Making Self Education More Pleasant By Remembering to Lower The On-ramps
Learning Programming maybe... probably better for you,
than learning the intricate rules of some boring sport, and learning portrait drawing may be better still.
The only difference between something easy and something more difficult
is the angle of the on-ramp.
If we are growing up among athletes,
we learn about sports by listening to their conversations.
And as a result it is not very hard to start,
and it is not hard to learn more.
In my case, I never had to go to driving school,
because I was frequently paying attention to what the heck the drivers were doing.
I donât recommend learning this way, because as a young person you have the unique opportunity to freak out your driving instructor with a surprise donut.
...and quietly say,
âWhoops.â
Come to think of it, donât do that either,
find your own way.
In my case, the only thing I missed, was the intersection scenario,
where the one who is making a turn left in the turning lane...
...has to wait for the all the slowpokes to pass first,
which is redonkeylous - but what-ev.
I once cut everyone off while fetching a pizza order for a coffee shop,
the passenger who volunteered to help me load all the boxes, skequed, and said:
âDude, I canât believe you just did this!â,
I looked at him, with what I imagine was a really cool
âwhat you wait me to wait for the geriatrics tooâ expression.
But actually since I didnât know this rule,
I was only giving him a slightly annoyed expression for calling me Dude.
What he didnât know, was that I didnât know I did something wrong,
because this was lyke, my third time driving a freaking car.
I like blooming late,
as that gives me time to bloom well.
I drove to Key West few weeks later
it turned out it was just that one thing that I didnât know.
Actually, two things,
as I still owe like a quarter to some pay-per-drive bridge in Florida, I am sorry Florida.
So one of the things we need to pay attention to,
is self educational on-ramps.
Their angle, or the difficulty of the new subject,
and our initial preparations.
Just because you didnât grow up among programmers,
does not mean that learning programming is impossible or even difficult.
When I was learning modern programming after high school,
I would search AltaVista for things I was interested in, followed by the world tutorial.
You can search for video tutorials now, but you have to add novice, beginner, or introduction,
I found Rock Paper Scissors in JavaScript for you.
My first program, the one I was accused of plagiarizing was about Lottery,
goodness knows what I put in there to trigger that moron teacher, but I am still so proud.
But you know, right after these initial on-ramps,
you can spice things up.
For me, the spice was making a window in windows,
I made thousands of programs by now, 99.9% were just nonsense that I liked.
One time I felt under the weather with seasonal sneezes,
and I spent a few days in bed writing a program that planned visits to haunted houses.
When I told the person who came up with the idea that I wrote his program,
he stopped talking to me.
Because, one he realized I was really computer smart - they didnât somehow know even though they wanted me to design their website,
and two, he was scared heâd have to pay for a program I finished but they were still planning - what an awful weasel.
Anywhooo... you can spice up your on-ramp by making your self education,
super creative.
One time at a coffee shop I discovered Hack This Site,
and to this day I think of creating a clone of the site, or maybe a game, as one of the best self education ideas.
Computer security does come up in programming,
especially when learning to write server programs with node.js.
And youâd think it would be supremely intimidating,
and certainly a thing to complicate learning programming.
But creating a game about hacking into virtual computers in your game,
based on real techniques as listed on OWASP for example converts security into a fun exercise in creativity.
Programming isnât the only thing worth learning, I mention it a lot because it pays well and it is what I picked for myself,
but I think Art is still by far the most promising path towards lunch money.
The one thing I never mention is that after some months with drawing/painting portraits with a Computer Projector,
you learn how to do it freehand.
Whatever the challenge,
by accepting it, you will begin learning for real.
And if it is something that does turn out to be worth the time,
like Art certainly is, then by sticking with it out of enjoyment, mastery will come sooner than later.
In closing, perhaps one of the biggest surprises about self education is that,
it is way easier than fake education which we canât get good at it is always confusing and noisy.
Finding what calls to you, what is fun and enriching,
should take a very, very! long time.
Your curiosities, including the path that you take when hopping among them all,
are absolutely sacred.
Your noblest pursuits mark your path through knowledge and towards wisdom,
and beyond towards Greatness.