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Comment by bevr1337 | Hacker News Reader

> When you don't know what you don't know, having someone to efficiently guide you can save a ton of time, and for some topics, that mentor is a great textbook or teacher.

A bit of a self insert, but I think you described the reality so well that I wanted to offer my own anecdote.

I'm somewhere between formally educated and self-taught. I did not complete higher level undergrad maths like discrete or linear. Because of this, my vocabulary is lacking. I don't even know what to google, even if I could teach myself!

Some subjects really benefit from instruction and direction. It's actually hard to find a math tutor to proof your vector math program in your late 30s. My colleagues either forgot or are using that energy elsewhere.

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> It's actually hard to find a math tutor to proof your vector math program in your late 30s.

They exist, if you know where to look and are willing to pay (source: me, or generally and probably more affordably wyzant.com)

It was nice in my 20s when we traded labor for beer and weed. A style of collaboration and exchange is what I aimed to describe.

Now, all my peers have wisened up and can get the big bucks elsewhere. So definitely, if a student of any age has the money, they can get a tutor. But it's nice to find a young tutor who would gladly proof your work in exchange for tacos or help on their CS homework

As another commenter proposed, try getting a course book and going through it at your own pace. With your newfound determination and interest it wouldn't surprise me if you stuck with it this time. Alternatively, if you prefer putting vector math into immediate practice, fields like graphics and game dev use it a LOT.

I've got them under my thumb now, and thank you! I've managed to muddle through linear and develop an ECS and prove it's in linear space and enough discrete to be pleasantly surprised by Noam Chomsky's many lives.

I used them as examples of when I transitioned back to CS and had to learn what to learn before I could learn. So to speak.

Anything on your own learning journey you'd like to share?

Have you considered trying to acquire the language by reading a textbook alongside a lecture series?

Quite a bit! MIT and Harvard open courses are great for aligning self-guided learning and finding vetted resources. My regex compiler would not be functional without those lecture series.

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