I completely agree. One of those books which was in some passages extremely hard (or even painful) to read is "Thou shall prosper" from Daniel Lipman, a (right wing) Rabbi! It changed the way I look at business. Some arguments convinced me, others I still can't accept. But it showed me that axioms which seem counter-intuitive to me can build a very practical world view.
Another book which is rather on the extreme side is Eckart Tolle's "The Power of now!". Again, I sometimes couldn't stand his opinion. For example whenever he quotes Jesus and explains that most people get it wrong but in fact it would be like this or that.
But the book showed me that I was worrying and thinking way too much and that this is at best useless and sometimes even dangerous.
Often books don't even tell you something new. And I think even this is worthwhile as long as the author explains what you already know in a very different way.
Just yesterday I was thinking about this issue. I think the article takes the biscuit.In my opinion, this is the main reason for why people who start out early are that good.
I partly relearned this skill when I started out with Taekwondo. Desperately, I was trying to memorize the motion sequences. Whenever I asked a question concerning which angle my right leg should have, which direction I should turn to ... the master would always say: "Don't think or talk. Watch & do it!"
Surprisingly, you get a lot better in no time. Don't get me wrong I still suck but at least what I do now is worlds apart from my first humble attempts.
Now I think that I could become a decent programmer with a more child-like attitude (like the one I had when I discovered DOS & Win 3.11 at the age of 5 - no adult taught me anything, I couldn't even understand the English menus ;-))
But unfortunately we get older. Whilst it is never too late to learn something for the joy of it I'd like to have a halfway-decent paid job within the next 10 years. At the moment I am 23. I could quit university, devote myself to open source software & hack the hell out of the day. Hopefully, I'll someday know enough to have paid work. However, if I'd fail I wouldn't even have a degree & my perspectives would be quite bleak.
With that in mind programming is only a (way too little) hobby for me.
Thank you for your fast reply which was quite revealing.
I've been into electronic music production & sounddesign for about 8 years now. But I never saw a way that this could somehow be helpful when it comes to finding a job.
Two terms of CS gave me some insight into programming but I mainly solved little mathematical problems rather than gaining insight into "real world software programming".
Now I am attending business school and try to figure out how to avoid a typical office job so that I can do something more rewarding, where I can be somewhat more myself, instead.
I should seriously get into programming in my spare time...
Sorry to everyone else for hijacking this thread. ;-)
€: just finished the video. Looks like an awesome working atmosphere indeed!
Cubase user here cough
Anyway I'd imagine that working for Ableton is fairly cool.
Although I am not qualified enough for such a position I am curious what requirements they have. I check your link and they ask for at least 2 years of experience.
Is that "all" ?
As a CS drop out I can't even provide bachelor's degree. The point I am trying to make is:
As far as I know here in Germany employees always ask for degrees. Am I way off?
Could I train myself the necessary skills and then work my way up and then some day I'd be qualified enough to work for a company like Ableton?
I don't agree when he says that knowledge is one of the most important things to combat fear. In my case learning just makes me feel better because I think I've done something towards the wrong direction. But often there is fear although you probably know very well what you're dealing with.
By the way, I found the "one fear gets replaced by a bigger fear" theory very interesting. It's a very logical explanation but I never consciously thought about it.
In this case, even though it isn't fun and sometimes very painful, I'd suggest a brute-force approach. Try as many ways as possible and discard all the drafts & don't feel bad about it.
Quite true. I think people should stop reading those "lifehacking" blogs. They just prevent you from doing things and thus keep you from gaining worthwhile insights on your own which are way more useful.(I can't stress this enough)
I have to confess that I, too, spend too much time on those websites. My conclusion is: I was a better "lifehacker" when I was 16 (quite some years ago).
Another book which is rather on the extreme side is Eckart Tolle's "The Power of now!". Again, I sometimes couldn't stand his opinion. For example whenever he quotes Jesus and explains that most people get it wrong but in fact it would be like this or that.
But the book showed me that I was worrying and thinking way too much and that this is at best useless and sometimes even dangerous.
Often books don't even tell you something new. And I think even this is worthwhile as long as the author explains what you already know in a very different way.