Yes, all of them. I have them every day. Today's was Solr's facet.limit/.prefix/.mincount methods as it relates to what I'm working on. Nothing stands out because it was a huge bolus of information.
>What would he do differently?
Nothing.
>What guidelines would he give to someone else in a similar position?
http://mattdeboard.net/2011/11/23/how-i-became-a-programmer/
>How did he find an appropriate mentor?
I was lucky. I answered this both in the comments and in this thread.
>What was he surprised to learn?
The level of apathy among a lot of programmers.
>What can he do now that he couldn't do when he started?
I can program now, so there's that.
You think it's hand-wavy because you think I'm holding something back. I busted my ass dude, I worked very hard. That's not hand-wavy, that's just really what happened. I taught myself a lot of shit by reading, asking questions and trying new stuff. There's no mystery or secret sauce.