Thursday, September 12, 2013
So much to read, So little time
Recently, I added Y Combinator's Hacker News to my RSS feed. I quickly learned that there were more interesting articles posted than I could possibly read. My main purpose in subscribing to Hacker News was to become a better programmer, yet I found myself reading articles on how to run a successful startup and how healthy eating is an engineering problem. Later, I decided to just do a Google search for "how to become a better programmer." In the first few hits I found an article with a list of specific suggestions and measurable tasks that I could do. Most of the time, more information (like from Hacker News) just takes our focus away from actually doing anything worthwhile. I could continue reading articles about becoming a better programmer, but until I actually implement the ideas in the articles, I am just wasting my time.
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Thank you for sharing that article. I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteGetting direct answers to our questions is certainly a powerful tool, and one I exploit every day. But there is tremendous value in stumbling upon information we didn't think was relevant, and I certainly don't think you were wasting your time.
ReplyDeleteThe benift of reading these articles depends on you goal. While you might not be gorwing as a programer, you are furnishing your scale with counterbalances so that you can weigh opinions and new ideas without tipping to back and forth between extreemes.
ReplyDeleteI know that information can be useful. The problem comes when so much time is spent consuming information that we never act.
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