I have created Bartib a time tracker for the command line: https://github.com/nikolassv/bartib. I needed something to track my activities at work. All other solutions that I tried out where too complicated as they often targeted whole teams, included accounting options that I don't need or were just an usability nightmare.
When I created Bartib I tried too keep it as simple as possible which meant for me a CLI tool. Choosing a plain text file with a really simple structure meant I didn't need to implement all features right away but could always fall back to edit the file in vim.
I pretended to often that I had figured everything out and didn't need any help. Although this worked out ok, I would have surely learnt more if I had more often admitted that I was stuck and asked for some input.
This article sounds convincing but I don't find it really hard to refute these weak man arguments:
“I hate people who frivolously
diagnose themselves with autism without knowing anything about the disorder. They should stop thinking they’re ‘so speshul’ and go see a competent doctor.” - "you're so right! That is why I did a lot of research before I diagnosed myself. I'd really like to see a doctor about it as soon as I can."
"I am a proud atheist and I don’t like religion. Think of the terrible things done by religion, like the actions of the Westboro Baptist Church. They try to disturb the funerals of heroes because they think God hates everybody. But this is horrible. Religious people can’t justify why they do things like this. That’s why I’m proud to be an atheist.” - "these people are totally nuts! I as a Christian can not understand how they can justify their actions. No way this is something real Christians would do."
> You sort of inherently act differently if you were bought up rich. Its hard to describe exactly but you tend to be more (blindly) self-confident and just behave a bit differently compared if you were brought up in a lower class family.
I really agree to all the points in the article. But I would add another one: Today it is so much easier to find someone online to speak to in your target language. There are many facebook groups (and certainly other ways) to find people interested in a language tandem via Jitsy/Zoom/Skype etc. Surely, it is nicer to meet someone in person in a café or bar, but it is much easier to meet online, especially when you are working a full time job and have to integrate these meetings in an already tight schedule.
Judging generative art on how complicated the code is that it is generated by misses the point. For the "art" aspect the code is just a tool. It can get quite complicated but it does not have to. Other aspects as "controlled randomness" are far more important.
Concerning the "I could have done that in an hour" objection: Most photos are taken in less than 1/250 seconds but no one would use this as an argument against the artistic status of a picture.
Just watching someone doing the real thing is one of the most prominent strategies to avoid doing the real thing.
It is not enough to watch someone very skilled do the real thing. You have to imitate them: Reading a lot of great novels will not make you a better writer. Instead write a story in the style of any writer you admire and you will learn a lot while still doing the real thing. The same is true for almost any art you want learn.
I am really looking forward to read the blog post "design software like it is 20s" where someone found my commits from this year and (hopefully) comes to the same conclusion.
In my experience this is not only true for memorizing theoretical knowledge but for physical skills too. For example, if you learn the piano simply playing pieces you know won't make you a better piano player. To get better practicing really has to be difficult. This can be achieved either by learning new pieces or by making the pieces you know more difficult to play (e.g. play them faster, try to play them in a different style etc.)
During my career I was always looking for some senior developer to guide me in my work. I was hoping someone has figured everything out and could tell me whether my solutions where good or bad. It frustrated me that most of them did not really have a clue and could not help me. I blamed it to my company which would not invest the money to hire really good senior developers and switched employers. I hoped to find better learning opportunities there (which I thought meant better guiding). But it was the same everywhere: The people who I thought had everything figured out seemed to be just as clueless as me.
It took me some time to realize this is the norm. There is no one who has the perfect understanding of everything. There is a lot of uncertainty to any solution you try out. Accepting the uncertainty and acting accordingly is the true meaning of "seniority".
When I created Bartib I tried too keep it as simple as possible which meant for me a CLI tool. Choosing a plain text file with a really simple structure meant I didn't need to implement all features right away but could always fall back to edit the file in vim.