Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years (1998)
I can relate to it through the lens of Karate. I've been studying just about 10 years and I'm just beginning to see the depth of the art. Its almost like you spend those 10 years building the foundation before you can start building the house.<p>One of the points in the article really jumps out and again, I use martial arts as a lens for comparison. Talking to other programmers extensively accelerates your growth. If I had tried to piece together the knowledge my Sensei taught me through "Youtube, books, & self-study", I would have not gotten as far as I have. There's something about having a mentor that can warp-speed your progress. Anyone who has mentored under a master in their field would attest to that.<p>The programming culture is one where you're encouraged to go out and figure it out. Yes, there are teams and pair programming but I don't see most companies emphasizing mentorship as much because its not directly tangible on the books. Its more of a long-term investment and they see employees jumping around every couple of years, so why bother?<p>It would be interesting to see master programmers (30+ years of exp) offer year-long intensives for serious students who wanted to accelerate their growth. I bet you would get some excellent programmers.