On Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:27:29 +0000, Invisible wrote:

>>> Yes, well, given that 98% of everything I write will never be seen by
>>> another pair of eyes, that's not likely to change.
>>
>> It certainly won't be if you don't share it.  Another tip from this
>> book I'm reading is to weekly take some time to create a presentation
>> on a topic - any topic - and share it with someone to get some
>> feedback.
> 
> I can't think of anybody who would be interested in reading something I
> wrote, much less sitting through a presentation. (Besides, I'm much
> better at writing than talking.)

Again, the offer is on the table.  Presentations can be done online as 
well as in person.

>> You can't get the benefit from practicing something if you don't
>> actually practice it.
> 
> No kidding. ;-)

Here's the thing, though - you seem to think that you should be an 
instant expert at this and not need to practice (otherwise you'd not just 
say "I suck at this" and not work to improve it).

One has to look for opportunities to present and to write, and take 
advantage of them.  That's how you improve - by doing, and then by 
evaluating the experience.

>>> Usually the answer is "for ****'s sake, we don't /care/ about
>>> Haskell!"
>>
>> Then you've not done a proper audience analysis.
> 
> Fair enough.

So then what would your next step be?

>>> I'm loving the "warning - sound engineers earn peanuts" bit. Nice to
>>> know!
>>
>> Some people do a job for reasons other than money. :-)
> 
> Yes, well, I have no intention of becoming a professional sound
> engineer. I just want to know the techniques so I can use them for my
> hobby projects. ;-)

Which is why you would use something like Google (remember Google? ;-) ) 
to learn more about a topic.

Perhaps you've forgotten, but I used to work in IT but now I'm in 
technical education.  What you may not know is that I've been involved in 
doing some research (at a high level) on how people acquire new skills 
and knowledge.  My boss and I had an interesting discussion a few months 
ago - today's students (and that's not an age group, but rather defined 
as "people who are looking to learn something") tend to go online and 
search.  If they find something that almost meets their needs, but it's 
free, that tends to be what they use, unless they can quickly find 
something that meets their needs better and their budget (which again is 
usually free).

But it also tends to be done at the time the knowledge is needed, rather 
than in advance.  In technical education across the board, fewer and 
fewer students are attending classes to learn things, but are interested 
only in "I need to create a user - how do I do that" type tutorials.  JIT-
learning is really big these days.

So, for example, my boss needed to fix a hole in his roof.  He didn't 
take a class on roofing, and he didn't want to pay a roofer to come out 
and fix it for him (it wasn't that big of a hole, he says).  So he went 
online and searched for "roof repair".  First hit was a paid online 
course.  Second hit was a Youtube video.  He got most of what he needed 
from the video, and got his roof fixed for the cost of a couple hours of 
his own time + materials.

For more technical topics (not IT specific, but more detailed topics), 
learning is an iterative process.  You find a resource, read it, and then 
evaluate "did I get what I needed?" - and if you didn't, then you find 
the next resource.

You need to learn to do this iteration rather than giving up after round 
1 so frequently.  You did it with your dancing classes, so apply that to 
other areas in your life. :)

Jim

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