. I remember a few examples where I would learn/pickup/read something fast and think that I understand it but I would truly understand it only when I took up an ambitious project that involved learning and applying something. And your mind is automatically focussed/sharp in picking up stuff when there is a goal in front. Otherwise, it may just feel like cramming. Getting sharp should be a by-product of doing something worthy and ambitious that is aligned with your interests.
Also, don't worry about mediocrity just as yet since you're just starting out. But I've seen a lot of guys getting cozy in a couple of years after they graduate and get a job. So, do keep lofty and aligned goals in mind all the time. You will surprised. And that will take you way above mediocrity while keeping you sharp and vibrant as a person.
Sharpness is not something in a vacuum; sharpness is about your mind and intelligence as it relates to people in the outside world. Thinking you are sharp doesn't amount to much. Being sharp in situations is what counts, and will give you the thing you might be missing. So think of sharpness in terms of people. The only way to sharpen is to expose yourself to new things and test yourself against other people. Warren Buffet doesn't stay sharp because he plays chess, its who he plays chess with that's much more important.
1. work and socialize with smart and talented people, particularly ones that are considered top people in your field, find a fantastic team and work with them, look for people whose careers rely on their sharp minds, people that are a bit older than you, and slightly different.
2. become a better listener, try meditating to help with this. being able to clear your mind of extraneous thoughts will make you more open to developing the thinking you are looking for, it will bring you focus skills
3. think about developing skills which can result in your making more valuable contributions to situations. be curious about new things, hobbies, intellectual pursuits, also read incessantly, as over time you will accumulate much knowledge. tell stories well and be funny. you'll find yourself invited to join companies and social groups that provide what you seek, as people will always be curious about what you have to say.
Set lofty goals. Attain them. Repeat. Right now you're living a mediocre life. You live in an apartment, you program web sites and haven't finished college. What's so special about that? Why do you need to be incredibly sharp for that? You don't. Do something you need to be sharp to do and you will become sharp. My best advice for you is to not worry about this shit until you're 25 and have a normal young adulthood i…
Wow this is some bad advice. And with an arrogant/demeaning attitude to match.
It was: "don't be such a pussy." It works. If it didn't, then athletic and military leaders wouldn't use it.
Do you play music?
Sadly, I haven't had the time to play much as of late.
Solve Euler problems http://projecteuler.net/index.php?section=problems> ; in Clojure " rel="nofollow">http://clojure.org/> . Tough stuff, but fun too. :-)
Play bridge or poker regularly. Chess is also good. That's how Buffett is still kicking ass, despite being in his 70s.