All of rationalnoob's Comments + Replies

The goal is to speedup becoming productive in that environment.

where productive =

desigining and implementing pieces of a big application (pieces 1K - 5K LOC, full project (50K LOC)) it implies making atleast 'not-bad' design and implementation choices and being able to think with the language/ frameworks with reasonable fluency to propose designs quickly. giving meaningful feedback to other programmers who are doing similar activity.

i realize that it takes time to get really good at and knowing the internals of the whole stack. Looking for approaches wherein the time to productivity can be reduced.

2Viliam_Bur10y
Okay, I seem to get it. Originally it seemed to me like: "I want to know everything without having to actually understand everything (just give me the most important bits and I will memorize them)." But now I guess you simply want the information well-ordered, meaning that if you invest e.g. 100 hours of your time into learning, you get the most value anyone could get from 100 hours. Where "value" could mean perhaps: how useful it would be for average programmer's average task. Two possible issues: 1) Maybe sometimes specialization provides better results. For example in 20 hours you could learn how to declare variables in 1000 programming languages, or... well, something else, that would be connected with what you already know, and would allow you to do some useful new thing. (Because knowing to declare variables in 1000 programming languages is rather useless.) So you could have different specialization paths. Perhaps too many of them. Possible real-world examples: Using many programming languages / many frameworks, or becoming good at one or two of them. Learning many different things (algorithms, databases, GUI, networks, cryptography, etc.), or becoming a specialist for e.g. databases (or even e.g. Oracle databases). 2) Maybe it is important to know in advance how much time do want to spend totally. For example, let's say that knowing an information A can bring you $1000 profit, information B can bring you $500, information C can bring you $200, but a combination of B+C can give you $2000. If you know at the beginning that you will take two lessons, you can take B and C, which gives you $2000. But if you go incrementally, the best choice for the first lesson is A, then the best choice for the second lesson is B, giving you only $1500. Possible real-world examples: If you want to spend one day or one week learning, just learn Excel. If you want to spend one year, learn Python, or perhaps Java or C#. If you want to spend 10 years, learn mathematics, formal

my experience could be useful to LWers experiementing with noo tropics in warning of the dangers of

a) drug interactions

there is need to be very careful while titrating doses up , especially when drugs are in combination. your body may manifest novel problems not seen by anyone else.

b) drug buildup :

need to be very careful while estimating effective doses to take drug buildup into account. even though superficially i was ingesting 200mg of modafinil, i was effectively on 500mg + of the drug.

the only trouble is that one is expected to mature and tackle larger and larger problems or alternatively manage a large (and always increasing) business scope with years under the belt.

both of those capacities are constrained significantly by conscientiousness / working memory / attention deficits.

in terms of goals, i hadn't formalized things but my mental calculations generally revolve around.

A) making a lot of money. B) not burning out (due to competitive stress e.g.) doing so.

these seems highly improbable in my current environment as i don't have the natural characteristics for this to happen. so either

a) i adapt (major , almost miraculous changes needed in conscientiousness/ working memory etc) to succeed at top tier software product development or any other similar high pay career track. b) settle for low quality / low challenge work and low p... (read more)

4private_messaging10y
You may be able to work as a programmer, given some management so that you only work on small pieces at a time. It seems to me that it is actually quite uncommon to be able to comprehend projects of significant size, in programming or elsewhere. Also, maybe you're not that different from other high-IQ individuals. I've always suspected that top scientists, programmers, etc. are at (just an illustrative example) 1 in 1000 on [metric most directly measured by IQ and similar tests] and 1 in 1000 on combination of things like integration of knowledge/memory, working space, etc. Whereas high IQ individuals in general aren't very far from average on the other factors and can't usefully access massive body of knowledge, for example.

yes. cognitive ability is quite varied and i am highly stunted in the visuo spatial area.

could never read fiction (no characters visuals in my head). the lack of this faculty is also a major bottleneck in comprehension of technical material.

i like syntax / discrete math / logic etc, things which which depend more on verbal facility.

immediate dose : 200 mg modafinil + 800 mg piracetam around 10 am.

OD symptoms within 2/3 hours.

there was probably significant drug buildup of modafinil over the prior week i guess. was taking mostly 200mg (once 400 mg) a day the preceeding week. so i am guessing 300-500 mg built up.

effectively then

500 - 700 mg modafinil + 800mg piracetam.

resulted in 170/90 BP + 130-150 HR + severe anxiety for around 8-9 hours. ER docs didn't know what to do. I refused to get admitted to ICU.

Subsided by 10pm night. instigated a panic disorder and a drug phobia

cured by 25m... (read more)

3hg0010y
Thanks!

Hi,

i have been lurking around here mostly for (rational) self help. Some info about me.

Married. Work at India office of a top tier tech company. 26 y/o

between +2 and +2.5 SD IQ . crystallized >> fluid . Extremely introspective and self critical. ADHD / Mildly depressed most of my life. Have hated 'work' most of my life.

Zero visual working memory (One - Two items with training). Therefore struggling with programming computers and not enjoying it. Can write short programs and solve standard interview type questions. Can't build big functional pieces o... (read more)

6ModusPonies10y
That depends on what your goal is. Making enough money to fund a relaxed and happy life? Making tremendous amounts of money? Job satisfaction? Something else entirely?
4private_messaging10y
That's fairly interesting. It seem to be often under-appreciated that IQ (and similar tests) fail to evaluate important aspects of cognition.
2hg0010y
Welcome! What was your dosage?