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nixnerd@Erik, do you even have a vague idea? Like: “I love to play Call of Duty. I’d love to code video games someday.” Or “Mobile apps excite me. I’d like to code the next Angry Birds.” or “I love big enterprise. I’d like to work on the software that powers Wall Street.”
Go nuts dude. Your dream can be whatever you want. And actually, if you know where you’d like to end up… sometimes that can help the journey a bit.
One time @Alen gave me a link to a video and it was great. Very informative for the topic at hand. Then… in the sidebar I saw this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MgBikgcWnY
This guy has a niche little shtick in the ilk of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” and the “4-Hour Workweek.” That puts a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth… but it’s tolerable.
His whole point is that 10,000 hours for mastery is BS and I would tend to agree. I’ve even seen peer reviewed research that says the same thing.
Now, his prescription is to learn something VERY specific. Like, have a very precisely defined goal and work toward it. I can personally attest to the fact that this is true and I saw a guy on Hacker News who learned to write a full-blown iOS app in like 3 months.
I COMPLETELY AGREE that theoretical learning is very important. I think people should be nuanced students of Computer Science. I think a full breadth of understanding is important… but not to make money. And… there’s no rule that you can’t shake up the order of things.
I have switched industries 4 times and I’m in my late 20’s. So… being in the workforce for 10 years, that means I’ve literally switched careers every 2.5 years. You can absolutely get good at stuff really fast. All you have to do is have a rough plan and get to work.
Here’s some other reading for contrast… but I don’t think it directly contradicts what the first guy is saying:
http://www.taigeair.com/goals-are-for-losers/
This guy talks about having a “system,” not goals. I would say, figure out what you want to do, then create a system and never cheat yourself. Do it everyday. You will win at life.
