Comment by davidreiss | Hacker News Reader

Comment by davidreiss | Hacker News Reader

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But 10000 hour rule isn't about being competent. It's about being an expert.

> Formerly a software developer, I was able to install, configure, and hack together a workable WooCommerce/WordPress PHP/MySQL CMS that generated content and still is our main shop, selling millions of dollars of merchandise per year.

But anyone could really do that just following simple online guides/examples. CMS is child's play especially when you didn't even build one from scratch but just pieced ready made software together.

> I used to work retail and retail management when I was young and putting myself through high school and college. Lessons about stocking, shipping, marketing, sales, logistics - all transferred into my online retail business.

Sure, but you aren't an expert in any of those.

Of course cross domain knowledge helps but I think you are missing the point of the 10000 hour rule. It was a rule to make you an expert, not a jack of all trades.

I think you are missing the point of the parent post.

He is not stating that the 10,000 rule will make you a jack of all trades. He is saying that he was able to cut down the "10,000" hours to less because of his transferable skills. S/he might not be an expert in these transferable skills, but s/he might be an expert in his business which is sports science.

> He is not stating that the 10,000 rule will make you a jack of all trades.

But that's not what he described.

> S/he might not be an expert in these transferable skills, but s/he might be an expert in his business which is sports science.

Sure. We all have transferable skills. I don't think the 10000 hour rule meant that you start off with a blank slate and went from the basics of learning language, mathematics, etc.

The 10000 rule is part learning and part practice/muscle memory/etc.

In other words, it "includes" transferable knowledge.

If you know latin, you'll have an easier time getting competent in italian. But to become an expert in italian, you still need to go through the 10000 hours. That's the idea of 10000 hours. I don't believe in the 10000 hours mantra, but that's my understanding of it.

I am an expert in my field now. It is indisputable. It took me less than 10,000 hours because of the other work I did.

You are indeed missing the point.

> But anyone could really do that just following simple online guides/examples

That's simply not true. There's a huge sea of bad (out of date or simple ignorance) and non-working examples for all sorts of technology, which is amplified by any tech stack. Being able to sift and qualify that you're doing the right thing, or even starting over after a lengthy failure is not a common trait.

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