As someone self taught, let me cut to the chase and say your number one problem is proving yourself in the professional world the first time. My advise assumes you have a different degree and you have some CS skills. Assuming this, you have to knock on ~100+ doors until one opens. I’m not joking about ~100+ doors. You will be ignored, rejected and laughed at - repeatedly. You need to search exclusively in your local market with a local address on your resume. Don’t use the major bot controlled job sites - check prospective employer sites directly. Check for entry level positions - or even internships - that’s your best path. Manual QA tester. Project analyst. End user phone support. Third shift operations. I’m not joking: you have to prove it. Once a door opens, it may not be the title you want, it may not be the technology you want, it may not be the boss you want, it may not be the benefits you want, and it definitely won’t be the pay you want. It may be unpaid. Don’t negotiate. Your one and only criteria should be: will this role allow me to prove myself. Will this opportunity grant access to greater challenges, future roles, broader networks. If so, take it! Then work twice as hard as the next person and prove it!
My advice surely sounds cynical but remember the hiring pipeline is populated 98% by non-technical folks whose assessment of your skills relies exclusively on a degree. That’s the system.
tl;dr if you are self-taught, learning CS is actually the easy part. Getting your foot in the door is the hardest.
I meant that it can change your world view on the nature of forgiveness, not of prison psychology. Surely I was influenced seeing it at 14 years old. Das Experiment is for a much finer palate!
Why not just test everyone for t-cell reactivity to SARS-CoV-2? The general population already has broad coronavirus exposure. If your test reveals no immune reaction, you are clearly a candidate for extended quarantine. If you have an immune reaction, now what? More study needed. Can you be safely exposed? Something must explain the rampant asymptomatic carrier rate.
In defense of self-help books; you latch to the one that finds you.
The 4-hour workweek provided me a useful foil to Gladwell’s “10,000” hours. It might take 10k to master, but you sure as hell can move fast if you get to 80% in 10 hours.
The title and intro is unabashedly “get rich quick” fodder. But hidden inside, one can find practical applications of Pareto principles to work and life choices, in ways that made me question how I approach everything. Better books have followed in this zeitgeist. This one found me first.
Related, I’ve long enjoyed longform.org