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Comment by AidanSW | Hacker News Reader

Just doing something for 10 years doesn't make you an expert, I started coding 11 years ago- as a kid. But my knowledge became so diffuse across topics I was interested in that I never really became an expert in any of it.

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By "doing something for 10 years", I think the implication is you're actively working on that subject area, regularly, for 10 years. Not per se occasionally working on something every now and then. You can become a really good Chess player if you consistently play for 10 years--you figure out all the strategies and shortcuts, and it would be unusual if you weren't really good compared to someone playing for a year (assuming they're not some exceptional learner). But if your metric is just "I've played it occasionally since 10 years ago" then indeed, you probably didn't develop much breadth or scope as you were constantly forgetting and relearning as opposed to compounding your knowledge.

As for programming, I don't think programming is all that hopelessly complex and broad as field, but it can seem that way to a beginner. Most computer science concepts translate very well to other parts of the field, and the core programming constructs and libraries don't change much at all. How many ways can you configure a website, a mobile app or a database? Your instinct might be to think about all the different libs you can pull in, all the different programming languages, etc. But they all do roughly the same thing, they all compile down to the same stuff. You just have to develop the skill of understanding the fundamentals as opposed to getting lost in a sea of high level abstractions.

I agree writing a variety of software will have similar base ideas, but still, having a good foundation in a topic doesn't make you an expert. I've barely used Java, but if I had to I could learn enough to write it pretty quickly, that doesn't mean I understand at all how JVM and Java's GC works, or what a factory is.

It's not about "doing something", it's about intentionality, i.e. you're working to advance your knowledge and expertise with some form of a plan, even if that plan is "try a bunch of stuff and see what sticks, then double down in that area".

Also, broad-based knowledge can be the expertise; think a general contractor who's skill is tying all the specialists together. The best software managers I've ever had came from skilled generalists backgrounds vs. incredibly deep specialists.

This is the story of my life. I know a little about pretty much every topic ever.

That’s good - keep striving for that!

The idea that you should find some narrow niche in which you are so passionate that you dedicate the rest of your life to attaining mastery is only valid for such a small part of the population and, in my eyes, a little sad.

Yeah, it's nice feeling like I have a foundation in enough topics that I actually feel like I would know vaguely where to start looking to solve most problems. Definitely not an expert though.

You became an expert in learning a variety of topics

Just doing something for 10 years doesn't make you an expert.

I think it does, just not in the things your measuring.

Sitting on a couch for 10 years will make you an expert. Not an expert in sitting on couches in general but an expert in sitting on your couch during the period you were there.

Pretty sure I got worst at it. 10 years later and now my back hurts.

I like this sentiment. A Wittgenstein collection called “Philosophical Grammar” contains a lot of these kinds of thoughts.

Maybe, or maybe I became used to and ossified in bad strategies. I hope not, but I think I have learned that learning has to be intentional. Meaning for me, writing stuff down, trying to find out other solutions to the same problem rather than just going with whatever my first idea is, etc.

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