My 10,000 Hours of Programming

For the past few weeks I have been coding in python.

I had this previous idea about programming that, there was a magic line between a naturally talented coder and someone who tries to get good at it.

But going through several articles written on the subject and listening to a lot of people from the tech domain, my thoughts have changed.

I'm not saying that there isn't a magic line. There is.

There are talented programmers and programmers who cannot program well.

But the fact is, programming is just like any other job or skill.

You may have a little talent or not so much talent. But whichever category you belongs to, to enter the elite level the path is the same.

Practice.

Not just practice.

But deliberate practice.

I have read this interesting article and it talks about gaining mastery or expert level knowledge or skill through deliberate programming.

It points out that, most professionals consider coding at their job can improve their skills.

It can. But that doesn't count as deliberate practice.

Why the word - "deliberate"?

Malcolm Gladwell proclaimed that it takes 10,000 hours to gain mastery at a skill.

Well, no one can be a master. Mastery is not knowing everything in that domain of expertise. But being able to differentiate the person from intermediate or even among advanced skilled peers.

In a nutshell, just getting extremely good at that skill.

Deliberate practice comes with focused work on things that are "just" beyond your comfort level. There are evidences in neurochemistry to back this idea.

But when you are a professional, you may think that the workplace tasks can benefit you to reach expertise.

Most professional jobs have a steep learning curve in the beginning and later on it becomes a repetitive work. Then it's no longer a deliberate practice.

Even if 40% of an 8 hour job is deliberate practice, it can literally take 13 years to reach 10,000 hours! (Detailed explanation is given this article)

So taking inspiration from the article I read, at the age of 23, and being a professional having 9 hours of work all weekdays, I'm continuing my deliberate practice with programming and creating things.

Before work hours in the morning or after work in the night and during weekends, I'm finding time to do coding and learn things just beyond my knowledge and expertise. Not anything too hard and not too easy either.

I will do a rough calculation everyday on how many hours I did deliberate practice.

Once I reach the 10,000 hours mark, I will update this article about what I have achieved an learnt.

See you after the 10,000th hour??