Re:Ask HN: Do anyone get anxiety from following Hacker News?
by samwillis on Sunday December 11, 2022 @01:28PM
(#33945849)
Agreed completely, the joy of HN is the broad spectrum of expertise and a moderation/karma system to elevate both a mix of content on the homepage, but also the experts to the top of the threads.
My recommendation to younger people starting out is to aim to become a "T Shaped Person"[0], or even better "F", or "π" shaped. The idea being to have a very wide range of shallow knowledge, enough to communicate, understand, spot the BS, and make a start. But have a very deep area of expertise in one, or ideally a few, core areas relevant to your chosen field.
Personally I find HN an invaluable resource to ensure that I have a very board, but shallow(ish), understanding of a large number of interesting things. I've been here for 14 years and it's probably been one of the most valuable experience I have had.
My recommendation to younger people starting out is to aim to become a "T Shaped Person"[0], or even better "F", or "π" shaped. The idea being to have a very wide range of shallow knowledge, enough to communicate, understand, spot the BS, and make a start. But have a very deep area of expertise in one, or ideally a few, core areas relevant to your chosen field.
Personally I find HN an invaluable resource to ensure that I have a very board, but shallow(ish), understanding of a large number of interesting things. I've been here for 14 years and it's probably been one of the most valuable experience I have had.
0: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-shaped_skills